Why i like......

[RobbieGong]

MISSION 752 FREEDOM

So many wonderful bits of kit out of there, both vintage and new, so lets shout it out, spread the news, give folk a steer :) I'll start with :

The wonderful Mission 752 Freedom's. These followed the Original 752's which were introduced around 1993/4 awarded 5 stars and loved from the start, deemed a classic today. Although rated, nothing is perfect and some did not like it's steely, trebley bright presentation which was said to be due to it's metal dome tweeter. Step up the 'revised' 752 Freedom cica 1995. Mission retained the good stuf, in particular it's lovely Aerogel mid / bass driver which produces gorgeously natural, smooth and detailed mid range and vocals. However the steely / bright sounding metal dome tweeter was replaced with a silk dome tweeter which I love, very natural smooth treble extension. The configuration was also reversed with the mid / bass driver now above the tweeter. I would describe the original as having a slightly out of the box sound and the revised Freedom of being slightly in the box, slightly contained, balanced. At around £550 -£600 they were a great buy, great solid build quality, (much heavier than they look) real wood vaneer finish, not too big or too small, look good too and therefore they wont have the wife chasing you and them out of the house :lol: you know what i mean.
So how do they sound ? Very well balanced, superb stereo imaging, tight taut bass, detailed, smooth, natural, polite even and so non fatiguing, I can listen to these for hours and hours. They love walls too which solves any bass light issues some may have. They respond so well to upgrades communicating exactly whats happened ie: You'll here the change / improvement or otherwise. Regarded as the best example of the pinnacle of Missions speaker building hey day. To think excellent examples go for around £150 on the 'bay = an absolute bargain in my book. Got the bug a few years back and replaced mine with B&W CM7's at £1029. They were ok, not a bad speaker but just didn't move me in the same way, nowhere near as organic sounding as my warmish Freedoms that I missed so much. The CM7's went on the 'bay mint months later at a loss of £300ish - Did I care, NO !! I got myself another near mint pair of Ash Black 752 Freedoms for £150 which are for keeps, Happy days !! :D Genuine audiophile speakers for small change, Thats why I like / love the Mission 752 Freedom. :)

[technobear]

So many wonderful bits of kit out of there, both vintage and new, so lets shout it out, spread the news, give folk a steer,

...and send the prices on ePay through the stratosphere :eek:

[bobbasrah]

...and send the prices on ePay through the stratosphere :eek:

So why not do what the stock market manipulators do and invert it to your advantage?

Personally I think Amstrad kit is wonderfully musical and a steal at the prices on today's market...:D

Next....;)

[RobbieGong]

...and send the prices on ePay through the stratosphere :eek:

Fret not Chris, It's the greatest Hifi forum on the planet, let the members tell us about the kit they love and why - Each one teach one :)

[RobbieGong]

Bump !! Amazed that on a forum like this no one wants to express a little about a bit of kit they have and why they like it ( Shame really, was quite looking forward to reading about what some of you have and what you like about it) :scratch: ?? Ask for a few turntables to be posted and it's all day long :lol: Ah well, maybe I'm the only one who's passionate about some of the humble kit I have and happy to share that and why - I now declare this thread well and truly dead :( :lol:

[Marco]

Give it a chance, Rob. You only posted it yesterday! ;)

I like my kit because it's all been bespoke-made to my requirements, just like the finest Saville Row suit! :eyebrows:

Marco.

P.S If this isn't just about vintage kit (as seemed to be the case before), I'll move it back to Blank Canvas.

[RobbieGong]

Hi ya Marco, Hope ya good :) Been up by London bridge with the Mrs and the kids to get a glimpse of Queenie - fat chance, I think the miserable weather has given me the hump :lol: The thread is about any kit whatsoever that brings the AOS'ers joy and why - old and new :)

[Puffin]

Robbie (from one Robert to another)

I really enjoyed reading your post. I had a pair of Mission 773e's for a couple of years and in a way regret getting rid of them. They had the two Aerogel Mid/Bass units either side of the tweeter (D'appolito style) and had a lovely smooth mid-range and nicely defined bass (quite deep) given that they were a relatively small floor stander.

However, my favourite Mission speaker was my first "real" hifi speaker the 760i. I thought they were great and their performance belied their diminutive size. I later modified them so that I could bi-wire and made an outboard crossover with stuff bought from what was then called RATA (Russ Andrews Turntable Accessories). Aaah those were the days.

The Missions had been on the end of a really nice Rotel 930 integrated (I think my son still has that....somewhere.....must get it back) I then bought an Audiolab 8000A, boy that gave the little Missions a kick up the 80s!

Yes, Mission speakers IMO have had some great models. I recently picked up a pair of mint 780SE's (these are now for sale - see Private Exhibitions) fortunately/unfortunately? my system has moved on so much in the last 10 years that stand mount speakers are not for me anymore.

Next!......

[Marco]

I'm coolio, dude. Just toasting myself beside our roaring log fire (which I thought that I wouldn't have to light again until the winter), sipping a glass of red wine, whilst watching the rain fall outside! :eyebrows:

Okies, thread going back on up to BC...! ;)

Marco.

[RobbieGong]

This weather :steam: I put the central heating on when I got in from trying to spot Queenie up London Bridge so i can believe you've got da log fire blazin Marco :lol: I too have enjoyed a nice glass of red since getting in :D

[RobbieGong]

Robbie (from one Robert to another)

I really enjoyed reading your post. I had a pair of Mission 773e's for a couple of years and in a way regret getting rid of them. They had the two Aerogel Mid/Bass units either side of the tweeter (D'appolito style) and had a lovely smooth mid-range and nicely defined bass (quite deep) given that they were a relatively small floor stander.

However, my favourite Mission speaker was my first "real" hifi speaker the 760i. I thought they were great and their performance belied their diminutive size. I later modified them so that I could bi-wire and made an outboard crossover with stuff bought from what was then called RATA (Russ Andrews Turntable Accessories). Aaah those were the days.

The Missions had been on the end of a really nice Rotel 930 integrated (I think my son still has that....somewhere.....must get it back) I then bought an Audiolab 8000A, boy that gave the little Missions a kick up the 80s!

Yes, Mission speakers IMO have had some great models. I recently picked up a pair of mint 780SE's (these are now for sale - see Private Exhibitions) fortunately/unfortunately? my system has moved on so much in the last 10 years that stand mount speakers are not for me anymore.

Next!......

Nice one Rob, enjoyed your revelations. Nothing quite like when a piece of kit hits the spot :) Looking forward to hearing about other members experiences - NEXT ! :lol:

[lewis]

I also have fond memories of Mission speakers, but mine were the original 752's, not the freedom. Way back in 1995 i had a pair in rosewood finish, gorgeous, and at the time their hda drive units were top notch. They were my first proper hi-fi speakers, and were easy to drive making them suitable for valve amps. I eventually changed them for Kef Reference 2.2's, and recently changed to Tannoy Turnberry se, but i will always have fond memories of my 752's.:thumbsup:

[lewis]

That's another thread i've killed!:rolleyes:

[Macca]

One thing about Mission that always bugged me - they always had full page, full colour adverts in all the hi-fi press and some mainstream press as well - how much of the price tag was the advertising budget? A lot, I suspect.

[RobbieGong]

Remember, Mission sold a serious amount of speakers in their heyday, think 751's 752's and 753's alone - absolutely loads out there, hence I dont think a budget for advertising would have been that much of a problem for them then. (Hopefully this isn't becoming a Mission thread :lol:) What else do you guys have that you love and why ? I could do a post on my Marantz CD63 KI signature but I've had a fair input so far so someone elses turn :)

[Macca]

Can't really do a long post now as at work but I will stick something up later - can't imagime my waffling will drive up prices on the Bay of e that much :)

[RobbieGong]

:lol: Good man Martin, Look forward to yours later :)

[DSJR]

752's in any form are pants IMO :lol:

The originals used the floppy heavy-cone Audax Aerogel driver in the absolute maximum box they could use. the result being a severely undamped bass which was either missing or booming depending on the room and driving amp, which needed to be a good one. the less said about the hideous metal-painted tweeter the better as it buzzed louder than a wasp much of the time, giving a very false impression of "detail" to me...

As for the Freedom version, the sideways bass units made them difficult to site properly to get anything like a clean bass and the mid and top were totally non descript and unexceptional when compared with their peers at the time. Sorry, but Mission had lost it big time by this point we all thought and went further downhill as the years went by. if you want proof of what I'm saying, try some Rega Jura's for clarity and a wonderful midrange, Castle Avon (the £800 floorstander?) for smoothness and the now cheap Spendor S6(e) for far superior competence as a floor-stander.

Sorry, but most Mission speakers over the decades belong in landfill IMO.....

[Beobloke]

752's in any form are pants IMO :lol:

The originals used the floppy heavy-cone Audax Aerogel driver in the absolute maximum box they could use. the result being a severely undamped bass which was either missing or booming depending on the room and driving amp, which needed to be a good one. the less said about the hideous metal-painted tweeter the better as it buzzed louder than a wasp much of the time, giving a very false impression of "detail" to me...

As for the Freedom version, the sideways bass units made them difficult to site properly to get anything like a clean bass and the mid and top were totally non descript and unexceptional when compared with their peers at the time. Sorry, but Mission had lost it big time by this point we all thought and went further downhill as the years went by. if you want proof of what I'm saying, try some Rega Jura's for clarity and a wonderful midrange, Castle Avon (the £800 floorstander?) for smoothness and the now cheap Spendor S6(e) for far superior competence as a floor-stander.

Sorry, but most Mission speakers over the decades belong in landfill IMO.....

Well, that wasn't very nice was it?

I must admit the 752s aren't my cup of tea either, but, as my dear old nan used to say "If you can't say anything nice, it's often better to say nothing at all".

[RobbieGong]

752's in any form are pants IMO :lol:

The originals used the floppy heavy-cone Audax Aerogel driver in the absolute maximum box they could use. the result being a severely undamped bass which was either missing or booming depending on the room and driving amp, which needed to be a good one. the less said about the hideous metal-painted tweeter the better as it buzzed louder than a wasp much of the time, giving a very false impression of "detail" to me...

As for the Freedom version, the sideways bass units made them difficult to site properly to get anything like a clean bass and the mid and top were totally non descript and unexceptional when compared with their peers at the time. Sorry, but Mission had lost it big time by this point we all thought and went further downhill as the years went by. if you want proof of what I'm saying, try some Rega Jura's for clarity and a wonderful midrange, Castle Avon (the £800 floorstander?) for smoothness and the now cheap Spendor S6(e) for far superior competence as a floor-stander.

Sorry, but most Mission speakers over the decades belong in landfill IMO.....

Hilarious :lol: - Yeah, the metal dome tweeter of the original 752 (and original 753's) was very steely and bright sounding which wasn't my cup of tea hence I found the 752 Freedoms a lot better and easy to live with. BTW the 752 Freedoms never had a sideways firing bass driver ??? so if you had yours positioned sideways then thats probably why you didn't like them :lol: The 782's and 783's which were a different speaker all together and came later had the side firing bass driver. I had the bigger 783's which looked good but like you I found they weren't particularly cohesive, the 752 Freedoms being loads better to my ears. :D

[Pete The Cat]

Funny old world really. A couple of years ago I was struggling to find a new pair of speakers that I liked sufficiently and so as a stop-gap bought a pair of 752 Freedoms second hand. I got on so well with them that I left the speaker decision for a while and have invested in a different turntable and amps since. The upper / mid is really, dare I say, silky. Bass would be too light touch in some circumstances however with Exposure amps and positioned near a wall they pack a decent punch. I have hearing problems so I have to listen at relatively modest volume and speakers are becoming secondary to cans now, but the 752Fs' warmth makes them listenable for me.

Pete

[RobbieGong]

Far more loved than disliked if you search the net Pete so I know where your coming from :)

[Marco]

752's in any form are pants IMO :lol:

The originals used the floppy heavy-cone Audax Aerogel driver in the absolute maximum box they could use. the result being a severely undamped bass which was either missing or booming depending on the room and driving amp, which needed to be a good one. the less said about the hideous metal-painted tweeter the better as it buzzed louder than a wasp much of the time, giving a very false impression of "detail" to me...

As for the Freedom version, the sideways bass units made them difficult to site properly to get anything like a clean bass and the mid and top were totally non descript and unexceptional when compared with their peers at the time. Sorry, but Mission had lost it big time by this point we all thought and went further downhill as the years went by. if you want proof of what I'm saying, try some Rega Jura's for clarity and a wonderful midrange, Castle Avon (the £800 floorstander?) for smoothness and the now cheap Spendor S6(e) for far superior competence as a floor-stander.

Sorry, but most Mission speakers over the decades belong in landfill IMO.....


Well, that wasn't very nice was it?


Yes, but apart from that, he loves them.

Marco.

[Macca]

Okay I said I was going to put something up on this thread but as always fate stands in the way. Plus I wanted to take a couple of pictures but the camera does not want to work. Anyway if I say I'll do something then I do it so here is my 'why I like' :)

Now I could have chosen my (lightly modded) Technics SL1200 Mk2 as I truly love what that TT does with the music I like. But there is enough guff about Teccies on here already. Likewise my Croft Micro Basic pre which adds the magic to what would other wise be a fairly pedestrian sounding system. Again, plenty of Croft talk on here already. I could talk about my Linn LK100 power amp which is built like a tank and does exaxtly what it says on the tin. But no-one wants to hear about 20 year old Linn power amps, do they? And I could write about my Sony CDP 761E but I did a thread on that already.

Leaving us with loudspeakers. So, ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:

The Celestion A2 Loudspeaker - A Good Big'un:

Way back in the spring of 1998 I bought a house with a good sized room having spent several years renting places with rooms 10'x12' and not being happy with the sound. More to the point I could not get any bass without using subs and my experiments in that area did not do it for me. But with a big room I could get some big, wide-band speakers (at the time I was thinking Tannoy or JBL) and really go for it.

Now this was back in the day and it was a lot harder to come across these sort of loudspeakers for sale, especially in this neck of the woods, Plus, after mortgage, bills and food there was no money left to buy some monsters. I settled for a pair of B&W 601, which, whilst enjoyable, were totally lost in the room. Time passed, my salary went up a bit, and I started looking about again.

I had long since stopped buying What Hi Fi (or WTF as we now know it) however I would always have a flip through it when in WH Smith's just to see of Hyper- Fi had any bargains going. I'd dropped on there a few times in the past, you see. One fine spring day I noticed that they had the whole Celesstion 'A' series range, (A1, A2 & A3) at one third list price! I recalled the A2 loudspeaker from a review several years previously in Hi Fi World, so I dug out my copy and re-read it. And they liked it, with one reservation, bright treble. A frequent HFW complaint. More importantly, they advised that the speaker was capable of 'proper' bass. Well I don't object to a bit of sparkle and anyway IME it is easier to tame a too bright speaker than to liven up a dull one and so I got on the blower and ordered a set of A2s for £550 plus a tenner delivery. (They obviously had a bit of a run on them because when I checked the next month's edition they had jacked the price up to £750). The next mornign the courier knocked on the door. 'I've got two enourmous boxes for you here, mate'. And indeed he did. The shipping crates were the size of fridge freezers! This is were the fun begins,,,

http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac233/Macca_photos_2009/DSCF0011.jpg

My Cambridge P70 was not up to the task. Mid and top sounded fantastic, but there was no bass. Not wanting to cock about I went out and bought a Rotel 1060a - top of the range 65w/channel. Now there was bass, but not of great quality and the mid and top were muddy and veiled. It was a very boring system to listen to. A friend of a friend was selling a Linn LK100 so i asked him to bring it around. Using the Rotel as a pre-amp I hooked it up - Ah! now that was better - proper bass, clean mid, sweet-ish top - Now with an amp that could actually drive the damn things properly finally I was in business.:D

The A series were the last range of speakers developed and built in house, in Englad by the original Celestion compnay prior to being bought out. They were the flagship range and the A2, priced at £1500 were competing with such lumineries as the KEF Reference 2, Dynaudio Contour 1.8, Heybrook Sextet, Epos ES25 and the Living Voice Auditorium. They use 2x 8'' mid bass drivers D'Appolito style in a cab approx 60 litres and with a titanium tweeter designed for high power handling. Shine a flashlight through the huge rear port and one can see the solidity of the cabs and the internal bracing. These cabs were not knocked up by a chinese peasant on a quid an hour but by a time served English craftsman. The black ash finish on my pair is workmanlike and makes the speaker look cheaper than it is but at a premium maple, oak or rosewood finishes were available for the true aesthete or those with WAF issues ;)

http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac233/Macca_photos_2009/DSCF0012.jpg

Now we have all heard floorstanders that looked big but sound small. Indeed any of the cheaper breed one can pick up in Richer Sounds (even up to a grand) do not sound like 'big' speakers, and this disappoints a lot of people who then resort to buying subs to beef things up a bit. The A2, on the other hand, is voiced to give a big sound in a big room. The HFW measured in room response looks like a staircase starting at +5db about 200 hz and stepping down towards the high frequencies. Bass response as measured by Hi Fi Choice is -3db at 22 HZ - nice ;). If there is low bass on the recording this loudspeaker will reproduce it. Furthermore, for a bass reflex loudspeaker bass timing is excellent, you do not need to listen for the bass line in a recording as you do with a small scale loudspeaker, the bass line is just there, presented to you, no concentration required. Equal weight is given to the different notes; when a well recorded bassline steps down you hear every fundemental and harmonic with no boom or emphasis. Those of us who have messed about designing and building speakers or who have owned a lot of different speakers in the past will know how hard this is to acheive. The cabs are, of course, rock solid with no flex, echo or boom. They do need to be in free space, though, at least 3 feet from a rear wall, ideally more.

Here is shot that shows the depth of the cabs - no slimline WAF towers these ;): (record is there to show scale)

http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac233/Macca_photos_2009/001-6.jpg

Ten years on I still have no compulsion to change these speakers. In truth I would have to drop on lucky or spend serious money to get something that would be comprehensivly better. Tannoy Canterburys, for instance. But the Celestion A2 gives a good 80% of what that £12K loudspeaker does; yes folks, they are that good. I have to say I think the only reason you do not see many on eBay is that people have no desire to sell them on.

Well that's it, hope you have enjoyed my ramblings, drinks and sandwiches will be served in the foyer, feel free to ask any questions you like.:)

Regards

[RobbieGong]

Fantastic read Martin - Why you like them is exactly what this thread is about. The fact you have had them in your sytem for so many years without inclination to change them = satisfaction factor and speaks volumes. Also that you feel a whole load more wonga would have to be spent to better what they do again speaks volumes too and = high satisfaction factor and is exactly why I started Why I Like.... Nice one Martin :)

[Macca]

Thanks Robbie. I might add a couple more pictures if I can get the camera to work...

Now added