Whatever happened to the Mission 774 original?

[datawireless]

Hi everybody,

I have not been active in the HI-FI community for many years now but, back in the early days, back in the late 70's and early 80's, there was some very nice kit around and I don't just mean acoustic hardware. Some very good vinyl was being recorded too, least we forget that it was all about music, not just the frequency range, dynamics and S/N ratios. But back to the subject:

I haven't seen around for a long time any examples of the original Mission 774 lightweight arm, the dry and factual way it handled all you could throw at it while it stirred the 'open', silicon oil filled troth with a damping paddle. It would usually be matched with a dry and neutral deck, like the Rock, or even the Pink Triangle at the lower end, but the result was never quite satisfying and we couldn't work out why. Well, life isn't neutral and of a flat frequency spectrum which is why everybody settled with a Sondek. But once I put together the 774 original with a another of my listening favorites, the Walker CJ55, which was more of a musical instrument then a deck, and the pairing was sublime. With any cartridge really but I favored the DL-160.

That was listening bliss and in no small part due to the Walker's mellow warmth kept in check by the 774. Oh yes, and the damping troth of course.

What ever happened to the original 774 (without letters)? Anybody heard of one knocking about?

Until the next time then, when I may tell you a story about how Doug Brady managed to sell my prototype turntable we were evaluating in his showroom.

Goodnight,

datawireless

[John]

High Mike Welcome to AOS
Tell us more about the TT and what music do you enjoy

[Rare Bird]

Welcome Mike
I have a CJ Walker 'CJ55' i don't use it just keep it for old time sake..Ive had a few Mission '774' (Original lo mass version). They do come up on auction regular these days for not that much money, a very good sounding arm with nice high compliant cartridge..

[Mr Kipling]

Forget about the arm, Mike. Whatever happened to Doug Brady's blazers? That's what I want to know.

[DSJR]

The 774 had variable bearing quality to start with, bad finish and the dry presentation is neither accurate nor enjoyable long term. Mission took HUGE pains to improve it and I think they did, the finish changing for the better, BUT, the later exit cables didn't suit the LP12 very well and of course the Ittok had come along by then, effectively (and possibly unfairly) all but wiping the opposition from the map :(

Lest you thjink I'm having a downer on the 774, may I add that on the right turntable and with a good matching cartridge (more available now I think than in 1980 odd), it's a fine arm (the damper paddles should just wipe the surface of the fluid I found, not stick right in heavily, since this can kill the sonics) and the dry sound may well be cartridge mismatching at the time......

[datawireless]

Thank you Dave.

A very perceptive and well informed comment, on ALL counts, especially the poor finish. And the cartridge matching was vitally important to get the tone right - but not critical. And of course, the deck could do the same if you can accept and allow the color it added.

Mike

[DSJR]

I picked up a dozen of the first batch of 774's made (the remaining twelve went to the long defunkt Knightsbridge HiFi). Three or four had superb bearings, four or five of the rest were usable and the remainder had to go back to have their bearings sorted out.

I heard WONDERFUL sounds from either a Systemdek (I or III) or a Luxman PD300? (with suction device) with 774 and lo and behold, an AT95E of all things. Sounded absolutely amazing.

You know, I wouldn't mind trying a 774 again with a modern cartridge, but they're now sought after and prices are climbing :(

[Barry]

Ah Knightsbridge Audio - that takes me back.

The first and only time I heard the Daton Wright electrostatic speakers was at Knightsbridge Audio - awesome beasts, not only in appearance but also in sound quality. Also heard the Gale 401 speakers - I thought they were awful.

The only purchase I made there was a metre or two of Neumann microphone cable. I must have appeared to be a complete cheapskate!

[walpurgis]

I still have three original 774 arms.

One is in regular use, (the others may soon be) and reading earlier comments I was a little surprised. I found the Ittok nowhere near as good, I'd had it on various turntables and it seemed OK, but when I got my hands on a good used 774, it completely outclassed the Ittok, so that went!

The Mission is one of the most versatile arms about. You can use just about any cartridge in it. Just increase or decrease the fluid damping to suit whatever compliance your cartridge has. Oh, and the sound is not what I would call dry at all. Certainly smoother and more refined and more revealing than the Ittok or any Rega derivative I've tried.

[DSJR]

I'm not surprised, but on a 1980 LP12, the Ittok was "the thing," despite the terrible bass reproduction, which to my eternal shame I though was "correct" at the time - our master copies were showing +5db or more at 60Hz as played flat on a stock IEC Revox B77 and the LP12/Ittok/Asak was doing much the same I recall...

These days, with the LP12 itself all but unrecogniseable in materials used apart from appearance and better understanding of turntable technology old and new, I suspect the 774 would come into its own again if put back into production (Jelco making it, or the important bits?). It would sell for a grand or so I suspect though, once everybody got their slurp, and to be honest, the new Funk arm (got to be £500 or less surely?) may well be the way to go if the thing can be made consistently and to be easy to fit to any half decent deck (I'm not shilling Funk FFS, but the tech does look interesting to me!)

[Rare Bird]

The arm wand needs a rewire as it borrows it's ground from one of the cartridge tags like a certain well know arm did! however there's a guy on E-Bay thats sells re manufactured wands for these aswell as a new design counterbalance weight.