Mission QX2 Speakers, a punt that worked out.

[steve-z]

For the last couple of months I've wanted to try a higher sensitivity speaker to use with my Reisong A10 single ended Class A tube amp, I've been using it so far to drive the Frugelhorn Lites that I built last year, good though the combination sounded the FHLs are fairly inefficient and the 6wpc A10 had to be pushed fairly hard with little headroom in reserve when driving them.
So I started hunting round for a relatively inexpensive pair of higher efficiency standmounts and came up with the Mission QX2s as a possibility, they've been out for about 4 years and the release price of £399 has now dropped to £275 which seemed quite a bargain. The speakers got a WHF award in 2018 and a HFC Group Test Winner tag shortly after so I thought a blind purchase would not hold any risk. Upon checking ebay I came across a mint condition used pair being offered for £160 which I thought was a great buy so I snapped them up although I did have to travel 40 miles to collect them.
Although they were going to be used in my second system I couldn't resist the temptation to try them in my living room driven by my Rega Brio and see how they fared against my Q Acoustics Concept 40s.
The result was a bit of a shock as the QX2s ran my 40s very close even though the price difference between them is pretty massive, the big surprise was that the QX2 went lower in the bass than my 40s which I wouldn't have thought possible from a standmount, a check of the comparative specs confirmed what I was hearing, -3db points were at 53hz for the 40s and 44hz for the QX2s, admittedly the QX2s are pretty large for a standmount.
Getting them connected up to the tube amp produced very good results, the higher sensitivity allowing the extra volume and headroom that I needed as well as an improvement in sound quality over the already great sounding FHLs I've been using, the extra bottom end was very noticeable with a little extra sparkle at the treble end. I initially ran the QX2s from the 4ohm taps on the amp which I'd always used with the FHLs and I was very satisfied with the sound quality, a few days ago as an experiment I swapped to the 8ohm taps and found it gave a noticeable lift to the sound quality, the very slight bass excess I'd noted was tamed as well as the bass becoming tighter and firmer and overall the sound was more neutral and natural.
For the money I paid for the QX2s I have to rate them as an absolute steal and hard as I've tried I've yet to find anything to criticise about them, even if I'd bought a new pair at the current price I'd still rate them a stone cold bargain. Much as I loved my FHLs they're now on ebay as they just can't compete with these Missions.



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[antonio]

Pleased those Missions are working out, they were on my shortlist but I took a punt on Markaudio Cesti MBR's for a similar price to partner a RFTLYS A2 and I have to say they are great also, I think rated 88dB, but very easy to drive. How are you getting on with your Reisong A10, one question, if you change your power tubes do you have easy access to bias them?

[steve-z]

Pleased those Missions are working out, they were on my shortlist but I took a punt on Markaudio Cesti MBR's for a similar price to partner a RFTLYS A2 and I have to say they are great also, I think rated 88dB, but very easy to drive. How are you getting on with your Reisong A10, one question, if you change your power tubes do you have easy access to bias them?

Interesting about the MBRs, a friend of mine bought a pair of the standard Cestis and couldn’t get on with them, he’s since changed them for some used Eclipses as he liked the idea of full range drivers and he loves them. The Reisong A10 has proved to be a success in my second setup, I rolled the standard pre tubes for Voshkod Rocket Russian tubes to good effect. With regard to the power tubes the A10 has an auto bias circuit which makes tube swaps easy for the non technically minded (like me). Think it will be quite a while before I’ll be changing the power tubes, not going to roll them as I like the sound quality of the stock tubes very much.


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[Filterlab]

Those QX2s are rather pretty! They look a bit beefier than some of the Mission speakers; more like mid-size units. What are the dimensions?

[antonio]

I haven't rolled any of my tubes yet, I am abroad at the moment but have got a few pre amp tubes to try. To bias my tubes you have to remove the base plate (not looking forward to that, it is my first ever valve amp) but I think I have found an easy multi meter with 4 extensions

[steve-z]

Those QX2s are rather pretty! They look a bit beefier than some of the Mission speakers; more like mid-size units. What are the dimensions?

As stand mounts go they are pretty big, 32cm high, 22cm wide and 30cm deep, they’re pretty heavy too at 8.8kg each partly because of the aluminium top and bottom plates.


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[Macca]

One of my brothers has the QX2 and he really rates them too.

[Filterlab]

As stand mounts go they are pretty big, 32cm high, 22cm wide and 30cm deep, they’re pretty heavy too at 8.8kg each partly because of the aluminium top and bottom plates.


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Very nice. I love the drivers and the arrangement. They're just different from the norm and the curved enclosures look very well made. Solid.

[steve-z]

Very nice. I love the drivers and the arrangement. They're just different from the norm and the curved enclosures look very well made. Solid.

They’re a vinyl wrap finish but you’d be hard pressed to tell it wasn’t proper wood veneer, the texture is almost the same, good thing is unlike veneer it won’t fade over time.


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[Pigmy Pony]

Nice. if they sound as good as they look you got a bargain.