Price Paid:  $500.00 from westcoast hifi, west

Summary:
Hi,
we bought these speakers to replace my sons jbl control 1, basically to upgrade his system. Got them for about half price, 500 A$, they had them on special. We compared them with Quad's 11, which appeared to be more lean, less colourfull and anyhow less musical. The Mission showed more emotion and speed, may be more vibrant in sonic terms.They look stunning, almost sexy, with real timber veneer. They are excellent in small to medium sized rooms and enjoy good stands.
Unfortunately the mid/bass keraform drivers didn't last long, as I found out Mission had more then a problem with those divers, and we assume they were using them in the shop as demos for quite some time.
Anyway, we had to wait 7 weeks to have them fixed under warranty, which was a bit annoying.
But since then they never missed a beat, and we are very happy with our choice.
My son is thinking now to upgrade his amp, a Teac 300 Reference midi unit, as those speakers are capable of much more, as we found out when we paired them with a quad 34/306 amp.
As Mission has stopped producing this series now you should calculate a pair of mid/bass drivers in, they are around 135 A$ per driver in case you go for second hand ones. The latest version of those drivers are slightly bluish in colour
and should last, according to Mission.

Strengths:
musical, timing, voices

Weaknesses:
mid/bass drivers fail to last - below reputation for a company like Mission
Won't mind a high quality amp

Similar Products Used:
Quad's 11 (overrated)
Wharfedale 70 Ann. Edition (overrated)
JBL Control 1 (if you get them cheap they are ok, but then you get what you pay for)
Magnat Quantum 501(good value for money, but not in the same league)

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Price Paid:  $100.00 from ebay

Summary:
I'd read the glowing reviews that adorned these speakers a couple of years back, I'd heard a pair in a hi fi store and had been impressed with the midrange and clarity of these missions. However they didn't have the drama and bass of bigger speakers. I'd been getting by for years with a pair of kef coda's and more recently an mj acoustics pro 100 sub. I saw these speakers advertised by some fool who'd bought them to go with a kef centre speaker in a surround set up, only to realise he'd be better off with matching speakers. He was lumbered with 2 month old speakers, warranty covered,with receipts, I took them off his hands for a measley £80 plus postage. A friend of mine has a set of Dynaudio 52's which are superb, better than the missions in the bass department, but the missions have an ever so slightly sweeter midrange and treble. I would say the Dynaudios are easily better allround speakers but they cost far far more. I'd been considering a set but felt the money would be wasted as I'd only be paying the extra for improved bass and as I already have a decent sub this was unnecessary. With the mj woofer, the missions work sublimely, better than the dynaudio's alone and for less money. I'd recommend this set up to anyone. Sweet and detailed yet with the excellent mj sub making up for the missions bass shortcomings. A lack of bass is the only criticism you could aim at these speakers, but for their tiny size they do a good job. Anyone expecting more bass from such small boxes is after all asking for a little too much. I've also heard they can be difficult to drive, my amp(a tag 60i) is powerful and dynamic so I've never had any problems. However, from what I'e heard, I'd think very carefully before pairing them up with anything less than a decent 50w amp.

Strengths:
Transparency, midrange.

Weaknesses:
Bass.

Price Paid:  $250.00 from used

Summary:
The 78 series are onethe better Mission speaker ranges.Due to the use of the now better silk dome tweeters.
Fast and lively speakers with good rythmic ability.Quite refined(not as smooth the Dynaudio 42 though)

Strengths:
open sounding,rythmic bass.

Weaknesses:
none of any significance

Price Paid:  $3000.00 from Hong Kong

Summary:
The sound and image are firm and solid for a price and size of the speaker. Sounds great!! But had some problem with my base unit, since the first day I bought the speakers. water droplets seems to form at the base unit and now the base unit doesn't work and I had to get it fixed with the cost of 1/3 of a new unit!

Strengths:
Great speaker for the size and price!

Weaknesses:
Problem with the base unit. Water droplets seems to form in Hong Kong Weather

Similar Products Used:
B&W 603 S.2
Quad 11L

Price Paid:  $190.00 from PRC Direct, Ilford,

Summary:
Great loudspeaker, I enjoy the sound that it produces NOW. Initially I had many problems with partnering equipment. Used to run them with a Cambridge Audio Amp and CD Player which didnt do them justice at all. With this equipment they sounded really bright, and gave me a headache after 10 minutes of listening. Swapped the CD player for a Marantz CD63 which is a little smoother, and helped a bit. Recently I was fortunate enough to swap my amp for a Quad 77 integrated. This helped somewhat, having slightly more weighty bass. I realised the part in my system which didnt go to well with the speakers when playing with some van den hul "The Clearwater" speaker cable. Suddenly the sound opened out, and bass which was before missing, was now apparent, however with very slight loss of treble detail. The QED Silver Anniversary speaker cable is not the stuff to use with these speakers. I then promptly went out and listened extensively to different cables. In the end i came home with some Van Den Hul Teatrack (£25/m), whcih has really made all the difference. Bass is nicely extended without loss of treble detail. Now I can happily listen for hours, to a system which is actually on the warm side and very smooth.

Strengths:
Exceptional imaging, better so than a pair of Quad ESL 989's i heard the other day, although the sound appeared to come away from the speakers more with the Electrostatics and was very lifelike and convincing. Imagine is some of the best for width i have had the pleasure of hearing. Good transient response, very detailed treble, and transparent and open with the correct cable. I know many of you will be reading this review thinking of whether to go for the Mission 780/780SE's or the Quad 11L's. Well I have heard the 780 and 11L, the Mission has far superior imaging and soundstage, however the Quads do have a feeling of fluidity about them, also tend to do a good job of poor recordings. Its very personal as to which one is best, and also depends on your other equipment

Weaknesses:
Can be very frustrating if matched poorly with the wrong (not nessesarily bad - the QED Silver Anniversary is 5* rated by what hifi) speaker cable.

Similar Products Used:
Quad 11L's
Mission 702e's
Mission 700's
Quad ESL63's
Quad ESL989's
Bose 401's
B&W 601 S2
Eltax Monitor III's
Mourdant Short MS25i Pearl's
Various other poorer speakers.