I know it's almost a speaker cliche to say that they need good electronics upstream to sound good, but in the case of the 702e's it's true. I've heard them sounding the way the bad reviews on here say; they sound (boomy, ill-defined, boom-box bass), but I've also heard them sounding completely different; tight, 'hits you in the chest' bass and crisp highs.

I'm a bit of a hifi collector and tend to try out a range of amps and speakers from second-hand sources, selling on the weakest and buying again to try out another synergy. But every time I say to myself that, as by far the cheapest (and ugliest!) speaker I have, it's time to get rid of the Missions, I can't bring myself to do it. Why? Because with the correct partner electronics and positioning they sound great! Why do I keep having the notion to get rid of them? Well that happens whenever I've shunted them onto the end of a cheap £100 amp because I'm trying out another pair of speakers on my good amps. Listen to the 702e's with a cheap amp and with the speakers backed into a corner, and yes; they sound woeful, almost un-listenably bad.

So, Ok, I’ll cut to the chase and tell you what, in my years of owning the Mission 702e’s I have learnt. The do’s and don’ts.

Do partner them with a very good amplifier, preferably a pre/power combo. They sound excellent with my Arcam 290 (power) and NAD C162e (pre). I have also achieved excellent results with an old Pioneer A400.

Don’t use a cheap amp, because it ‘matches’ the price range of the speaker. I used the Mission’s with a Cambridge Audio A1 mk3 (which incidentally sounds excellent with smaller bookshelf speakers, like the B&W’s DM601.) If you have such an amp, you will be disappointed with the sound of these speakers. Trust me!

Do give the speakers plenty of room, especially from the side. They are not so fussy about being near a rear wall, but they absolutely hate being near a side wall. I know front-ported speakers are not meant to care so much about positioning, but these ones just do. I can move the speaker a few inches away from the wall and hear the bass tightening and the boominess going as I move them.

Don't jam them up against other stuff and walls and furniture. See above. That said, they can still sound very good in a small room at near-field listening distances, but you just have to make sure they are in free space as much as possible; if not from the rear then definitely from the side.

If you follow all that, then you will be rewarded with a really powerful, well balanced and listenable sound. I take the grills off because I think it helps the tweeter to sing, but it's subtle and not essential. They can image well and as mentioned above, with the right kind of music, they can produce bass you can feel in your chest and they can go really loud.

On the downside, the build quality is so-so and if you end up with a unit that resonates, do not panic! Mine did that and I traced the resonation to the speaker cone itself; the glue which secures it to the basket had failed. A quick dab of glue to stop the cone from flapping freely and the problem is gone. Yeah the cabinet looks cheap too, but with the grills (and your glasses) off, you kind of get used to them.

So in summary, if you see a pair of these for sale for £50-80, maybe even a bit more, snap 'em up, as long as you can satisfy the requirements above.

I'm surprised at some of the positive reviews here - to me these speakers were pretty awful.

Really woolly-sounding with a bass so exaggerated it was like Mission were trying to be funny.

Teenage boom box speakers to my way of thinking.

Still, I used them with quite a low power amplifier so maybe I'm being unfair.

On the other hand they are 8 ohms with high sensitivity..

..like all the teenage boom box speakers.

great with all types of music look good PRICE!!

do their best with poor electronics but ultimatley rubbish in = rubbish out!

I bought these speakers off ebay around 8 months ago. From the moment i plugged them in i couldnt believe my luck! 90 quid speakers that sound as good as some 400-500 quid speakers i have heard! The quality of these speakers really shines if you use them with good electronics, i use them with musical fidelity and they are certainly not out of their depth. the midrange is lovely, top end is crisp and nice, however if you are a basshead they may not be the speakers for you. they do have ample bass but if you like your dance music to shake the foundations of your house then look elsewhere! Total Bargain.

Similar Products Used:

dynaudio, B+W, proac, etc....

great sound, budget-buster,much defined treble and good bass extension though no much slam factor

poor cabinet build quality

Finally after 3 years using this spekers i guess i'm ready to comment bout; it. This i have to admit i a great speaker.IN fact its a budget buster .I'm using it with Marantz CD6000 OSE LE and rotel ra-971mk11. Recently i upgraded its x-over with ansar supersound caps and kiwame resisitors .Also change the internal cables with DIY one build with cat5 network cables. Result....it gets even better, i can things which were hidden before and u can just feel the bass extension .If onlt it wasn't for its cabinet build quality which vibrates with bass, i would give it a 5 star.

Mid range detail is great, i love the sound of vocals, guitars and keyboards produced from them.

Slightly lacking bass and treble can be harsh sometimes.

I had 700's for about 2 years like them but they lacked bass so went for the bigger brothers. I run them through a Sony 220 CD, Denon 255 amp, QED interconnects and cable talk 3.1 speaker cables. The Denon amp is a bit weak at only 30w/channel and this is really noticeable through the 702's. I plugged my mates Audio Analogue (50w) into them and it sounded much better, the sound filled the room instead of sounding like it was coming out of two boxes. Two things I would say about them though. 1. They do lack bottom end in certain types of music. 2. The treble can be a bit harsh and unrealistic sounding. I do like them don’t get me wrong, for less than 100 quid they are brilliant, but I’m going to take them back. I think its worth considering spending that little bit more on a set of 773's or splash out on M74i. Ive auditioned a few different types of speaker manufacturers and for the money you just cant beat mission. PS the amp is going to be upgraded at the sametime!

Good sound, flat response.

poor build, resonance.

Purchased speakers on trip to the UK, Mission is a good company and I had read the many positive reviews of them in the press. Inital impressions were great, after run in they sounded excellent, howevere after a few weeks the plastic baffle started to come loose and resonate at certain low freqencies. Being in the US it is difficult to get them serviced -- did take them to Denon (there distributors at that time) who reglued them. I had to go again a few months later. The build quality was poor overall, and this problem seems to be common with these speakers. I would never pay the MRSP for these and now don't use them at all. I would never by mission again. You can tell a lot by the cheaper speakers -- poor workmanship and design may carry through to there "better" speakers. I have some JPW 310s -- excellent build at less than 50 pounds.

Cheap! Beech version looks good. Well built (that I've noticed), and sounds sharp.

Sometime the bass lacks if cheap wire is used or they speakers are put in unacoustic parts of the room.

Don't let the price paid fool you, I bought four of these, not two! I spent 8 years working with PA setups and am now doing an audio technology course in Cabmridge. I am therefore basing my opinions on comparison. I have been using these speakers with QED Silver Anniversary speaker cable, and a Cambridge Audio A5i amplifier for a few months now, and I am very impressed. I will agree with others, the bass does slightly lack if the speakers are in the wrong place, but if the speakers are aligned acoustically, they sound particularly good! The treble is great, and there is no obvious hiss, the mid is surprisingly sharp and the bass is punchy, and providing the correct cable is used, wont be too slow either.

Similar Products Used:

Too many to mention, to the extreme of Yorkville Elites, Yamaha and the Bose 800 series.

When setup correctly with good cables, smooth sounds prevail with much detail, fast bass and transparency.

I was sad when they started rattling, but as I said above, this was fixed in 3 days.

Well I have to say I''m encredibly empressed with the sound of the 702e. What I say to people finding bass too weak or boomy, is to move them closer to the back wall, and further away from corners if possible. I found that even a movement of a cm made a big difference. Get em set up properly, and bass is tight and punchy, and treble is fairly good. I''ll agree with reviews below to an extent, that treble can be a little scrambled or blurred, but I only had this problem when wiring them normally. I bi-wired these speakers with some Gale XL189 cable, and immidiately treble is much sharper and detailed. Transparency is improved, as you can hear detail in the mid range, without messing up other frequancies. As for the guy who said bass is lumpy..... Well to manage to produce a speaker with lumpy bass is a fairly tall order physically, as the speaker manufacturer must make a cabinet with many resonant frequancies. The Bass extension is also very impression - when I tested them with a frequancy generating piece of software, you could easily take them to 40Hz, if not 36Hz without noticing any appriciable "drop-off". There are a couple of reviews which say that they have had problems with a rattly baffle. After a month I had this problem, but I sent them back to mission and they had them fixed in 3 days - I was impressed with the speed of the service. Now I have no more rattles. Overall, these speakers produce a very strong sound, and when positioned correctly, bass is smoooth, there is ounces of transparency, and alot of detail. My graphical equiliser has been made redundant.

Similar Products Used:

MS25i Pearl, Many Akai speakers, Whafdale Dentons, Mission 700''s.

Got me there

Everything else

These really are abismal speakers. The top range is too bright, the bass is horribly lumpy and the front baffle is made of this plastic type substance that rattles like hell. Buy some Tannoy Mmx3s or Mordaunt Short 904s instead. The replacement M73s are better, but still unrealistically bright.

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy Mmx3, Acoustic Energy Aegis 2, Wharfedale Diamond 8.3

Good value for money. Nice (wood)finishing.

Treble is to sloppy, it produces a SSSS sound. Bass lacks power.

I''m a student so I was forced to make a choice between speakers in this price-class. They sound pretty good, not to much bass tough. They''re connnected to my Luxman L4 2x60w continuous(1978) (18kg.!!) , It''s a nice set, but i''m gonna safe money to get myself others speakers, the amplifier is too good for the speakers. But don''t get me wrong, when you''re looking for speakers in this price-class they''re the best.