I have to revise my last review. After changing the sound source from a Yamaha AV Receiver to a Denon DRA 775, and DCM 560 Alpha processing CD player, these speakers are marveolous, with tight, substantial bass. The midrange and highs are sparkling, clear and musical. The soundstaging and imaging are a wonder to behold. Five stars all around.

provides extreme musical richness, (relatively) inexpensive

selective? (in terms of kind of music and equipment quality)

I am really sorry to post a very long review, but I decided to do so to make my review as authentic as possible: I have to explain briefly what I had done until I got MS 774e today.

The first pair of speakers I got was Bose Acoustimass 3, driven by NAD 310, and later by Harman/Kardon PM625, sourced by Discman E525. I just didn’t know what a rip off AM3 was. I bought it by name. I was not so serious in choosing speakers, because I set more priority on amplifiers and players. Listening to the pair of MS 774e that arrived today, I realized what a stupid guy I was! The following is intended as a moral for other stupid guys like me.

My quest for good speakers began when I read a lot of curses on AM3 on this site. Reading them, I realized that I had made a great mistake, and I decided to recover my investment. For a while, I looked for outstanding speakers around $100. I found BIC Venturi DV-52si, and bought one pair at eBay. I am a “lazy” buyer by intention. I have no time to go to audio stores and audition equipments there. So, I decided just to consult reviews, and make guesses. And one of my guesses hit, really, because I have a pair of MS 774e now.

Incidentally, DV-52si sound really good, to say the least. It obviously outperforms AM3, and probably any pairs of bookshelf speakers that I bought since. I bought later Polk Audio RT15, Acoustic Research AR 215PS, 208V. I feel DV-52si is the best of those that I owned, and it would probably be one of the best bookshelf speakers out there in this price range even if it does not undergo the “modification” that Ed Frias does to it. (Readers interested in this modification should refer to the reviews on BIC (Venturi) DV-62(si)).

Some day, I encountered very enthusiastic reviews on 774e. Reading them, I intuitively felt that this speaker was what pin-pointed my musical tastes. I like classical, jazz music, especially sounds of strings and piano. I decided to go by reviews, and risk buying a pair of MS 774e. I bought one at $385 (shipping cost included) at eBay.

To make my story more authentic, I want to tell a side story. Until today, I had at least three big eye-opening, or rather “ear-opening” experiences that accompanied system upgrades. The first of such experiences took place when I hooked Rotel RCD-955AX to Harman/Kardon PM625. My system suddenly started to sound very musical. I was surprised to realize the importance of CD player. The second one took place when I replaced PM625 by Creek 4040s2 (I love this pretty guy!). Then, my system suddenly transformed into another animal. I couldn’t believe the difference there. I was astonished to realize the importance of amplifier. The third one took place when I inserted Soundstream/Krell DAC-1 (moderately priced digital-analog convertor) between 4040s2 and RCD-955AX. Once again, my system transformed into totally a different animal. What a difference there was! With this change, I could immediately recognize a lot of details that I failed to notice before.

Any of those surprises were not as great as the one I had today, however.

I got Mission MS 774e today, and hurried to replace DV-52si by it.
As soon as I listened to it, I talked to myself, “What’s this?” “Is this music really the same as that I have listened to so far?”

This surprise is not exaggeration. This is my honest feeling about what I found. When I listened to the stuff coming out from my MS 774e, I immediately realized that I had just understood very, very superficial part of music that my sources contain, at least potentially.
Fabulous --- the world of music that 774e produced, or rather “created” for me was just fabulous. What details there are. What nuances there are. What acoustic richness there is. What a clear image there is. I can’t believe I am just listening to a CD. The only strangeness in 774e’s musical (re)production I can notice now is that it might contain too much echo.

I would rather say the performance of 774e is more than just reproduction; it’s an art in itself! Actually, its creation of musical stuff from CD source can be better than raw exposure to live performance. I can say this because I happen to have listened to exactly the same piece of music (D. Shostakovich’s 14th string quartet) both in real live (concert) form and recorded live (CD) form played by the same performing group (Emerson String Quartet; they are awesome). I prefer music produced by 774e than the raw one I listened to in a hall. Although I had my seat pretty well positioned, the performance there was not loud enough for me to appreciate all of its detail.

As far as I can tell, I don’t notice the “lack of bass” that many reviewers below mention. Rather, I would rather prefer such lack of bass because it doesn’t get music too loud. (Of course, this is a matter of preference.) This sometimes happens to certain small bookshelf speakers like Polk RT15; they sound too loudly.

In response to a reviewer who claimed that 774e doesn’t work fine for rock music, I say that it taught me an incredibly details in Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gate of Dawn. So, I think it’s fair to say, more modestly, that 774e is not good at (re)producing “beat-oriented” music. But I want to add that I also enjoyed some CD’s of Underworld played by it. Actually, I need to tone down when playing Underworld because I found bass was too loud. The only weakness I can notice is that there could be too much “bouncing” in bass. So, my best guess is that if you feel like more bass with 774e, it’s not a fault of this guy; it’s more likely to be a fault of your amplifying component’s.

My conclusion --- if you really love home music as an art, you will not be disappointed by 774e, as far as your audio system is adequate enough, as some reviewers below already remark. I can’t say what the bare minimum should be, but I suspect you will definitely need something better than a consumer receiver to drive 774e rightly.

One more both amusing and amazing story to add: my 774e came broken. One of the four aerogel woofers was broken (and I have to hand this off at least for a while; I sure will really miss it!). This means that this guy doesn’t work perfect yet. Despite this, it still sounds fabulous!

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I have no idea

musicality, transparency, timing and control

low-end could be more "low"

After living for more than one year with these speakers, I can say that they definitely sound "complete" and musical. The whole spectrum is well integrated and natural, with high level of transparency. It is also fast, so the transients are reproduced with a pin-point accuracy. The highs are clear, never dull or grainy. Sometimes it misses only very deep low-end, but for the money man can't complain. The burn-in period: 75-100 hrs.

I use them in the following rig:

Audio Analogue Puccini (integrated amp, 40WPC)
Harman Kardon HD 740 CD player (as a CD transport)
MSB LinkDAC II D/A converter
Nordost Superflatline Gold biwire speaker cables
FFRC (DIY from TNT-audio.com) speaker cables
WireWorld Starlight III coaxial interconnect (CD>DAC)
Van den Hul DB 102 MkIII interconnect (DAC>amp)

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KEF 55.2, Dynnaudio Audience 40, B&W 602.S2.

One of the drives units is slightly off centre, But I only noticed that on a very close inspection and it don’t affect the sound!

I have had these speakers about 2 weeks now and am very impressed with them to say the least. After setting them up with my Arcam Alpha 8 + 8P, Cambrige Audio CD4SE Set up the sound that came from the was pretty awesome, I don’t have that much Experience when it comes to listening to different HI bits but I know for sure that these speakers are a quality purchase. I can’t understand all the moaning about bass?? There is nothing wrong with it! Yes ok Perhaps it wont totally blow your socks off but then again when you’re trying to enjoy a smooth controlled well separated song who needs it. And if you do want more bass then you should have brought the 774’s!! Everything with these speakers it great, things really do sound magical with them they seems to work well with any sort of music due to there neutral balance, vocals shine though, Bass is tight and powerful and you can hear every twang of every string on the guitar. But if you do decide to buy these speakers make sure that your electronics end is up to scratch so that you can get the most out of them.

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Eltax Symphony 6, that’s it really. not in the same league

Good strong Quality speaker, Looks great and sounds great

Not real impressed with the spikes for the bottoms (no biggie) A little lacking on the treble but that might break in with time

Great speaker, good loud sound... Without losing quality.

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Sony, JBL, Mirage

Great Clarity in low, mid and highs. Very nice to look at, especially the gold center in the mid/bass drivers.

No weakness really,,just the bass doesnt go that low, but its fast and accurate. Still plenty for me

These sounded good right out of the box. The Bass opened up nicely after 2 weeks. Its just incredible the detail and resolution of these speakers with acoustic music. My setup is a bit on the bright side, so I cant imagine how good these sound with well matched gear as a Creek 4330, or Classe. A lot of sound coming out of these small boxes, and the imaging is pretty accurate and wide stage. I think that for 350 bucks, its armed robbery. The only speakers I would upgrade to, is the Mission 774 or 775. I just cant seem to justify spending too much more when these sound so good.

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Wharfedale Modus 8, Platinum Audio 808, Paradigm Monitor 9, and others

clean midband, nice bass response, extended highs, beautifully finished, go loud with ease

Somewhat "chesty" coloration on some male voice recordings, bass solid only to about 50Hz, doesn't fair well on the old knuckle rap test...

First off I will start off by saying I have the regular 773's as opposed to the 773e's (the difference being the extra woofer in the e's) A friend of mine was selling these and I said "why not for the bedroom?" The bedroom system consists of a Jolida 502 tube integrated power amp, an original CAL Icon cd player fed into a Musatex Melior D/A converter. Wiring is audioquest topaz on the interconnects and original monster cable twisted in bi-wire pairs.

Right out of the box they sounded outstanding, almost on par with the $1400/pair Apogees I also own. I would state that from the midrange up, they are 90% as good as my Apogees which is quite an accomplishment, indeed. They will play loudly with grace and the bass (a 5" woofer) is way beyond what I was expecting in both quality and quantity. On par, almost, with what Totem gets out of it's beloved "Arro" (a 4.5" woofer). I was thinking subwoofer before I set them up and now I doubt I will go with one. Soundstage depth and width is also beyond with what I expected for a floorstander. I was concerned at first by the lack of overall height of these speakers and the ability of myself to align my ear with the tweeter. It was not a problem at all, the dispersion of the tweeter is very good and these speakers performed a disappearing act no matter where I sat.

And finally, to "Peter" below who recommends B&W's in place of these. All I can say is that people hear differently. I owned B&W 602's for over a year and unloaded them to get these. The B&W's were not even in the same league as these speakers, they lacked clarity, bass, and would get confused and congested when going loud. But, everyone has an opinion, and mine is that these are very fine! Rating is for price/performance.

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I own Magneplanar 1.6's and Apogee Centaur's have also owned: B&W 602's, Maggie SMGa's, Martin Logan Arieus

Very rich sound, beautiful rosewood finish

Not a bass player

I bought these speakers on sale (500 Euro), and enjoyed them for a while. I combine them with a Yamaha 492 amplifier and CD player.
Music has a very clear & crisp sound but drum'n'bass music is not suited for these beauties: don't try Massive Attack or Kruder & Dorfmeister - Bjork or Jeff Buckley has never sounded so beautiful on the other hand. In short, I have mixed feelings for the 773s...

Superb mids and highs, exceptional imaging and soundstage, just gorgeous on strings and vocals, great looking too

light in the low bass, really beg for a good subwoofer

First off, these are the 773e model. Picked these up for $149 each plus $26 shipping on ubid, which is less than 1/2 what these had been selling for in stores just a few months ago. These are just absolutely sensational speakers. Above about 60Hz, they are the equal of anything that goes for under a couple of grand each. The detail and ability to localize instruments on the soundstage is top notch, but there is nothing strident or overly bright about them, just crystal clear delineation. When teamed with a proper subwoofer, they have no weakness whatsoever, at least on the Jazz and Classical selections that predominate my music selections. Plus, at least in the Rosewood finish, these are absolutely gorgeous looking (much nicer than, say, the Wharfedale Sapphires). They are so good, I'm probably going to upgrade the electronics that are driving them to bring the overall system into a qualitative balance, rather than the cost balance I presently have.

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Wharfedale, KEF, Dahlquist, other Missions

detail, clarity, excellent mids. Beautiful cabinets, small footprint, decent sound stage.

a little weak on the low bass

purchased these off the net without hearing them. I went by the reviews, (which I was a little nervous about). When they arrived I thought they looked beautiful and sounded great. I had them hooked up to a cheap Kenwood AV receiver and they sounded fine until I pushed them. Got rid of the Kenwood and have them hooked up to a B&K ST-140 with a Luxman pre-amp, what a difference! they like a quality amp
with power! much more detail and alot more bass. I have since changed the interconnects to audioquest topaz which improved the bass even more. I am very happy with these speakers, although I do use a subwoofer for home theater use.
system:
Luxman TP 114
Rotel RCD 930
B&K ST-140
Mission 773e's
Audioquest + MIT interconnects and speaker wire

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Polk, Advent, Pinnacle, Infinity, design acoustics, AR