Mission vs. Monitor Audio

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I recently returned to HiFi after about a 10 year drought. Back in the day I had a Denon AVC3201 AV amp and amongst others, Mission 780 speakers on Atacama SE24 stands. I recently bought a Denon AVR4306 and am currently using the (Mission made) speakers that came with a Denon mini system I've had for about 8 years. The front pair and centre channel speakers are first on my upgrade list though I see that Mission has faded somewhat from its former glory and Monitor Audio appears to have taken up the mantle. My question is, have any of you moved from Mission to MA and what differences / similarities you've found. I loved the 780's fast, punchy bass and wide soundstage and am looking at MA RS6's and RSLC.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Damien,

Believe it or not but I am more or less walking the same road! I am looking to upgrade my yamaha-based system with Infinty Beta 10 standmounts before the years end, and I've been auditioning quite alot of different speakers. Among the best of those were Dynaudio's Audience 52 and Focal's Chorus 816V. The last one in particular sounded superb! I was going for a pair of em untill I showed them to my girl, and frankly, she had a point when she thougt them rather large and eye-catcher-ish. When looking for an alternative I naturally came along the MA RS6's, but here in Holland it is quite hard to get an audition.

Yesterday however I got the chance to hear em next to the Audience 52 …nd the Focals, and I was amazed by their sound. Rather different from the others, but I thought it to be better (with jazz, soul, but also rock and dance music). Unfortunatly I heard them on a Marantz set and not on Yamaha or Denon, which are some what comparable in sound. I'd make sure you hear em sometime, they rock!

a-now-RS6-enthousiast

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Pim, I did finally get to listen to the RS6's at the weekend and they are indeed very nice - beautifully finished too. I tried them alongside the BR5's and there was no comparison - they're a world apart. I got mine past the style-police too - sounds indeed a similar path, lol. Good luck with yours!

 

[Anonymous]

Yes they look stunning idd. Good to hear they are a good bit better then the BR5's! What amp did you hear em on? I really like them but I'm a bit worried my yamaha doesn't match up sound-wise. Since (in Holland) Yamaha is no longer considered a "serious" HiFi brand by the serious Hifi retailers (since you can get it on the corner of every street here) it is near impossible to audition them together, or I will have to drag the amp with me... a real shame.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, the gap from BR5 to RS6 was quite shocking. The store had them connected to a Cambridge Audio CD & amp combo - cant remember which models and when he swapped in the BR5's they sounded muffled, almost like they were underwater so big was the difference to the RS6's. They had Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' for me to listen to which is pretty much my fave CD and it sounded awesome - punchy fast bass and a wide open sound. Just got to decide which finish to go for now! Its got to be either the Rosewood or Walnut.

I'm sure the Yamaha will be ok - I remember back in the day before marantz etc, if you wanted a home cinema amp it was either Yamaha or Denon and I don't think its changed that much except perhaps Yamaha have widened their availability which never goes down well with the specialist stores. As far as I can see they're still reviewing well.

I'm going to bi-amp my main front pair using QED silver anniversary XT so hopefully should sound good.

 

[Anonymous]

Did either of you listen to the Monitor Audio RS8?
I listened to these when I was auditioning speakers for my Roksan Kandy combo and preferred those over the RS6s (In the end I bought a pair of GR20s at 50% discount though...)

 

[Anonymous]

Nope, didn't here those. As I wrote earlier, it's hard to get by an MA audition, so I was happy with just the RS 6!

 

[Anonymous]

I know RAF in Amsterdam has both RS6 and RS8 in their demo room...

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="GSX-R"]I know RAF in Amsterdam has both RS6 and RS8 in their demo room...[/quote]

yes they probably have, but Amsterdam is far from where I live. Might go to RAF Utrecht, that's closer, but i'd probably prefer the RS6 anyway. Heard the RS6 at Hobo Hifi btw.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a quick listen to the RS8's and they were a touch on the bassy side. I have a Velodyne CHT-12R sub so I have more than enough bass on tap and wanted to keep the main pair fast and punchy, hence the preference for the RS6's. That said I do plan to listen to both again for a longer period (I only had a short listen previously) prior to buying. Sounds like you have similar problems getting to the right dealers too. There are only two MA dealers for the whole of South East Queensland. Luckily the one I did get to is not too far away and was very helpful as were the main distributors. Unfortunately I can't say the same for QED - I've emailed their Australian distributors three times now with no reply and no reply from QED HQ in the UK either. Shocking service. Looks like the only option is to get the cables shipped out from the online guys in the UK.

 

[Anonymous]

Finally ordered my RS6's today. I had a good listening session and was shocked to hear how much better then the RS8's they were. I'm sure this is equipment dependent but on the same Moon CD player and amp, the RS6's realy blew the RS8's away, surprising considering how much more expensive they are. On another note take when ordering as the RS6 pair I looked at in store in Walnut were a marked difference to the RSLC also in walnut, almost to the point of looking a completely different finish. I've agreed with the store on a comparative inspection when they arrive just to be on the safe side. I know they're a real wood veneer and differences and ageing are to be expected but these looked a different timber altogether. Anyway, will let you know how they turn out.