My old Mission 753 speakers

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Many years ago I listened to a pair of Mission 753s (not Freedom) and Ruark Templars, both of which had received great reviews. It was no contest, and I have had the Missions ever since. I have always loved them, but they have always received a lot of criticism from people far more knowlegable than me, and I can't help wondering if I am missing out by being complacent with my old 'friends'

Funds are limited, so I see my choices as either to sell the Missions and buy something of similar age such as Ruark Talisman ii, which seem to receive much praise, or to put a couple of hundred pounds into the fund and buy something like Monitor Audio RX2 or KEF Q300

Massive bass is not a requirement, I am more interested in a clear realistic sound. I currently have a Puccini SE amp and a Musical Fidelity 5.5 CD player. Should I stick with my Missions, or can I make a significant improvement without investing an arm and a leg?
 

jjbomber

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I have an old pair of Mission 733i speakers being played off a Naim Uniti. I love the sound and the Missions won't be going anywhere. Nobody is more knowledgeable than you on what you like. Stick to your guns and trust your ears. It's what you like, not what others want you to spend your money on.
 

musical0111

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i had the mission 753 for many years i sold them last year and i miss them very much now,,
i am now using rogers ls 3/5a speakers they were my fathers choice of speakers, they are good little speakers
and i have a love hate time with them, but if i was you i would keep the missions they sound great imo and hard to better
unless you spend big bucks.
 
T

the record spot

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Keep them. Not a lot out there under £1000 to touch them. The original 75 series was Mission's best in my opinion, so no, hang on to them and continue enjoying them.
 

toyota man

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Hi I had a pair of mission 752s for more than 15 years and I have just given them to my son I would say keep them you will miss them and as RS has already said you will have to spen big bucks to get better . see if you can get a home dem on a better amp or source and you will notice the speakers will reward you as they punch well above there price range:) :)
 

Frank Harvey

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The Templars weren't Ruark's finest hour, and seemed to be the black sheep of the range - I could never get them to sound very good. So I understand your choice. A better comparison would've been the Talisman, so a pair of those might be worth seeking out if you're curious.

The 753's seemed to be Mission's finest hour, even though the speaker was greater than the sum of its parts. I've had many people after replacements, and I usually point them in the direction of the B&W CM8's as a starting point. The reason for this is that they're similar tonally, and they're very similar in their dimensions. 753 owners are used to a high quality wood veneer, which the CM8's have - there's not too many under £1k in this respect other than Monitor Audio, but Monitor Audio is different tonally so its not normally a viable option.

Similarly sized options include the Spendor A5, KEF R500, PMC Twenty 23, Dynaudio Excite X32, and of course the CM8's. the CM8's and Twenty.23's are the easiest transition. All of these options are over £1,000 though.

I suppose it depends whether you're after something to recreate the tonal balance of your 753's or whether you want to improve in certain areas, like deeper bass or richer tonal balance.

Although I liked the 753's, I never really held them in as high regard as many other people, so I think you would be able to find a speaker under £1k to improve on them, although it may well be a standmount speaker. The bass of the 753's was never really very deep, and many standmounts nowadays are far more capable in this area. As others have said, if you're happy with them, stick with them.
 
A

Anonymous

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Thanks for all your replies. I had started to doubt my own ears, but maybe they're not so bad. I will keep the Missions for a while yet, and maybe when my budget extends to four figures I'll go and see David@Frank Harvey, as I'm a Coventry kid and he's just down the road
 
A

Anonymous

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I've had the 753 Freedoms as my main speakers for years. I wouldn't trade them for anything. Ever.
 

the bhoy

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I have the origional 753 speakers , have had them since they first came out , I have listened to many other speakers as I thought an upgrade might be needed as they are old however I still have not heard a speaker less than £1100 that can match them wilson bench 2's were nice but at £2200 said no keep the 753'3 maybe try upgrading the speaker cables and repositioning them I find about 3 inches away from the wall with a slight toe in works well
smiley-smile.gif
 

GMK

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I own both the 752's and the Talisman II's. IMO the Talisman is the better speaker (iirc it was twice the price though) They are the brighter of the two, so careful partnering is necessary. Get it right though and they're beautiful with instruments and voices
 

geoffeeee

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I have loved these speakers ever since I bought them and found nothing since to match them without spending thousands to get a similar quality. If you are lucky enough to own a pair keep them and cherish them, mine still look and sound superb even after all these years.
 

Dazzaf41

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I have just bought a pair of 753's from a guy in Canada who used them on a second system that he rarely used. They took 9 weeks to get to Edinburgh and cost me about £500 in total. They are in imaculate condition just like new. I have them hooked up to an Arcam Alpha 5 which i know isnt powerful enough but wow they do sound amazing i must say. Can anyone help me with finding a better amp? I am looking to buy or find an Arcam alpha 9 which i believe is the amp to suit these speakers but am also looking at a Roksan amp, can anyone help direct me in the right direction :)
 

Dougal1331

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753s are amazing!

I still have my pair, and although not currently in use, I'll never get rid of them. All is not lost if they develop a fault, either; the bass units are usually fairly easy to find, and there are currently two or three tweeters on the market, which will work with- and actually improve- the speakers without any need for reworking the crossovers. (I know this because I've done it!).

I also love the look of them. But that's probably just me.

Sound-wise, they are still very relevant today. Moving sideways is easy, moving up will be a bit trickier...
 

Thompsonuxb

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If l had come to this thread sooner I too would have advised you to hold on to your speakers.

I too am a mission fan, I own a pair of 782se's and would not swap them unless they stopped working.

Of all the speakers I have heard in a domestic setting non have delivered the clarity and accuracy that these babies have provided.

Bass is tonely accurate making others I've heard sound bloated. The midrange is defined and holographic.

Those speakers were made to a high standard -finding cabinets that feel as solid as your 753 would be hard and expensive today, they also still look impressive.

No one talks about mission speakers any more but the mid/high end designs from that period were excellent (suspect drivers acknowledged).

If they still work fine hold onto them.doubt you'll find better without paying silly money.
 

Replicant666

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Hi,

I bought the original 753s when they first came out and have only just replaced them with Kef R900s the Kefs are more balanced but still have the drive, however theyre a lot more money...still held onto the Missions though so theyre in another room. At the time of buying the Missions I demoed loads of speakers but for the money in my opinion they were in a different class for the music I liked. Faith No More - Midlife Crisis clinched it for me :)
 

dantherman

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I've owned few mission speakers 760s, 751 and 752 couldn't afford the 753 but once I could, I demo'ed them finally but came away with Castle Harlechs instead which I've loved for 15 years until the kids poked the tweeters!

Mission original speakers in the 75 series had a metal tweeter which can sound harsh at times, that's why they upgraded them to the freedom with soft dome tweeters, but I assume you already know this. I have had the same problem replacing old loved speakers and I'll tell you this it isn't easy, took me hours but ended up with Wilson Benesch Square 2s and wow wow what a difference! My advise is go demo some and enjoy hifi all over again, treat yourself. But only buy them if you love them!!
 

Nat

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Hang on to them . If you have blown the tweeters issue ( and it seems a comon problem ) then you will struggle. I just managed to find a replacement pair of tweeters for mine, but it was not easy. I got very lucky . What really surprises me is that I couldn't find anyone to come up with a replacement that was a direct fit. And no one out there repairs tweeters either it seems . I am quite happy to modify the cabinet a bit , as in make the hole bigger etc etc, but when I read other posts about people having to solder resistors etc etc and tune the cross over I lose interest as its mostly out of my knowledge range. Shame really .

All I can suggest it keeping an eye on ebay and look for a set of tweeters if someone may be breaking up a pair.

As for speaker technology, it does seem to have advanced since 1996 when I bought mine. I just auditioned B & W's 683 S2's and KEF R500 .

Wow...............what a difference. The B&W's have a superb tweeter but disapointed me in the bass dept, which surprised me. The KEF's were astonishing. Smaller than the B&W's too. When you hear the Kef's you double take them , as given their size you cannot believe they deliver what you are hearing . They look stunning too. In fact they were so good I bought a pair. I auditioned them with my system in the demo room at SSAV TW and they sounded even better when I got them home.

So now the 753's are demoted as party speakers and if they blow again I shall sell them for spares.

Regards,

Nat.
 

fishypete

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Hi guys- sort of taking this post on a tangent (sorry, I'm new to this), but I'm hoping someone might have some advice on how I can improve bass from some Missions 753s I just picked up. Got them from a buddy, who demo'd them with a nice amp (not sure make/model) and got some decent sounding bass out of them. I just bought an NAD C317BEE (also demo'd with the seller's floorstanders, which got killer bass out of the NAD), hooked it up to the Missions and am really disappointed with the power of the bass. There was almost nothing there with some bass heavy music, I cranked the Bass dial all the way up and got a barely tolerable amount of bass, but nothing close to what my buddy was able to draw from his amp.

I've connected the speakers using 12 or 14 gauge wire (it's pretty thick, I think it's 12), and tested my mac and android phones as input sources using an admitedly shitty headphone jack-to-RCA cable. I tried increazing the bass frequencies in iTunes on the Mac, but that just resulted in distortion (even at low volume--the 4" woofer cones weren't even visibly vibrating). Note that the Missions have input posts for both LF and HF, and I've connected the NAD to the LF posts, with a brass bar connecting the two posts (same setup during the demo that produced great bass).

The bass is so low I feel like I must be doing something wrong. Thanks for anyone who has ideas/help!
 

Thompsonuxb

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Get a decent source.

Your phone won't cut it - your Mac should, how old is it and does it have an audio out or just an headphone jack.

But try to loan a cdplayer and compare.
 

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