New mission speakers. New reciever and a major headache

[admin_exported]

I recently posted in the thread 'Sony 1200es - Vs - Sony STR-DG820.' I said I was going to get the 1200es. I received it yesterday from SuperFI, before it arrived, I kept telling myself ive made the wrong decision, wanting the more up-to-date technology of the 820.

I also have a pair of brand new mission M35i's, (they've been boxed in my bedroom for a month, so i cant return them) I could not resist the chance to listen to them. So I connected everything up, only using the missions, no effect speakers. I was extremely suprised by just how much the mission were a BIG let down. I was fatigued of listening to them after 5 minutes. The treble is the real culprit, its far from smooth and silky, and there was no grunt in the lower levels, hardly justifies the size of the cabs. I paid £300 from HiFiBitz, I dont believe they are worth half that amount of money.

I have a pair of Eltax Liberty 5's, someone gave them to me a quite while ago, when i swapped the speakers over the sound was, warm and pleasing to listen to. The Sony sounded very nice.

Mission 'used' to be a very reputable company, what went so drastically wrong with the company? I used to own, a few years back, the Mission 765i's, they were absolutely amazing speakers. I assumed (very stupidly) with the m35i's being missions and of a decent size I would at least get a quality tuneful sound. How wrong i was, the rear bungs might be more useful super-glued to the tweeter units.

I new i should of saved more money and got some B&W floorstanders.

Im already on a tight budget, there are no HiFi shops local to go and audition products, there used to be SuperFi but it closed down. So I rely heavily on reviews, strangely enough there are no reviews of the m35i's, that alone should of got the alarm bells ringing.

So i emailed SuperFi today to ask if I can return the 1200es and maybe get the 820 as a replacement unit. I sent them a lenghty email, explaining everything they needed to know, I only recieved an email (automated by the looks of it) telling me how to send the unit back.

It does not say if I have to pay for the return of, neither have they responded about getting the 820, i asked if there units had the latest firmaware and also mentioned Sony had recalled the already sold units to fix the problem. (anyone ever been in a simlar situation? Do i just return it and await a refund?)

So I sit here with my head in my hands, it just seems a complete waste of time (and costly) buying audio products unless you can audition.

Excitement turned to sour grapes.

Just wanted to share my misfortune.

 

[Anonymous]

Did I miss something? I thought you were complaining about the speakers and you were happy with the sound of the receiver?

I've just easily found a review on the Mission's though, and there are loads of customer reviews...

 

[Anonymous]

Where abouts do you live? Surely there must be a dealer within a reasonable driving distance.

 

[lee37]

regarding superfi i had tp return something a while ago and had to pay for the return just ask them to send the 820 as a replacement..

there is no guarantee there will be a better sound with the 820 if the speakers are the problem.

all i can reccomend is trying a speaker cable that is suited to a more warmer sound which should solve the problem of the speaker. what hifi has reviews of the speaker cables

also as for the sky fix on the 820 it only effects sky+ and sky hd via optical connection and if you still have a normal sky box there is not a problem but sony are releasing a fix soon apparently

 

[Anonymous]

Personally if you are unhappy with the 1200 I'd send it back and if no other receiver appeals, wait until sony fix the Sky issue.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Octopo:
Did I miss something? I thought you were complaining about the speakers and you were happy with the sound of the receiver?

I've just easily found a review on the Mission's though, and there are loads of customer reviews...

I agree. You are making a big mistake. The 1200 will sound better muscially than the new 820. Your problem is obviously with the speakers. Sell them on ebay and with the money you get buy some second hand speakers that are more of a match - BR2s?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.

The only reason i wanted to swap the amp was so I had all the latest HD formats at my finger tips, I never doubted that the Sony would be an excellent choice in terms of sound quality. I also have a suspicion that the 820 wont be as good as the 1200, Lee, with a decent set of speakers, im sure the 1200 would be head and shoulders above the 820 musically.

@Octopo, would you be kind enough to post some links of the m35i's reviews, please. How i've missed them myself, I dont know.

@Gerrard, I agree that im going to regret the swap 'if' I go through with it. Unfortunately I dont have a ebay account to sell the speakers on there. Ive been online for almost 10 years and i've never used ebay.

I suppose keeping the Sony 1200 for 12 months wont be so bad afterall, ( which is what i said originally in another thread...My mind is like a yoyo) I didn't want to swap it thinking the 820 would tame the speakers, IMO, hi-end equipment would struggle to make them sound half decent (what happened to mission anyhow? Anyone.)

I'll take a look at the BR2's, problem is im really on a tight budget, clawing myself out of a debt. So unless I can the sell m35i's im stuck. *Awaits the sound of violins*

Thanks again guys, your input is appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

@ Octopo - I can't I'm afraid. I think it was on page 7 or 8 of google with a search of 'Mission m35i review'.

@Gerrard - Set one up!ÿ

Mission is much like Jaguar. They were quality. Then they went massively downhill. Now they are trying to make amends.ÿ

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Octopo:
@ Octopo - I can't I'm afraid. I think it was on page 7 or 8 of google with a search of 'Mission m35i review'.

@Gerrard - Set one up!ÿ

Mission is much like Jaguar. They were quality. Then they went massively downhill. Now they are trying to make amends.ÿ

Yep, set an ebay account up - only takes a few minutes. Your speakers are generally selling around £300. You should get £200 for them. Don't say you are selling because you don't like the sound!!

With £200, you could possibly get a better pair of bookshelf speakers than the BR2s on ebay.

As for the 1200 not doing HD audio. Well, the new Sony bluray player has onboard decoding and multi channel output. Therefore the 1200 could link up with that nicely to give you HD audio.

 

[Anonymous]

I couldn't find the links you mentioned, Octopo. But ive been trawling about again for any info about them. What I did find is no -one who owns them has a truely bad thing to say about them. Im pretty sure if people were getting the same results as me there would be more comments relating to the harshness of sound. I know they need a bit of running in, but how they sound ATM there is no -way that harsh treble is going to dampen down.

Im using cable talk 3.1 cable, it can't be due to the 1200es. So it has to be the cd player. A friend of mine has a Arcam player, I will try that over the weekend.

If that fails and im still not impressed, i'll go down the route you mention, Gerrard, and get an ebay account.

I think i'll keep the 1200es BTW. (I dont know whether I coming or going

)

Again, thanks for your feedback fellas.