I am new to What HiFi, and therefore I may be asking a question that has come up before. I've just purchased a Mission 775 turntable (no letter suffices), I would estimate to be from the 1980s. It is not the really heavy version I read about online, but it is pretty heavy. I am absolutely enthralled with it. I substituted it for my old turntable into my sound system, and I am using the same cartridge and stylus as I used on my previous turntable - Ortofon OM with a 20e stylus. The sound is addictive - full spectrum with deep lows, sweet highs, and rich and clearly differentiated mid level tonality.
Granted the turntable I had set up before this was a Pro-ject Primary, so it isn't a fair comparison. However, I only bought the Mission because I wanted to compare this vintage turntable to the Rega Planar 3 with an Exact cartridge that I heard set up in the listening room of a local audio store. The Rega was exquisite, perfectly balanced - like listening to all the levels arrayed as a tower of differentiated and articulated sound constructed for me personally. I gave the decision a few days, during which time I went to a used audio place where they set the Mission up for me with the Ortophon OM cartridge and a 5e stylus. At first, I thought it must be a trick or an auditory illusion caused by something in me that really wanted to discover a special vintage sound. We used to have an older Garrard record player back in the 60s and 70s, but I grew tired of tracking down tubes for the amplifier and we lost track of it. Maybe I was recalling that older style of sound?
Anyway, I have been listening to discs on the Mission 775 for days now and I can't get over how great it is. One thing - I ditched the felt pad and play the records right on the aluminium platter. A subtle but definite improvement.
Does anyone else feel the way I do about the Mission 775?
Thanks for reading this rambling post.
Granted the turntable I had set up before this was a Pro-ject Primary, so it isn't a fair comparison. However, I only bought the Mission because I wanted to compare this vintage turntable to the Rega Planar 3 with an Exact cartridge that I heard set up in the listening room of a local audio store. The Rega was exquisite, perfectly balanced - like listening to all the levels arrayed as a tower of differentiated and articulated sound constructed for me personally. I gave the decision a few days, during which time I went to a used audio place where they set the Mission up for me with the Ortophon OM cartridge and a 5e stylus. At first, I thought it must be a trick or an auditory illusion caused by something in me that really wanted to discover a special vintage sound. We used to have an older Garrard record player back in the 60s and 70s, but I grew tired of tracking down tubes for the amplifier and we lost track of it. Maybe I was recalling that older style of sound?
Anyway, I have been listening to discs on the Mission 775 for days now and I can't get over how great it is. One thing - I ditched the felt pad and play the records right on the aluminium platter. A subtle but definite improvement.
Does anyone else feel the way I do about the Mission 775?
Thanks for reading this rambling post.