Mission 770 Speakers
The Mission 770 represents one of the most iconic models in the long history of Mission loudspeakers. A model that embodied the Mission pioneering research through the late 70s and 80s, with a bloodline dating back to 1977. The original Mission 770 debuted in 1978. It quickly became Mission's best-selling speaker, and gravitated naturally into MK2 and MK3 alterations with improvements to sensitivity and power handling. After that, the design eventually migrated to Freedom and other variations, but none of them made the sales impact or notoriety that the original 770 received.
The new 770's project design and engineering team was led by Peter Comeau, Mission's current Director of Acoustic Design. Peter was a young reviewer for Hi-Fi Answers when the original 770 launched and well remembers its impact (he subsequently co-founded loudspeaker maker Heybrook in 1979). For Peter, the new Mission 770 is a labour of love; just as it was for Farad Azima all those years ago.
The new 770 heralds the return of UK-based manufacturing for the Mission brand, where a 25,000 square foot production facility has been purpose-built in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire – the home of British Hi-Fi.
The Mission 770 has always been manufactured according to the Mission principles of quality and value for money. New Mission 770 further exemplifies these two edicts; balancing fine craftsmanship, natural sound quality, and affordability inside a beautifully proportioned loudspeaker that has been bought in its millions right across the globe through its various incarnations.
The original 770 was well known for its warm, rich and natural sounding character and the new Mission 770 retains that standing but imbues it with an open, detailed performance that will entice you to explore your whole music collection, once more.
Emphasis On Design: The emphasis for the design of the new Mission 770 is, indeed, that combination of polypropylene cone and resonance controlled cabinet. Accordingly, Mission has developed a new polypropylene driver, mimicking the extended response and low colouration of the original, while upgrading the motor system to take account of modern power handling and dynamic requirements. Naturally, like the original, the driver is built onto an 8-inch die-cast chassis with larger rear 'windows' to reduce early reflections back through the cone. Special care has been taken to marry a low-density nitrile surround to the cone to match its impedance and reduce reflections from the cone edge.
Drivers Anew: A new 200mm polypropylene mid/bass driver was developed for the re-engineered 770, mimicking the extended response and low coloration of the original, while upgrading the motor system to take account of modern power handling and dynamic requirements.
The new polypropylene cone is loaded with minerals to make it stiffer than the original, yielding fast, tight bass that enables the listener to hear exactly how bass instruments are being played. This is balanced by tuning the cabinet and reflex port to a very low frequency, avoiding the 'one note bass' that is typical of a lot of bass reflex systems. In addition, the port is strongly flared at both inlet and outlet to smooth airflow and eradicate distortion. Bass extends powerfully and cleanly to below 30Hz in room, which is remarkable for this size of speaker.
The Woven textile soft dome treble unit – true to form, with a high flux ferrite magnet, is engineered for smooth, detailed HF extension. This new treble unit uses a lightweight, damped micro-fibre dome with an ultra-smooth response, backed by a damped rear chamber that pushes the fundamental resonance well below the crossover region. The quality of this 28mm dome marries perfectly with the mid/bass driver to ensure evenness of character throughout the range of the whole speaker.
Endless Development: The highly researched crossover – a result of 100s of hours of listening tests - perfects the coherent, seamless musical output that is both thrilling and natural in its rendition of any source material. IAG's Director of Acoustic Design, Peter Comeau, has worked tirelessly to ensure a seamless integration between the drive units, so the speaker behaves as one music-making system.
Today's advanced software crossover mapping and measuring techniques allow Mission to perfect the balance between bass and midrange and adjust the crossover to the treble unit by mapping the acoustic crossover slopes with extreme accuracy. Even so, the choice of EQ and crossover for the new 770 involved hundreds of hours of listening sessions using a wide variety of music, and over 170 circuit iterations were tried before the final crossover was settled upon.
The circuit was then mapped out onto separate bass and treble PCBs using very short signal paths and accommodating high-quality components such as super-transparent polypropylene capacitors and air core inductors, maintaining the simplicity and elegance of the original whilst improving critical elements. The resulting transparency to musical detail ensures the thrilling emotion of music is fully conveyed, whilst maintaining a seamless transition between the mid/bass and treble units.
The Cabinet: The drivers and crossover are housed in a real-wood veneered cabinet with a white laminated front baffle echoing the style that made the Mission 770 a stand-out hi-fi product in the 1970s and '80s. Beneath the rich, rosy-tinged walnut or black veneers lies a further technological advancement. While the original 770 reduced midrange coloration using the BBC-influenced technique of a thin-wall cabinet damped by mass loading with bitumen pads, the new 770 features a twin-wall sandwich of high-density MDF and particle board bonded by a layer of high-damping adhesive. This results in a cabinet with panel resonance well below audibility, allowing the drive units to do their job unsullied by cabinet coloration at all frequencies.
Internal bracing adds strength to the front baffle and braces the drive unit to the cabinet, creating a mechanical support that aids the dynamic performance of the bass unit and reveals the micro dynamics of the musical performance. This is complemented by a layer of acoustic foam and damping fibre, strategically placed to absorb reflections inside the cabinet without overdamping the bass quality.
A Stand Up Design: The Mission 770 stand is custom designed in conjunction with Mission's Director of Acoustic Design, Peter Comeau. Every aspect is considered to create the perfect presentation of the 770 speaker. Hand made in the England, with robust British steel, the 770 stand reinforces the no-compromise approach in the 'Made in UK' theme for the return of the Mission 770.
Made In The UK: The new Mission 770 is not only designed and engineered in the UK; it is made there too. Mission's parent company, IAG, has expanded its facilities in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire – the traditional home of Mission – to incorporate key manufacturing, assembly and finishing processes for specially selected products, in addition to the R&D function already located there. A 9,000ft2 production facility has been added to the existing building in Huntingdon, including a new anechoic chamber, making a total of 25,000ft2 of office, lab and manufacturing space.
Like most British audio brands, especially those operating at the more affordable price points, manufacturing of Mission speakers was moved to Asia (to IAG's purpose-built factory) many years ago – essential in order to maintain retail prices at the level the market demanded – while design functions such as R&D and industrial design remained in Huntingdon. IAG's new Made in the UK initiative has been devised to enable the manufacture of specific products to be brought back to the UK without skyrocketing costs.
'Heritage' products are the focus of this initiative – speakers that are steeped in British audio history, where 'Made in the UK' adds to the sense of historical authenticity. The new Mission 770 is the first to benefit; products from other brands within the Group, including Wharfedale, Leak and Castle, are set to follow.
A Word From The Designer: Peter Comeau is justly proud of what he and Mission's acoustic engineering team have achieved. Speaking about the launch, Peter said: "To repeat the original 770 brochure's claims of 'staggering bass definition and response; lack of coloration; uncanny imaging; information retrieval; transient attack; depth and perspective; accuracy and linearity; speed and dynamic range' is only to hint at the true capabilities of the new 770. Instead, we prefer to focus on its uncanny ability to reveal the true depth, emotion and drama of whatever music you care to feed to it. A much-loved British hi-fi classic has been emphatically reborn."
About Mission
Mission has built a world-class reputation for advanced audio design since the company's formation in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire in 1977, with an engineering-led approach to product development that has resulted in some of the most popular and iconic loudspeakers ever devised.
Three things have always characterised Mission speakers. First, the cabinets and drive units use innovative materials and sport a distinctive, modern appearance. Second, the sound they produce is fast, detailed and engaging. Third, they deliver excellent sonic and material value for money.
Today, Mission continues to stretch the boundaries of what can be achieved at specific price points, pioneering technologies to create fresh, new designs. The brand now benefits from the unrivalled manufacturing facilities and global reach of parent company IAG, with all the component parts of every speaker made in-house. Yet the company's roots remain firmly entrenched in Huntingdon, where much of Mission's design, servicing and technical support work is still carried out. This, coupled with a design team brimming with home grown talent, ensures Mission speakers remain as impressive today as they were when the company first established itself at the forefront of the burgeoning British audio scene some 45 years ago.
Mission 770 Reviews
"Our conclusion? We think these new Mission 770 are right up there with the very best at this price. While the link to the past will be the main attraction for some, for us that's put in the shade by the speakers' excellent all-round performance. The 770 have a range of sonic talents that sets them apart from most rivals and earns them a warm recommendation." What Hi-Fi?
"Although the new Mission 770 is technically superior to the original, it retains its predecessor's charm. It makes pretty much any type of music you play a real occasion. It doesn't do this by adding pleasant-sounding artefacts, though. Instead, it's clean enough to take you directly to the recording itself, at which point it steps aside as much as possible. I liked this new, retro-styled loudspeaker a hell of a lot – and the way it sounds suggests to me that designer Peter Comeau had plenty of fun voicing it, too. Nice work, if you can get it!" Stereonet
"Mission's reborn 770 presents an almost floorstander-style listening experience from a more 'compact' cabinet that, thanks to adhering to the aesthetics of the 1978 original, will likely find plenty of admirers. So, too, should this loudspeaker's sonic signature, which seems tailor-made for those who crave rich, warm bass and mids, while its easy-to-drive nature is another feather in its very polished 'classic' cap." Hi-Fi News
"We love classic old hi-fi. Give us a chance to hear an original pair of Quad ESL-57 electrostatic speakers, Krell's first power amplifier, the KSA 100, or an early Linn LP12 and we simply wouldn't be able to resist. A huge part of the appeal of these products is all about nostalgia, of course. Compared to the very best we can make today, each of this legendary trio would struggle, though it's important to note that they would still charm due to their innate specialness.
But what if you take such a classic design as a base, and then execute it with the full might of current technology and the benefit of improved technical knowledge gained over the decades? This is a formula that Mission has followed with the resurrected 770 we have on test here. The company has even gone so far as to make these speakers at a new manufacturing facility in the UK to emphasise the heritage angle, rather than build in China alongside the rest of the range.
We think these new Mission 770 are right up there with the very best at this price. While the link to the past will be the main attraction for some, for us that's put in the shade by the speakers' excellent all-round performance. The 770 have a range of sonic talents that sets them apart from most rivals and earns them a warm recommendation." What Hi-Fi? - Best British Speakers 2023
"From its deep bass to its extended highs, the 770 proved commendably neutral, which is quite an achievement if it was truly designed more by ear than by measurements. But perhaps the ear-tuning is what instilled the performance aspects I liked most—the rich, powerful bass combined with a midrange that blossomed with realism with all the music I played, yet still provided detail akin to the best speakers I've heard. I was also surprised how well the 770 gets the sound out into the room, without those telltale big-box colorations that can make old-school speakers sound muffled rather than open and spacious. That sort of thing is tough to suss out with measurements, so maybe that's what Comeau and crew used their ears for. That could be a lesson for those who rely more on charts than their ears.
No matter how those performance attributes were achieved, they combine to create a speaker I could happily live with for a very long time. And the fact that the 770 looks cool and is made in England adds icing to the cake. If you're going to recreate a classic, it makes sense to make it in the same place as the original. So kudos to Peter Comeau and team—in every respect, their new Mission 770 really is a job well done." SoundStage Hi-Fi
Our Take On The Mission 770
Hands up all those who remember the original Mission 770 from 1978. Yep, I thought they'd be quite a few of you. And, it's true that it was something of a breakthrough at the time with its polypropylene mid/bass driver and meticulous construction. It was also quite distinctively modern in the way it looked, which was true for just about every Mission product around that time. We are talking about a rather adventurous period for design & fashion and some of us well remember the Mission 776/777 Pre/Power combo which came out in 1982 that had the entire casing shaped out of the word Mission. We'll put a picture in the image carousel above so you can reacquaint yourself with this classic piece of design. Meanwhile, this modern interpretation of the 770 looks striking similar to the original but the performance has been bought bang up to date by chief designer Peter Comeau and the team. And, these speakers are not only designed & engineered in the UK but, for the first time, actually manufactured there too. But, enough talking about the 770. What you really need to do, if you're local, is to make an appointment to see and hear this modern classic for yourself. On demonstration now at Audio Trends.
Main Features & Specifications
- Design: 2-Way Vented-Box Stand Mount Loudspeaker
- Enclosure Type: Bass reflex
- Transducer Complement: 2-way
- Treble Driver: 1.25" (28mm) soft dome
- Mid/Bass Driver: 8" (200mm) mineral loaded polypropylene cone
- AV Shield: No
- Sensitivity (2.83V @1m): 88dB
- Recommended Amplifier Power: 25 - 200W
- Peak SPL: 117dB
- Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms
- Minimum Impedance: 6 Ohms
- Frequency Response (+/-3dB): 42Hz - 20kHz
- Bass Extension (-6dB): 30Hz
- Crossover Frequency: 2.9kHz
- Cabinet Volume: 38.5 Litres
- Damped Carbon Steel Frame Speaker Stands Included
- Available Finishes: Black or Walnut Real Wood Veneer
- Speaker dimensions (WxHxD): 300 x 590 x 300mm (322mm deep inc. cable terminals)
- Weight: 19.2kg each
- Stand dimensions (WxHxD): 300 x 445 x 300mm
- Stand Weight: 17.9kg each
- Manufacturer's Warranty: 5 Years
Note: Features & Specifications Subject To Change Without Notice. E&OE