Mission Model 70 MkII

First heard these in 83 and liked them for their forward lively sound. I have had a number of other speakers but never really been happy with any of them. They normally sound closed in and congested. Anyhow saw these on ebay and got them almost 40 years later. One driver have the foam coming away, so I reglued it. Cleaned the cloth and restained the black ash veneer.

They work well at low volumes as they project the sound really well. In my small study they sounded a bit thin and not great though.

Anyhow as a test moved them into my main room, firing across the width of the room which is 10 x 25ft either side of the fireplace. Driven by a quad 405, could not believe how goood they sounded, tight bass, really crisp vocals and cymbals, and good imaging. They really are amazing speakers considering the price and age, just really liking them. Listening to ACDC Hard as a rock, they sound very good, this is very well produced album, give it a try.

They take a lot of power as they are not that sensitive, so can really drive them. Even loud there is not much bass driver movement, probably because of the the closed box design. I also have some mission 753, that have a lot more bass, but the vocals seem dulled and hidden, I prefer the little mission 70s.

Some of the best clear sounding speakers I'm glad I bought at a good will at $8 each yet for $16 it was a steal.review above on bass sounding a little boxy .yet a little more insolation resolved this problem .you'll love the way the mission electronics MK II model 70 sound .I have the black wood finish ones and I added em to my home studio set up cause I think their that good and they are.

Want clarity behind the audio set up and for a hell of a price cheaply payed you won't be disappointed.i took a shot on the name/brand of speaker I've never herd before then I seen were they were made witch then had me sold and I'm glad I got em.sound mid/hi are impressive,bass needs to be tuned adding insolation witch I do to all my speakers to hit just rite any ways .the look is pretty clean ,different from the standard pull off speaker cover grills ,made well being the standard particle board ,

These speakers are available for not much these days - £25 should get you a good pair.

They are a little odd looking with a cloth-finish that covers the whole speaker from the front to about 2/3rds back on the sides, when it changes to a vinyl wood-effect finish.

They are pretty lightweight, and would really benefit from some extra damping inside - either some bitumen pads or the like would help reduce some "boxyness".

Detail and midrange is their strong point - you can hear lots of what is going on in the music, and vocals are particularly well presented, but bass can be a little lacking, especially when brought out more than about 20cm from the back wall.

It's also worth noting that if you have a room with a lot of heavy furnishings then the bass that these boxes does provide can get swallowed up very quickly leaving a very lean sound.

Placed near a rear wall on decent 60cm stands, and firing directly out from the wall with no toe-in towards the listener, they give a good soundstage and plenty of insight. Bass can remain a little boxy compared with the best of it's rivals, but will still be a darn sight better than most micro-system speakers.

Connections are by a single pair 4mm posts that will take bare wire or banana plugs, so no biwiring here. Given the simplicity of the crossover though, this probably wouldn't give much benefit, so just use some decent cable (a basic copper 2.5mm cable like QED 79 strand would be more than ample) to get the best out of them.

If you are buying these in person, it's worth taking a screwdriver along and pulling the two halves of the speaker apart to check out the bass driver, as the cloth cover doesn't come off. It's getting on a little now and some examples might have perished cone surrounds. This will be very obvious from looking (the surround will have cracks, or bits missing) so if all looks ok then it should be fine.

Overall, if you want something for a second system, or want some speakers to upgrade the ones that came with a micro system, these are good value fot the £25 or so they go for.