Mission Returns with the Return of the 770
he late Farad Azima established Mission in the UK in 1979. He was famously fond of the number seven. The following year, Mission launched the two-way 770 speaker. Now, decades after the brand's launch, Mission returns with a re-engineered 770 ($5000 per pair, including stands) that is said to "reap the benefits of modern techniques and technologies whilst invoking the spirit of the original in terms of technical ethos, look and sound." The new 770 features a newly designed 7 3/4" polypropylene midrange/bass driver that, like the original 770's driver, is built onto a diecast chassis with large rear "windows" to reduce early reflections back through the cone. The new polypropylene cone is impregnated 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." The new 770’s 1" tweeter uses a lightweight, damped microfiber dome backed by a damped rear chamber that pushes the fundamental resonance well below the crossover region. The original 770's crossover used minimal components. The new speaker's crossover resides on separate bass and treble circuit boards that feature very short signal paths and accommodate high-quality modern components, such as polypropylene capacitors and air-core inductors, "maintaining the simplicity and elegance of the original whilst improving critical elements." The new crossover required hundreds of hours of listening using a wide variety of music; over 170 circuit iterations were required before the final version was settled upon. While the original 770 reduced midrange coloration through the use of a thin-wall cabinet damped by mass loading with bitumen pads, the new 770's cabinet features a twin-wall sandwich of high-density MDF and particle board. This results in a cabinet with panel resonances well below audibility. Internal bracing adds strength to the front baffle and supports the drive units, creating a mechanical structure that is said to aid the dynamic performance of the speaker. Acoustic foam and other damping materials are strategically placed inside the cabinet to absorb reflections without overdamping the bass. As a final nod to Mission's heritage, the new Mission 770
is not only designed and engineered but also manufactured in the UK. 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,
adding to the R&D functions already located there. |
