Modern Vintage

Recently there are many audio companies is coming out with new product with vintage look and feel. Is really quite catchy if we talk about fitting in your home. Most people probably play their gear in the living room or some in the bedroom. Look of audio gear is becoming more and more important to capture the not so audiophile group. Mission a very old audio brand started back in the 70's is also a well known brand to many. Is not being just good but also affordable. 

Mission had earlier launch the 770 which is base on the older model which debuted in 1978. The most current Mission 700 is the trickle down of the 770. The design look pretty similar and technology use  is also past down from the bigger brother of 770. The Mission 700 has 2 different colours, is either black or walnut. The colour of walnut is a total match to the vintage theme and more over the front face white colour is the perfect match to the bookshelf. It really bring you back in time. 

The speaker has single binding post. Which I will is not a deal breaker. The binding post itself is solid and doesn't feel like entry level. It matches well with the speaker. The post is the standard type which can fit banana or spade. I have user the banana plug which fit in very nicely. 

The speaker also comes with its own dedicated stand. As the stand is design to fit the speaker, from the look at it feel like the stand is part of the speaker. The stand is not assemble ready. This makes it easier to transport. The assembling of the stand is pretty easy, won't take more than 10 mins to assemble both stands. The stand itself weight 14kg. Definitely not slouch in that area. The stand comes with spike feet and footer 

The height of the stand is 48cm, its almost the same height as the speaker. The entire stand is made of high carbon steel. That should keep any rust away but will still avoid humid area I suppose. The black colour stand really compliment well the speaker.

With the speaker on the stand, it just look gorgeous. This is one big thing that really draw me to the speaker. It can easily fit into your home without have to compromise. Just like another piece of furniture to the home. The other good thing is the weight of speaker and stand is close to 30kg. This is a good thing not just for the audio but is steady without much worry it can be down over. 

Of course other than the look the audio quality is something impresses me. In the picture is the Leak 230 integrated amplifier powering the Mission 700. The speaker cable is QED silver XT from source of Asus Tinker board running on Volumio.

Playback from the volumio with hi-res files and streaming from Apple Music are use to try out. The hi-res file playback is generally better than streaming with the streaming sounded more compress. That is to be expected. The first song tested with "Leona Lewis" - Happy. I will describe the vocal to be crispy clear. The sound easily fill the room. Seating 6 feet away from the speaker still gives the feeling how enveloping the sound is. Totally doesn't feel like a bookshelf. The bass is pretty solid too. From 6 feet distance can feel the chest thumping bass.  Although it can hear slightly boomy. Probably is the distance among the 2 speakers is too close. Both speakers are seating just 5 feet apart. 

Next song test with "Michael Jackson" - Black & White. The song is very energetic and the fast pace music is handle well by the speaker. The background music is all well handle, doesn't get muddle up with the vocal. Also the high are just nicely round off, the speaker is consider warm but still give the excitement when listening to pop song.

3rd song play "Adele" - Cry Your Heart Out. Adele is well known for her powerful voice, is just mesmerizing listening to it from the Mission 700. The center staging and imaging of the voice is just so good making the speaker totally transparent. 

Overall wise the speaker is well rounded with different genre of songs. Its also not fatigue in listening for hours. I will say British speaker are well known for being warm sounding and Mission does it well. The speaker is also easy to drive with just 70 watt integrated amp is more than enough to make it sing. The speaker is not quite the entry price point but is definitely won't cost a bomb. Job well done by Mission.