reaplacing my mission 700's advice please?

[G4Z]

My 700's are now starting to rasp a bit at certain frequencies and while it was bearable at first now its getting worse and its getting right on my tits. Therefore I think an upgrade is in order, but to what?

I am thinking about doing an impulse purchase tomorrow so I might head to Richer if anybody has some suggestions I would welcome them. Max budget around £100 I think.

My current setup is a pair of TDL10's and mission 700's hooked up to an old marantz stereo amp (will replace that at some point, but the 605 is only £300 so its surely only a matter of time before I can get an even higher end one for that price). I use them for TV, Xbox, DVD and this... :



(love that pic )

[G4Z]

http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...-ARIA-AR10-BLK

or these maybe

http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=TANG-EVO-BLK

[stevie lee]

i was checking out richer.. they dont sell the B&W range.. which is what i would reccomend.

my dad likes http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=KEF-CRESTA10 - £79.95

or http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...TANN-CUSTOM-F1 - £99.95 won what hi-fi award things in 2007..

my tip: have a listen to some rammstein on their test amp/speakers.. as loud as they'll let you, test your chosen speakers to their fullest before buying..


when i did a similair thing at a shop around 7 years ago, i nearly blew up a test amp/speakers.. guess i had it up a bit loud . the B&W 600's were the only ones that could handle it, so i bought them.. never regretted it for one moment.. and the Tannoys i tested came very close, slight burbley sound on the midrange at full volume though.

[G4Z]

I don't even know who rammstein is tbh so I doubt that will help as I have no idea how it should sound!

Those both look like interesting options, think the Kef's match my TDL 10's colour a little better than the Tannoys.

[stevie lee]

tracks i have used to test in shops are..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNcQ5...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7tjw...eature=related
i have them on CD but these youtubes give you an idea of how they'll sound

and tracks 6 + 9 from the Alien Predator 1 PC CD.

fast paced then quiet bits then sudden loudness seems to work, tests the frequency response thingyness, some speakers tend to make warbly chuff sounds with rapid changes and this sorts the men from the boys.


I would test all 4 that are linked on this page and if none 'float your boat' have a look at the 'mordaunt shorts'.. bit more expensive, but worth it.

[G4Z]

ooooo, £150 is a bit of a stretch but they look really sexeh

[G4Z]

Well, i went with the Gale Mk2's and tbh, they sound ok but feel like they are missing some of the bass I had in my missions. Tempted to take them back, but then I suppose at some point once I upgrade to 5.1 i will be adding a sub anyway....

[bigblue]

No offense meant at all, but I'd take them back.

If you like the Mordaunt Short's, you could take advantage of Richers price match system, and get them to match Peter Tyson's price on the 902i, which is £99.90 delivered. Richers should beat it by a fiver, giving you the MS speakers for £95.

They're a perfect front pair for 5.1, and you can easily buy the rest of the set. They do a centre at £120, and you could simply buy another pair of 902's for rear duties. Also, the sub from that range is a corker, and together they make a very good surround package indeed

[stevie lee]

sounds like you didn't test them properly.. *grumbles to self - does no-one listen to me round here*

anyways.. try and do what bigblue said if you are not completely happy. but fully test the mordaunts before purchase, they may sound exactly the same as the Gale's.

if you are happy, then thats fine and dandy, go and test your Xbox a bit more.. theres games need a playin'..

[G4Z]

Well, I plan on giving them another blast tomorrow.

Not sure the Mordants would be any better due to the fact they also might not be as bassy as my old 700's. To be fair, I am getting zero rasping with this setup which is a massive improvement straight away really. I dunno, will have to have another good listen from my decks as I just watched a movie (the kingdom) with them and they sounded pretty sweet.

Also, I would have done a bit of a listening test but i parked on some double yellows and didn't want to take too much time on it...

[bigblue]

The Gale's are a bit of an unknown quantity, as they no longer seem to get supplied to any of the hi-fi mags/sites for review. The MS jobs have been pretty respected products in all the hi-fi press for the last couple of years now.

I've heard other MS stuff from that range, and they were incredibly impressive for the dosh. Far more so if you can get them for £95, bit of a steal methinks! I really can't see them sounding the same as the Gale's, they seem to have a bigger cabinet for starters, which should allow a bit more low-end. I imagine the tweeter on the MS's will be a step up too. And I can't state enough how good they sound in surround, especially with that £175 sub, which is one of the best value subs on the market.

If you can get a demo, great. But take the £20 with you, I think you'll need it Good luck either way, I hope you get something you can enjoy.

[G4Z]

Well, i just spend a couple of hours mixing some tunes and changing a few settings on my amp.

Really not feeling these tbh and I think i will head in this week and exchange them, the bass just sounds lacklustre after my old missions (prior to the rasping of course).

One thing I am considering though is that my amp (Marantz PM-48) isn't up to it as I am noticing that it won't go as loud as it did without distortion now and the gales seem distort a fair bit before my TDL 10's do. Not sure on this at al like. The TDL 10's are 125W and these gales 100W, should the amp be able to drive these?

[bigblue]

Do you mean you're swapping between speakers, or running both sets at the same time?

If you're runnning two sets of different speakers, at the same time, with the volume at 11, you could have a bit of bother. I wouldn't be surprised if you blew a tweeter, or four

[beanbandit]

Don't forget that speakers need to be "run in" before they sound their best. Cranking up the volume is not the best thing to do really. If your really unhappy with them take them back.

As for testing speakers, using just one type of music is not the best way to go about it. Use 3 or 4 different types of music. Make sure its varied, something heavy, vocal, piano, dance should give the speakers a good workout.

Oh and if it was me. I'd save up for some B&W's

[kushtibari]

The old Mission 700's weren't a bad speaker - I've still got a pair in a third system running an Arcam amp and CD player.

Whether or not the amp can run the speakers is more down to the impedance/efficiency of the speakers. My main amp is a Sugden with 25 watts but it still goes loud enough without any hassle.

I had a pair of the Monitor Audio BR2 for a while and they were good wee speakers. They cost me £75 second hand and I think thats the way you're going to have to go to get a decent set under £100.

Edit: If you want a bit of cash spare then these would be good - might go as little as 20-30 quid and you can put the rest of the cash to someat else in the system.