Mission Argonaut speakers/ Should I?

Brad Muller

Super Member
I have a chance to pick up a mint pair of these very reasonably. They are the ones with two eight inch woofers with a tweeter in the middle. I think they were quite expensive in the 80's. Any opinions?
 
I am a huge fan of the vintage Mission brand. Mission made some very well engineered products during the 80's. The Argonaut was the TOTL speaker, followed by the Freedom 770, Renaissance 737 and, if I'm not mistaken, the 70. The Mission lineup in the 80's does not compare with their current products.

These were expensive speakers in their day, Doug Brady & son, a high-end audio dealer in England, used to partner the Mission Freedoms with the Krell KSA-50, Audio Research SP-8 and the Linn Sondek LP12.

I have a pair of Freedoms and I used to own a pair of Renaissances. I just love them. They were quite advanced in their time, for example, mine featured polypropilene woofer cones and rubber surrounds. I have the older version, which I think looks best, IMHO. In the late 80's or early 90's, Mission released a "mkII" version of the Argonaut and the Freedom. You can tell which is which, as the newer version has a rectangular tweeter. The model name is written in a different font in Italic.

However, older Mission speakers are not taken very seriously today, and you can buy them for cheap. The speaker drivers technology has improved so much, that, by today's standards, they are considered old speakers. Despite their size, the cabinets are very light. I believe my 737s weighed less than 20 pounds each, which is nothing for a large, standmount speaker. If you're a tweaker, there's a lot of room for improvement. You could improve the internal bracing of the cabinets, change the internal wiring and do a recapping job in the crossovers.

The Mission speakers are very easy to drive, they have the very typical "British" sound. They are polite speakers, very musical and they have a very natural balance. Do not expect full loads of bass but, for the most part, they sound very nice. I believe they match very well with most of the vintage receivers and amplifiers that we love to discuss about here at AK.

Good luck and if you liked what I wrote, I hope you can buy them. :yes:
 
I would snatch those in a heartbeat. IIRC they are the larger version of the Freedoms. They are on my wish list. I have the 770 Freedoms and love them. Some say tha the tweeters in these are starting to fade by now due to the fluid they used, but I haven't noticed. The Freedoms are one pair I won't ever part with.

the one thing is they do have a sound of their own. Hard to describe. They have a room filling sound and I can't mistake them for any other speaker I have. This is a good thing though in my book. The argonauts should be even more better. :thmbsp:
 
I think 767 was TOTL for Mission. I used to have a pair. There were huge (over 5 feet tall) and heavy.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=92632&page=2

They could be tri-amped(!!!) but somehow I wasn't thrilled and later on they were replaced by Mirage M-5si and recently by Swan Divas 6.1.
Nevertheless it all depends on price. And Missions are generally very nice speakers.

And finally: Brad, please change your avatar! I keep staring at it instead of typing!!!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks, these are the gray Mark ll version with argonaut written on the front. I can get them with a Hafler amp, preamp, and Rotel CD player for $200.00:yes: She is quite a looker!
 
Run, baby, run!!! :tresbon:

The price for the whole system is lower than what the speakers would fetch for themselves you know where...
 
speakers were $1850 new.
I have a set...very loud but good soundstage, 4 ohm. I wouldn't sell them anytime soon.
 
What they hay. Even if you don't like them you can set them free later, maybe even for a profit.
 
Someone (no, not myself or anyone I know) just posted on the Portland, Oregon Craig's List a pair of these...he (or she) says "In pristine condition, stored in air conditioned storage & plastic wrapped all of these years, unbelievably clean". Judging by the gigantic pics they posted they are indeed, probably the cleanest examples I think you probably ever find on something this old. They want $380 for 'em.
 
Yes......................... I have a pair I acquired a couple of months ago. Very very nice speaker. Keepers IMO.
 
Back
Top Bottom