Mission 732 Bookshelf speakers

The Model 732 is one of the smaller models in a new series of loudspeakers from Mission, a well-known British manufacturer. The compact and moderately priced speaker was designed to provide exceptionally extended bass response from a cabinet that Mission describes as "modestly proportioned." It carries a nominal 8-ohm impedance rating and is recommended for use with amplifiers rated between 20 and 100 watts per channel.

The Model 732 is a two-way system operating in a vented enclosure. Its single 7-inch polypropylene-cone woofer crosses over to a ferrofluid-cooled 1.5-inch laminated metal-dome tweeter at about 3 kHz. Unconventionally, the tweeter is located below the woofer, just above the port, which is also on the front panel. Mission claims that this placement provides optimum time alignment between the drivers and a smooth phase response in the crossover region. The front-mounted woofer port is bisected by a vane said to reduce turbulence that can add noise to the bass output of a vented speaker. Putting the port in front makes it possible to place the speakers against a wall. Mission recommends a spacing of 4 to 6 inches from the wall, with the speakers facing straight out, not "toed-in," for optimum imaging. It is also suggested that for best performance they should be "run in" with a music program for a minimum of 24 hours.

The particleboard cabinet of the Mission 732 is finished in black ash vinyl. Despite the system's light weight, the enclosure is highly rigid. The speaker panel is a molded-plastic assembly normally covered by a black cloth grille, which is easily removed or replaced. The input terminals, recessed into the rear of the cabinet, are multiway binding posts that accept wires, lugs, or banana plugs. The Model 732's frequency response is specified as within +2 dB from 70 Hz to 20 kHz, and its -6-dB point is given as 47 Hz.

Lacking convenient wall space, we installed the Mission 732 speakers on 26-inch stands about 4 feet from the wall behind them and 7 feet apart. It was also impractical to "break in" the speakers for 24 hours, as recommended. Even so, they proved to be every bit as impressive as their manufacturer claimed they would be.

The averaged room response of the pair of speakers, at a distance of about 10 feet, was within +/-3 dB from 55 Hz to 20 kHz. Quasi-anechoic MLS response measurements at distances from 1 to 3 meters gave essentially similar results over this test's effective range of 300 Hz to 20 kHz.

The system impedance reached its minimum of about 5.5 ohms at 200 Hz and a maximum of 25 ohms at 1.7 kHz. The actual crossover frequency could not be established from any of our measurements. The low-frequency impedance response indicated bass resonances at 28 and 40 Hz.

Sensitivity with an input of 2.83 volts of random noise was slightly lower than rated, 87.5 dB sound-pres-sure level (SPL) compared to the specified 89 dB. Horizontal dispersion at 45 degrees off-axis was good, with about a 10-dB drop at 15 kHz and above, but less than 5 dB at 10 kHz and below. The woofer distortion at an output of 90 dB SPL was between 1 and 2 percent at frequencies above 70 Hz, reaching 3 percent at 50 Hz and 6 percent at 40 Hz.

Driving the Mission 732 with high-power single-cycle tone bursts indicated that it can withstand considerable power input without damage despite its small size. At 1 kHz and above, our amplifier clipped at outputs from 400 to 900 watts without damage to the speakers. At 100 Hz, the woofer cone bottomed with a 145-watt input, well in excess of the system ratings.

In listening tests, the Mission 732 sounded as good as its measurements implied. It was superbly balanced over the audio range, with a sound quality so clean and unstressed that it never gave a clue as to the size (or price) of its source. The bass, in particular, was free of the peaked output, usually between 80 and 200 Hz, that muddies the sound of so many (possibly most) speakers.

When I realized how good the Mission 732 sounded, I set up an A/B comparison with a considerably larger and costlier system that was on hand at the time. Excluding the low-bass range (under 60 or 70 Hz), the Mission speakers held their own remarkably well against this unfair competition. When I combined a pair of subwoofers with the Mission speakers, the two systems were definitely in the same league.

Clearly, the Mission 732 is a truly fine and surprisingly inexpensive speaker system, and a notable value at its price. Putting it through its paces was an enjoyable and educational experience. Hear it if you can, whether or not you are in the market for new speakers.

Mission 732 Bookshelf speakers photo