Mission 751 Bookshelf speakers

It looks like a good year for small loudspeakers. Over the past few months I've had the pleasure of getting to know two quite exceptional examples in the shape of the Keswick Audio Figaro and the Monitor Audio Studio 6. I can now add the Mission 751 to that roster. And at just £299, it's a whole lot more affordable than either of the others.

Henry Azima, Mission's Technical Director, set out to produce a mini monitor within a price band rather than be constrained by a fixed price. The resulting speaker is a hi-tech design, with two new drive units and a transverse folded cabinet. The wrap works from front to back rather than from side to side; the baffle is integral to the cabinet. The tweeter is made from a new five-layer laminate of polypropylene and aluminium; the bass-mid unit uses polypropylene with mineral loading.

There was a time when the concept of monitor speakers rang warning bells for me. Weren't they those devices optimised for speech and which had had the dynamics, timing and feel wrung out of them at the same time as the coloration? The 751 falls into no such stereotype.

Like some old comic explaining the secrets of his craft, I'm often reduced to saying that the three secrets of good hi-fi are timing, timing and timing - without it, of course, we know we're listening to some electro-mechanical contraption rather than the real thing. The 751 passes the timing test with flying colours.

That a £300 loudspeaker sits happily on the end of my resident £5000 NVA TDS monoblocks without strangling their awesome music-making abilities talks volumes. Naturally, though, I teamed it up with cheaper amps too. An Audiolab 8000A gave good results, as did a pair of sub-£1000 NVA A70 monoblocks.

Like all my favourite hi-fi these Missions have a sense of freedom, poise and surefooted-ness. You can't help but be impressed by their clarity and lack of coloration. With the 751 music never shouts at you, nor does any part of the audio spectrum annoy. The balance between smoothness and dynamic abilities kept me listening for hours. I can't think of many sub-£1000 speakers, never mind sub-£300 speakers, that can present the subtleties of a clarinet and explosive close-miked drums so effectively.

The 751 worked its magic on the Pat Metheny album Still Life (Talking). It's a luxuriously multitracked recording that can easily drop the wrong side of the great music/muzak divide. But with the NVAs and the 751s this obviously studio-created album came alive. The wordless vocals, in particular, had to be heard to be believed.

With classical music, the space and resolution more than make up for the low bass compromises that are inevitable from a small enclosure with 89db sensitivity. For a small rock speaker, the 751 is just about faultless, with thrusting dynamics and good bass and drums underpinning detailed guitars and vocals. It's only at neighbour-riling levels that the sound blocks up and gets edgy and constricted. To keep things in perspective, you'd have to be very seriously into high-level replay to find the 751 lacking.

If I was Henry Azima I'd be a happy man. Paired with the forthcoming sub-£100 stands Mission will have a sub-£400 combination to stand comparison with the very best compact speakers (it's difficult to imagine the stands undoing all this good work). With the company's high profile and easy availability I'd say they're on to a sure-fire winner. And all this comes from someone who's never been a Mission fan.

Mission 751 Bookshelf speakers photo