Mission 700 Leading Edge Speakers

I picked up another pair of Mission speakers this week, a pair of 700 Leading Edge.

These are smaller a than the original Mission 700's I had and the Mission 700S model also.

This pair is much smaller and has the 7 inch woofer from the Mission Model 70 and the Vifa D19 tweeter.

The speaker is acoustically suspended and is much smaller than the original 700's, yet larger than the Model 70.

I opted to re cap the crossover with a polyester film cap with the same value. It was a pretty easy operation. I left the old cap in place as it was well glued in.

The sound is typical Mission, very alive and forward. The mid range is detailed and the mid and highs surround you and if you are right there in the music. Unlike sitting in a seat with a concert in front of you.

Mission speakers from the end of this era are exciting speakers to listen to. They are not as polite as other British loud speakers. Almost like British sound meets JBL.

These speakers remind me of the Model 70 with more bass due to a larger cabinet. These are great budget HiFi speakers that can light up any room with a great sound stage.

I did pair these with the Realistic STA-84 but found that the mid range was to dominant as this receiver is very detailed in the mid range. I was happier to listen to these speakers  with a recently acquired JVC R-S33 receiver, it was matched up way nicer.

Baby Advent Speakers

I just finished re foaming a pair of Baby Advents for a friend. These are the smallest in the line up of Advents with a 6 1/2 woofer and a 2 inch cone tweeter.

No a bad sounding little speaker for the size but I did find the bass a little boomy for it's size. Very nice in the mid range and high end and the over all imaging was pleasant.

Realistic System Eleven

I came across a Realistic System Eleven today that is from circa 1982. This system would have cost $520 back in the 80's. The catalog even showcased this system on the cover that year labeled as the "Dream System".

The system fires up but needs a good cleaning, the foams are in good condition.

This is the big brother of the System Seven that I had a few years back.

It consist of a pair of Minimus 11 speakers and the STA-111 Receiver rated at 30 watts per channel.

Pretty cool little system from Radio Shack in the final years of making some hip products.

The STA-111 receiver subsequently got a new volume pot, a good De-Oxit could not get the balance worked out.

Camber 2.5 Speakers

This wonderful pair of Camber 2.5 speakers showed up today, this is the second time have owned a pair of Camber speakers. The first pair was a set of Camber 3.5's prior to starting this blog. The bigger brother with 8" woofers.

Camber 2.5's are a 2 way speakers with an 6.5" woofer and a Vifa T-27D tweeter, these are built to rival perhaps Paradigm 7SE's, if not at least the 5Se in the early to mid 80's. They may even compete against the Mission speaker line during that time.

These speakers sound absolutely wonderful, the ported design compliments the 6.5" woofer as the bass is tight and full. In fact I am in awe at how much bass is coming from the diminutive woofer. The mid range is a little laid back but extremely smooth and the Vifa tweeters hit all the highs without any hints brashness, these Vifa tweeters are good.

The build quality of the cabinets and mid bass driver is outstanding. The Bextrene woofer has rubber surrounds that will last for years.

I am super excited to have these speakers again in the rotation as they look as good as they sound.

Any time Camber or Rega Camber speakers appear in a thrift store or Craigslist they are well worth picking up, they are that good.

These Camber speakers remind me of the Paradigm Control Monitors that graced my presence.

Re foaming speakers using the 50Hz method and a smart phone

I usually re foam woofer surround by removing the dust cap, shimming the voice coil and attaching new surrounds.

Springfield Speakers has a pretty good walk through on using your smart phone and your stereo to use the 50Hz. method. I recently used this method on a pair of Pioneer HPM-60's with great results.

NAD Model 30 Speakers

I just picked up a pair of NAD Model 30 speakers that had been lingering to long on a local classified site.

NAD made these speakers in Germany probably under contract with Braun/ADS/Canton/Magnet/Dual as they use the very familiar large dome mid range and tweeter, in fact the woofer is similar to the speakers mentioned above.

I am pretty excited to have these in the house and look forward to updating the listening sessions.

Update:

The sound of the NAD Model 30 speakers is very close to my reference speakers the Dual CL390's. They differ in two areas. The bass is much fuller due to the larger cabinet size, which I like and the mid range is not as forward but only slightly recessed.

Although I paid a premium for these speakers it was worth every dollar.

Pioneer HPM-60 Speakers first generation

I picked up these first generation Pioneer HPM-60 about a month ago and finally got around to sourcing the proper surrounds of Ebay and re foaming the one woofer. The other woofer already had been done.

This pair was in better condition than the second generation HPM-60's that I had earlier.

The build quality of these speakers seems to be better with superior bracing on the inside and a cross over that uses polyester film caps than the second generation HPM-60's. The second gen used electrolytic capacitors.

I added more filling to the internals of the speakers as there was sparse material there to start.

For some reason the fake vinyl veneer seems to peel off this generation of HPM's as I have seen other images of the speakers in the same beige colour. Otherwise these speakers are in pretty mint shape and still have their spec sheets attached to the rear of the speaker.

So how do they sound?

Typical HPM rock sound with tight deep bass, very smooth lower to mid mid range and a sound that puts you in front and center in a concert, a rock concert.

These speakers were designed to to compete against the likes of JBL and Altec Lansing in the mid 70's

How do I like them compared to the second generation HPM's? Aesthetically, I think they look way better than the 2nd gen's. The sound is the same, this pair is starting to grow on me.