Mission M74 floorstanders opinions and what other speakers do they rival

Gtiracer · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:02

B&W 685's or Monitor Audio BX5's

I am looking for some used speakers at the moment and am currently debating getting either:

B&W 685's

Monitor Audio BR5's

and then I know someone who has a nice pair of Mission M74's for sale, albeit considerably cheaper, now you know what they say, you get what you pay for, I think they're an older speaker, but its hard to get information as to how they compare to the other two speaker choices i'm considering, so opinions wanted and welcome please.

inogen · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:08

I know a few people who swear by Missions. I've never been bowled over by any of about the 6 or so pairs I've heard. But then I've never owned any.

Gtiracer · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:12

inogen said:
I know a few people who swear by Missions. I've never been bowled over by any of about the 6 or so pairs I've heard. But then I've never owned any.

Have you heard other makes which were better or worse to compare them to?

Ste · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:17

M74s are not in the same range as the B&Ws. Very cheap construction. They were designed as home cinema fronts rather than hifi speakers. They're not bad but not great. Loads of bass but not terribly well controlled.

Gtiracer · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:19

Ste said:
M74s are not in the same range as the B&Ws. Very cheap construction. They were designed as home cinema fronts rather than hifi speakers. They're not bad but not great. Loads of bass but not terribly well controlled.

ok, thanks for the input so the B&W's are in a different league then?

Funnily enough this would be for a 5.1 setup but I would prefer the more detailed speaker as I have a decent sub to handle the lower frequencies, so thanks for the input

inogen · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:20

Gtiracer said:
Have you heard other makes which were better or worse to compare them to?

I've heard loads. I'm a bit weird though with speakers. I like some Wharfedales and some Celestions, I even like some Yamahas, all for different reasons, some are flat, some have pronounced humps - I've just never heard any Missions that I've liked. I've always found them a bit bland and not in a good way.

Personal taste though isn't it? Can you test them with your amp?

Ah, well, if they're not even hifi speakers - don't bother

Raymond Lin · 15 Jan 2013 at 23:45

I would pick the B&W over the Missions and seeing you have a decent sub then it makes the question easier.

413x · 16 Jan 2013 at 01:07

i picked a pair of bx5s initially. to be fair i couldnt demo.

went for the MA as they were said to be fairly treble rich.. and they looks awesome (imo)

tom_nieto · 16 Jan 2013 at 07:50

I had a set of M72s which were good, but not great. Pretty decent budget solution in reality. If you can afford to spend more then do so.

Gtiracer · 16 Jan 2013 at 19:37

How would the B&W 685's match up against the Monitor Audio BX5's?

I know the Monitor Audio's are Floorstanders with an extra speaker - are they worth it over the 685's?

Ste · 16 Jan 2013 at 22:24

Gtiracer said:
ok, thanks for the input so the B&W's are in a different league then?

Funnily enough this would be for a 5.1 setup but I would prefer the more detailed speaker as I have a decent sub to handle the lower frequencies, so thanks for the input

Depends what you are comparing the the M74 were entry level home cinema speakers they are ok just not great. If you want mission speakers look for some 752 freedoms, probably cost about twice as much but significantly better.