{"id":480,"date":"2009-07-20T15:47:43","date_gmt":"2009-07-20T19:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/?page_id=480"},"modified":"2012-04-20T11:46:56","modified_gmt":"2012-04-20T15:46:56","slug":"mission-780-argonaut-loudspeakers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/recording-gear\/mission-780-argonaut-loudspeakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission 780 Argonaut Loudspeakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"The

The "Argonaut by Mission Electronics" logo on the bottom-right of the speaker cabinet.<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

\"A

A photo of one pair of my Mission 780 Argonauts<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Angled

Angled photo of one pair of my Mission 780 Argonauts<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

\"The

The left speaker.<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

\"The

The right speaker.<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

\"A

A photo of one of my Mission 780 Argonauts with the cover off.<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Top

Top half of the Argonaut, 1in dome tweeter, 8in woofer. A 2nd 8in woofer is below.<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Close-up

Close-up photo of the tweeter of one of my Mission 780 Argonaut Loudspeakers<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Mission 780 Argonaut Loudspeakers<\/h2>\n

First, I love these speakers.  Sure, they are as old as I am, but I have yet to come across anything new that compares to the sound of the Argonaut.  These are speakers produced during a time when the rage was giant Bose speakers and other similar products.  People assumed bigger was better.  Yet Mission looked past all that nonsense and produced a speaker that sounded so much clearer, especially at high volume than anything else in the consumer market at the time.<\/p>\n

Honestly, I'm not really sure how to quantify things I've been asked about these speakers by people, like 'soundstage, depth, and warmth' in writing.  I could say the soundstage of the Argonauts is warm, crisp, clear, and ultra-realistic, or live; provided you are listening to something that was recorded well.  However, I think the most accurate statement would be to say that when listening to music on these speakers, you hear what was recorded.<\/p>\n

I've listened to many things on these speakers over the coarse of my lifetime, and will summarize some more recent 'listening sessions' below.  I will say that the Mission Argonauts range from beautiful subtle ambiance to foundation-shaking power with no noticeable distortion.  It all depends what you want to listen to.<\/p>\n

I consider the Mission 780 Argonaut to be THE REFERENCE LOUDSPEAKER of the industry, the benchmark to compare all other loudspeakers.  The Argonaut is a speaker, in this man's opinion, that was designed for a single purpose:  to reproduce exactly what is on the record, nothing more, nothing less, and it does exactly that.<\/p>\n

[Technical Mumbo Jumbo™]<\/p>\n

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As time has gone by, we can now see many of their ideologies are now followed by other manufacturers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I will be posting quotations from the owner's manual of the Mission 780 Argonaut Loudspeakers here.  Mission had some revolutionary design ideologies that very much opposed how people thought loudspeakers were supposed to be used.  Topics such as speaker placement\/positioning, power handling,  and even the reason they pushed for a two-way speaker design over the popular three-way and four-way designs of the time.  As time has gone by, we can now see how they were right, as many of their ideologies are now religiously followed by other manufacturers.<\/p>\n

Listed specifications according to 1985 brochure:<\/p>\n

Frequency Band:         20Hz – 25KHz
\n\t\tFrequency Response:    35Hz – 20KHz +- 3dB
\n\t\tNominal Impedance:    4 ohms
\n\t\tRecommended Power:    50 – 200 Watts\/Channel
\n\t\tSensitivity:            94.5dB
\n\t\tTweeter:                25mm (~1in) Impedance Transformed
\n\t\tWoofer:                2x 215mm (~8.5in) Reinforced Homopolymer Cone
\n\t\tCrossover Frequency:    1.8KHz<\/p>\n

UPDATE:  I have scanned the brochure that came with the speakers when my father purchased them in 1985.  Download the PDF version<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MISSION ELECTRONICS Speakers Brochure from 1985<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Download the PDF version here<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mission 780 Argonaut Loudspeakers First, I love these speakers.  Sure, they are as old as I am, but I have yet to come across anything new that compares to the sound of the Argonaut.  These are speakers produced during a time when the rage was giant Bose speakers and other similar products.  People assumed bigger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":222,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PEAl2-7K","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/480"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/480\/revisions\/501"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}