Mission Leading Edge Loudspeaker
The Mission Leading Edge Loudspeaker was a popular British loudspeaker produced by Mission Electronics, an audio company based in Huntingdon, United Kingdom, founded by Farad Azima in 1977. The Leading Edge was a modest sized bookshelf loudspeaker of a two-way design, featuring a woofer and tweeter in a sealed box enclosure.
Size (H,W,D) |
x x |
Weight |
|
Frequency response (±3 dB) |
66 Hz - 20 kHz |
Sensitivity |
89 dB (1W/1M) |
Background
The Mission Leading Edge Loudspeaker was a development of the classic 700 model, re-engineered for the expanded 1982/3 product range and in response to the arrival of compact disc. The speaker retailed for approximately £150 and was available with the option of single pillar Mission DM7 sand-filled stands.
Design
The Leading Edge features a number of innovative design aspects. The first is the use of an inverted driver array. "...first designed by Farad Azima in the Mission 700, [it] goes some way towards equalising the distance from the acoustic centres of the drive units to the ears of a normally seated listener. The effect of such a design is that at the crossover frequency the radiation lobe is directed up towards the listener rather than down to the floor" . The second feature is the baffle, which is constructed from injection moulded polypropylene and designed with a step in order to afford some time-alignment for the plastiflex woofer The tweeter is Mission's proprietary polymer dome with a Mission branded face plate. The cabinet is constructed from 12mm chipboard using a transverse folded technique and was available in black-ash effect vinyl woodwrap. Spring loaded speaker terminals were provided which could accommodate 4mm banana plugs. With high sensitivity (89db 1w/1m) and good power handling (100w) the Leading Edge could achieve high sound levels (approx 103db @ 2m).
Sound
This was a popular loudspeaker with consumers and the hifi press, garnering a 'Recommended' rating by HiFi Choice magazine in 1986 and 1988. The review panel "found the sound quite clear, lively, open, tight, and 'out of the box' [...] praising articulation and lively dynamics". In conclusion, HiFi Choice noted that the Leading Edge "...remains a fully competitive model, carefully contrived to be suitable for close-to-wall siting and deserving confident Recommendation."
See Also
- Mission 707 Loudspeaker
- Mission 737 Renaissance
- Mission Freedom Loudspeaker
- Mission Argonaut Loudspeaker