TFTC (Transverse folded cabinet technology)

The construction of the vast majority of box loudspeakers is extremely simple. A long, thin sheet of MDF has grooves cut into it and is then folded into a box shape with a hole through the middle. A front and rear baffle are then bonded into this ring shape and the drivers mounted in the front.

Research has shown this to be a poor way of controlling driver induced vibrations within the box. For our loudspeakers we use two u-shaped sections bonded into each other to form a box, creating a structure that is much stronger and more rigid than alternative methods.

The U-coupled front and rear baffle greatly reduces cabinet vibration and hence colouration.

DiaDrive bass driver

A natural mid-range quality is produced by a seam-free curvilinear cone formulated from a mixture of soft pulp and acrylic fibre specifically designed for midband clarity and lucidity.

Backing this with a stiff, conical support with increased area of contact with the voice coil for outstanding transient impact.

Viotex

Viotex is an extremely fine weave material which is both incredibly light and, when woven into a matrix and impregnated, is also very strong. Capable of moving at incredibly high speeds with minimal inertia, Viotex not only improves the upper frequency response band limit and improves the detail resolution, it is incredibly natural and relaxed in performance.

IDG (Inverted driver geometry)

Mission has pioneered the use of inverted driver geometry. By placing the treble unit below the bass or mid-range driver, the length of path so the waves coincide at the listener’s head-height is equalised. This principle is known as ‘time-alignment’.

Some manufacturers use electrical correction to achieve the same effect, but by using IDG, Mission loudspeakers achieve the same objective without disruption to the delicate mid-range frequencies. The result is a very natural and coherent presentation.

Magnetically shielded

All moving coil loudspeakers use some kind of magnet system to produce the movement within the voice-coil. The magnetic field, if unshielded can affect CRT televisions if placed in proximity to the field.

Mission use an inverted field shielding system and neodymium ‘rare-earth’ magnets which have a very concentrated flux density over the plane of the axis, but very little leakage towards the side of the magnet (and speaker).

All our magnetically shielded loudspeakers are ideal for use in close proximity to all television sets or wherever magnetic interference is an issue.

Kapton voice-coil former

Kapton is a polyimide film with both excellent electrical insulation and thermal dissipation properties. Both qualities are essential for a good quality and reliable voice-coil former.

Gold-plated connections

Gold has both exceptional electrical conductivity, and is also relatively malleable. When used for electrical connections, it creates a larger contact area and a lower resistance – both ideal for preserving the optimum signal quality.

Bi-wire terminals

Bi-wire terminals are used to allow the bass and high frequency sections of a loudspeaker to be wired independently. Although all bi-wireable loudspeakers are supplied with ‘bridging’ clips, so that a single wire can be used if desired.

Although the maximum benefit of bi-wiring is achieved through using two sets of amplifiers with different channels driving the bass and treble frequencies, there are still significant acoustic advantages to running two sets of cable (or a specialist bi-wire cable) from a single set of amplifier outputs.

When bi-amping (using two stereo amplifiers) with bi-wire speakers, it is recommended for each amplifier to be driving a bass and treble unit of one speaker, rather than having one amplifier driving both treble units and the other both bass units.

High grade OFC (Oxygen free copper)

Copper is an excellent electrical conductor, however, oxygen impurities within the crystalline structure can adversely affect that conductivity. By refining the copper to a much higher grade of purity, resistance can be further reduced for the best possible electrical conductivity and hence signal quality.

Ferrofluid cooling

Treble voice-coils are fine wires and tend to get very hot when used for a long time, or at high volumes. This can cause distortion and compression if the excess heat cannot be removed.

Ferrofluids are used in treble drive units to sink heat between the voice-coil and the magnet assembly. They also passively damp the movement of the cone. They reside in what would normally be the air gap around the voice-coil, held in place by the speaker's magnet.

Neodymium

Neodymium magnets (NdFeB) are one of a class known as ‘rare-earth’ magnets. They are also sometimes known as ‘super-magnets’ because of their unbelievable strength and small size.

They are ideally suited to audiophile loudspeaker applications because of their strength, low weight, small size and their thermal stability.

Die-cast Chassis

Die-cast chassis are a huge improvement over plastic or even pressed steel units. Because of the manufacturing technique used, they can have a more complex three dimensional shape, hence are much stronger.

Because of their higher strength, they can be manufactured with an open frame design. This allows air moving backward from the cone to flow and be absorbed within the cabinet rather than being reflected back through the cone. There is an obvious improvement to mid-range clarity and timing.