Home > Consumer Reviews > Mission M-Cube 5.1 Home Theater Speaker System, Midnight

First of all, I would like to say that given the preceding reviews before me, I am in no way affiliated, coerced or paid by Mission to write this review. I did this just to let you know how I enjoy (or not enjoy, read on) these speakers for the last 1.5 years that I've owned them. And yes, this is my first official review on Amazon.com.

Secondly, I am an established pseudo-audiophile. I work part-time as a sound engineer and own a private home studio. Therefore, please take whatever you are about to read with a grain of salt as I am not a professional audiophile like some others here.

Here are my sound setups: Marantz SR4600 5.1 receiver, Marantz SR8400 7.1 receiver, OPPO Digital OPDV971H dvd player, Panasonic RP87 DVD player, AVIA home theater setup disc, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon SACD, Gladiator Special Edition DVD-Audio, Mission M-cube 5.1 on surround system #1 and KEF KHT-3005 5.1 on surround system #2.

Appearance: The 5 satellite speakers are smallish ~3 inches across (slightly larger than Bose single satellites) and therefore are very easy to "hide"... Since they come in glossy black or ivory white, you can simply hook them up on wall mounts (only 2 are included in the box - for the rears I presume, so you'd have to order extras for the front) and they "disappear" into room decor. Very pleasing to the wife... They also come with 3 colored cloth wraps to increase invisibility. As far as I know, Mission M-cube is the only system that ships with these in the box. The subwoofer cube is smaller than most others in its class and has round edges. It can be cute if you can use it for another function, like propping up a vase. However, by putting things on top you make it difficult to access the functions that you need, so I ended up just putting in on the floor and hope my 1.5 year old son doesn't kick it around too much.

Sound: Built on the NXT flat panel drivers, the surrounds are extremely easy to set up because you can put them just about anywhere and achieve instant integration. The "sweet spot", unlike typical cone and diaphragm drivers, is about as big as your room (literally) so I did not even have to do a lot of tweaking using AVIA home theater disc. Pink Floyd's orchestral works sound wonderfully detailed, with midranges and highs rivalling my KEF's. At the lower end of the midrange (i.e. Russell Crowe's Maximus talking softly in the prison scene with Connie Nielsen) the sound disintegrates a bit and becomes thinner (I know it's not typical of midrange to sound thin but I don't know how else to describe it). This is an inherent problem with flat panel technology, as described below.

The main problem (and why I'm docking 1 star from the rating) is with the subwoofer. It's powerful enough to drive most DVD's low frequencies and is a bit tight with bass lines. However, because its crossover frequency is best at ~250 Hz, it becomes extremely directional, a.k.a non-surround. If you put the subwoofer out of the way behind you or in a corner (as most people would) and watch a 5.1 DVD, you will be able to tell that Russell Crowe's voice sometimes seems to come from that corner behind you and not from the screen, as it should. Thunderous volleys, though thumping, sound like they come from someone shooting at you from the back. It's at the very least annoying and at most capable of destroying your 5.1 experience all together. Your only option is to put the subwoofer in front of you underneath the TV, at which point it may stick out like a sore thumb aesthetically. It's just hard to hide.

Overall, I like the system given its ease of setup and invisibility. Plus it comes with most things you need right out of the box (including cables and 2 speaker stands, cool!!!). It's a great system for enthusiasts and beginners who don't want to waste a lot of time setting up. As for me, I prefer my black KEF speakers to these given the above problem with the subwoofer.

As I'm writing this review Amazon has decided to pull this from their inventory. That's too bad, since its price and user-friendliness are unbeatable for a speaker system in this range.

These speakers are ready to go right out of the box with everything you need to hook them up: cables, stands and wall mounts included. NXT Flat Panel tech sounds different than what your use to hearing, but in a good way. The "sweet spot" really is much larger than any sub/sat system I have heard. The difference is that the crossover is set much higher, over 250hz. So the sub has to play more of the mid and low range. I would say if your into heavy bass lines this is not your system. But the M-Cube sound is crystal clear and this system plays loud! You can't believe how loud these cubes go without distortion and the sub keeps right up. I recomend you follow the manual and give them a "break in period" of a week or so, because the sound did mellow a little bit. I left the radio on when I went to work. After that I let them rip. I purchased the Ivory color system and it goes fine with my siver components and Plasma, The color bands are kind of cool to change up the look of your room. What Mission gives you in the M-Cube is the best looking sub/sat system out there with high end build and high end sound. I have owned sub/sat systems from Klipsch, KEF, and B&W and while the sound is different from all of them, I'm sure I will have these a long time.

For the gentleman who "hasn't heard these speakers"...C'mon. Just another marketing robot for Bose Corporation, spewing out a "review" that's as accurate as the speakers he touts...which is NOT AT ALL!

I worked in the Bose engineering lab back in the late 60's, and have friends that still are involved with the company. One of them was given a Lifestyle system (at a significant discount!) and immediately sold it for a set of Missions. Cheap drivers in cheap boxes with GREAT marketing.

I could give a long dissertation on the WHYS, but the best advice I can give is: Take just about any Bose product, subtract about 66% off the selling price, and you'll have some idea of the VALUE of the product you'll be getting (in many cases this is a conservative estimate).

In the case of these Missions, there's not a Bose product at ANY price point that comes close to delivering half the sound, value, and quality of parts and workmanship.

Saying Bose is "high end" is as laughable as saying a Ford Pinto is a "luxury" car.

Sub is a bit boomy and satellites lack treble. I replaced a separates system with this. Should have kept the separates, or gone with Bose.

I worked overseas selling high end audio speakers like Infinity Kappa series, Mordaundt Short, Kef, Mission, Wharfedale and B&W. (I wanted a pair of those so bad I could taste it!). Oh yes, we also carried the 'high end' line such as Infinity's lower lines, Polk, the lower end of Klipsch and of course, Bose.

Although I've never owned these, I am proud to have owned a pair of Mission 765s (on channel A), and for channel B, a pair
of Wharfedale Diamond IVs.

People who bought real high-end, would power them with Rotel, Crown, Mission (of course), Infinity, and even certain lines of Denon and Harmon-Kardon as minimums. Products which had good damping factors, good current delivery and good power bandwidth. And even these were not true "High-End" but they are a far cry from Bose.

The people who bought Bose, would power them with a Pioneer, or Technics receiver or if they were really into 'high-end', would get Carver or Sony.

If you truly prefer Bose to a good pair of speakers, then buy them. But if you like to hear ALL of the music equally well with a clarity that would allow you to hear a pin drop in the recording booth at *low volume*, then look seriously at these and other Mission products.

Just for the record, my current system consists of Denon, Onkyo, Harmon-Kardon and Kef

And if you want to know how Bose rates in high end, I suggest you pick up a copy of Absolute Sound! And don't spout off when you are ill equipped to do so.