Mordaunt Short Performance 880 speakers.

Background

In an overpopulated area of the HiFi market, used speakers are somewhat, 10-a-penny. A dizzying array of tall or short boxes, often seeming quite nice on the eye, yet slated in the listening. For me, this has been an area of utter reluctance, almost ignorance. I've heard speakers that have made me wince or fall asleep and some that sounded right. I hadn't heard anything other than the Yamaha NS1000 that made me want to delve into the market.

I couldn't afford those, still cant. I opted to act on the recommendation of our very own Walpurgis and snap up a pair of Pioneer CS-77a. They did a lot of what I liked about the Yammies. Over time I had managed to all but forget what the Yammies did. Then I got a stark reminder of what "could" be.

Macca's JMLabs electra's hit me like a football to the face on a frosty Sunday morning.

All the refinement of the Yammies yet with more scale. Heavenly on the end of a Krell KSA50s. This, I was sure was where I'd end up. Alas, with no used pairs sold in almost two years, it seemed like a waiting game that wouldn't end. Then a glimmer of hope, a pair emerged but for £1000 on ebay. I didn't have the cash or the inclination to travel to London to fetch them.

I kept telling myself that I was first in line for Macca's pair. His Tannoys were close to being finished. The wait was almost over.

Let me set the scene for what happened next.

Lying in bed, warm cup of tea, 2 sugars as a special treat. Perfect. A quick browse of Facebooks Marketplace and blam! There was that football again, smacking me in the face. A pair of Black speakers, marked only as "Black speakers for sale"

One picture and it was side on. No driver pics, no pics of condition, nothing. Just a pic and an interesting price. I checked how long the advert had been up. One Week. Damn!

I messaged the seller to see if he still had them and if I could go and have a look, confident that it would in vain. Sure enough, 12 hours passed and I hadn't heard back. Then a message. "Yes they are still here"

I arranged with the seller to go and see them. His house was 5 streets away from mine and we struck a deal. I was the new owner of the Mordaunt Short Performance 880.

The Speaker

There isn't much in the way of information about these. What I have found out has been via other owners in old forum posts.

Released in 1997 along with the 860 & 820. Full range speakers with Resinrock cabinets. Time aligned and featuring AIS (Acoustic Isolation System)

More info here:

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Thanks to Jamie for this.

The Listening

As usual, there has been quite a lot of change in my system, but it's simple to hear how the speakers have performed. They deliver scale with an even hand across the frequency range. Seamless from top to bottom. Sometimes we hear speakers which can emphasis specific regions of frequency. That is not the case here.

Vocals are human in their portrayal. They do not harden in the extremes and they deliver with utter poise and control. Violins and other stringed instruments are accurately resolved. The wooden body of the instrument is clearly audible. Yet its without warmth or midband emphasis.

When pushed for more power, they go louder but lose nothing in clarity or control. They remain smooth and detailed. Delivering the Micro detail my ears crave. The aluminium dome tweeter has delicacy and finesse. One of the main concerns when one sees a metal tweeter, is whether it will be too aggressive. Again, Mordaunt-Short have delivered. HF is sweet and clean.

The depth and width of the soundstage is grand and in a bigger room, they would sound bigger again. Soundstage accuracy is high with an ability to pinpoint instruments easily.

Bass is taut and punchy but it's the detail in the bass that has caught my attention. No one note boom here! On Rodrigo y Gabriella - FOC live, the ability of the speakers to decipher every node and every touch, at breakneck speed, was breath taking. I mean that. The power and poise was eye opening. It's also digging up the Earth's core with the depth they go to. Mind boggling.

I haven't found a genre of music that they cannot cope with. Nothing has flustered them or made them sound ragged. I have tried.

Summary

I didn't look for these speakers. I didn't even know they existed.

Sometimes you need to be lucky, and I certainly was. Not only to have found, what looks to be a rare speaker on the used marked, but the price I got them for. Luckier still after listening to them.

My urge to try the JMLabs has been surgically removed, as has that of any speaker. The 880's are, in my humble opinion......EPIC.

These speakers cost around £4k when new in 1997.

I paid........£280. Thanks Facebook

Some Pics

I'll take some as best I can when I get a minute but for now:

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www.hifido.co.jp/photo/09/226/22636/a.jpg