My long-serving Mission FS2-S sub-bass driver succumbed to the passage of time recently, and the rubber diaphragm started to disintegrate. The driver needed replacing. A forum post revealed that Mission would sell you a replacement driver, in October 2014. When I spoke to Mission’s technical department, they don’t stock that driver and that was the end of it as far as they were concerned.
The satellite speakers only work with that cross-over and filter, and I was not ready to replace the entire system. An alternative strategy is to remove the failed speaker, and use a separate (amplified) sub-bass driver. That’s ok, but it’s a second big black box in the corner.
After a bit of searching for 8 ohm 6.5 inch speakers, I found that the Visaton W170 appeared to be a drop-in replacement. The power rating is not quite as high as the original part (40W versus 55W for the original). But the fixing centres are in the same place, the speaker physically fits in the cabinet, and it even has the same spade terminals. For a mere £20, it’s a bargain repair. Very easy to do. The only “trick” is that the rubber grommets which hold the dust cover on are hiding 6 screws which need to be removed.
As Mission were asking for £40, the price looks brilliant.
I listened to the first twenty minutes of my Blu-ray edition of Blade Runner on it, and it sounded great to my non-calibrated ears.
March 24, 2018 at 1:35 pm |
Sir, you are my savior 🙂 I just bought the used Mission fs2 set and realized that the rubber on the woofer was torn. The link you’ve provided doesn’t exist, but thanks for mentioning the type of the driver I would need. Thanks a lot.
March 24, 2018 at 8:30 pm |
Farnell stock them:
http://cpc.farnell.com/visaton/w170/speaker-hi-fi-6-5-40w-8ohm/dp/LS02160
March 24, 2018 at 8:59 pm |
yeah, ordered from farnell. Actually it was the cheapest option.
January 9, 2020 at 12:27 pm |
Sir, indeed a saviour. My fs -2 speaker had gone. Replacement from Farnell arrived promptly and was easy to fit. The speaker had a gasket on the front which had to be trimmed down to allow refitting of the front plate. The sound is good, with perhaps a little missing from the mid frequencies, but is bedding down well. Saved an expensive re-purchase. Thanks Malcolm
January 9, 2020 at 4:24 pm |
Cheers. I always appreciate a “I fixed it” post.
January 31, 2021 at 2:19 pm |
[…] were actually better this time. Barrowbiker’s Replacing the sub-bass driver on a Mission FS2-S pointed me to Visaton W170 speakers available from […]