Cyrus Two News Today

Great sounding and well-equipped, Mission’s new 778X amplifier is so good that it doesn’t need to rely on retro appeal

Musical Fidelity’s A1 amplifier is considered a mid-’80s classic and rightly so.

Some audio experiences stick in your memory. For me, one such was in 1978, which I reminisced about in a 1987 review for Stereophile of the Mission PCM 7000 CD player, Mission 780 Argonaut loudspeaker, and Cyrus Two integrated amplifier. Mission founder Farad Azima (footnote 1) was a driving force in the UK audio scene in the late 1970s, when I was deputy editor of the English magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review.

Buying a second-hand amplifier could land you a bargain, but youll have to take care to avoid pitfalls.

In 1984 an affordable stereo amp arrived that blew away the competition, but can it beat the best modern amps?