Opinion needed-Coincident Super Eclipse

look up member 'brulee' here on Audiogon- he had them, and liked them a lot (I am pursuing them as well), and, he's a great guy to talk to. Good luck!

I had them for a while and didn't like them. They are very dynamic but exaggerated in the highs and I felt that instruments were misplaced while listening to classical music. They also sounded veiled. The finishing on the cabinets is very poor and cloudy on the dark color and is brittle.It chips easily.

Check out these speakers. They look exactly like the Coicident super eclipse speakers. When your on the site, just scroll to the bottom of the page. http://shows.soundstagelive.com/shows/avtour2001/frk_dly_june16.shtml

Sutts, Khaki8's opinion's are interesting, are they not? Just as you asked me about Coincident being thin in the mids/highs, here comes someone who feels as if they are exaggerated in the highs. I think the conclusion should be that everyone's tastes/opinions are different. And, also that synergy is the key. The sound is dependent not only on that component in particular, but what is upstream and downstream of it. I can comment on the Total Eclipse, which I feel to be a strong candidate in the high end speaker arena. Dynamic, fast, and lively. Mates well with tube electronics and Coincident's own cabling. If you are looking for a speaker that overpowers a room, these do not fit the bill. But, to me that is a blessing. Kevin3xz, please audition ANY speaker you buy extensively before purchase. It is far too critical a purchase to leave to the opinions of another person.

Kevin3xz, Trelja as usual, has given you great advise. IMO the original SE sounded a bit soft in the highs especially compared to the TE. I have not heard the new SE with it's new tweeter and wiring so I can't comment. I do not agree with Khaki8's veiled description but I do agree with him on the finish. Mine are also chiped on the edges and I do not like the finish. The natural finish looks much better. I can get the TE to sound bright, dull, rich and warm, thin, lean and mean. In other words it responds to what you put in it and how much work you are willing to put into room placement just like any good speaker. If you follow Trelja's advise you can't go wrong. Good hunting.

Kevin- Trelja and Brulee are a great 'one-two knockout punch' regarding user-based knowledge on Coincident speakers- TRUST these guys- I do...

One thing I have learned from my discussions with Brulee about these speakers is that room dependency is important. I would love to get the new Super E's, however they will most likely 'overpower' my tiny 8'x10' second bdm (only room available for the 2-channel system). Even the mfr agrees (Israel Blume), and has recommended the 'Partial Eclipse' model for my application.

I live a 1/2 hour from Israel's place here in Toronto, Canada, and have heard his system with the Total Reference. He has an incredible listening room- 20'x40', with poured concrete, rounded corners, all dedicated lines, etc. You can imagine how I 'drool' about that after coming back to my 100-yr old apartment building with one crappy old 15-amp circuit for everything! Point is- the Totals work in his large room, and perhaps Brulee can tell you the size of his room, as I know he has been able to make them work quite well.

Israel has also designed an amplification system that I feel is magnificent with his speakers- a bi-amp combo with heavily modified Golden Tube Audio 300B's on mids/highs, and heavily modded Altec triode monoblocks on bass- it is fantastic- extreme signal purity and transparency, and great low-level detail and linearity as well (of course he is using the new Total Reference speaker cable that he mfrs, which is excellent as well- ask Brulee...).

Plus, the Altecs and GTA'a both are two of the most reliable tube amps you will ever find according to Israel- the transformers in each are outstanding. The Altecs even have individual volume control, which allows 'custom tailoring' of the bass to suit your room needs.

Israel has played with many amp combos over the years with his speakers (he also recommends the Manley Neo's as well, and one of his dealers now feels that the new Wytech Labs Topaz is the new 'king of the hill' for SET's), however with the GTA/Altec combo, he has found the ultimate no-compromise system that retains ultimate SET signal purity/transparency in the highs, as well as tight, tuneful (and adjustable!) bass.

In fact, I was so impressed, I just bought his entire personal system! (all 4 amps- speakers to follow). I don't have a digital camera, which is too bad, because the re-built/modded Altec 1570B triode monoblocks are imaculate and drop-dead gorgeous in my personal opinion. Also, the Golden Tube 300B monoblocks are the exact same black/gold colour as my CD player- Audio Aero Capitole 24/192. As time goes on, and I actually get things setup, I will try to post some info on the system- it might be helpful for guys with extremely small rooms like me (a crappy limitation, but what are ya gonna do? ). Many would say that having 170 wpc (triode) monoblocks running bass duty in a room that is only 8'x10' is extreme overkill, and they are probably right (I considered having 300B's only without the Altecs), however, what I have learned from Israel is that even at lower listening levels, the ambient decay; impact, etc. of the bass remains a critical factor to having a homogenous sonic landscape (regardless of volume level).

Anyhow, sorry for rambling, but I am only somewhat qualified at this point to give you proper advice on Coincident, as I have only heard them in the 'ideal' room setup at Israel's. Your results may vary based on amplification (tubes are recommended); room size; cabling; and source; etc.

Brulee and Trelja are imminently more qualified than I re; Coincident (although hopefully, I will play catch-up over the next year!), and are two of the best guys you will meet here on Audiogon- as I said, you can trust their advice regarding this subject (and many others). Good luck!

Good point Sutts and the rest.I have Super Conquests in my set up.The best way i can describe them is they are brutally honest.Feed them a bright recording they sound bright feed them good clean Vinyl and there are few speakers that sound as good at even 2/3 times the money.
They are as good as the source will let them be.You have to set them up right.Feed them a signle from a crapy cd palyer they sound bad,play the same music from an lp they sound great.
If you have a great source this speaker will bring you countless hours of joy.

Super Eclipses are very good speakers: dynamic, good frequency extension, coherent from bottom to the top, and not bad looking, either.

Caveats: They require carefully chosen- room placement, cabling, and upstream electronics--as others have mentioned. Also, my personal preference is to run far more amplification power than the mfr tends to suggest. (See below.)

I have used the 'Super E's' for 1.5 years--not the new tweeter version, obviously. I've tried five different power amps, three different manufactures' cables, and two pre-amps to narrow down the right synergy among the gear.

Placement: Because they have side-firing double woofers that are not on a straight line vertically from each other, the speaker can be a little tricky to place in some rooms. The staggered woofer configuration can make it difficult to determine the best placement based on room dimensions in relationship to the woofers. I recommend the Cardas speaker placement formula; see their website.

Cabling: Use Coincident's own cabling where ever possible. You can't go wrong unless you experience a synergy problem elsewhere in your system. I thought Harmonic Technology, Truth Link was a good combo until I tied Coincident's CST I interconnects.

Electronics: High-quality, non-glaring electronics do well. As I mentioned, I prefer much more power than many seem to favor with the 'Super E's'. I can recommend the 150 watt OTL Atma-Sphere MA-1 MkII's. The MA-1's liked the 'Supers' to be half the distance from the wall behind them compared to my usual 92" (measured from wall to front baffle) in order to bring out sufficient weight and authority in the bass. The MA-1 Mk II/Super E combo has stunning speed, tonal realism, and an frequency extension (both low and high, but especially upper fr) that it just may blow your preconceptions of what is possible with this audio obsession game.

The Cary SLAM-100's (with oil-filled coupling caps) also sound really good. At 95 triode-mode, push/pull watts/165 tetrode, they really can do justice to very demanding music and retain enough detail and nuance to satisfy my needs. The SLAM-100's have the same transformers as the discontinued SLM-200's and can be switched from triode to tetrode mode on the fly. Unlike the MA-1's, the SLAM-100's don't have any problem with weight and authority at the full 92' mark into the room in their triode--preferred--mode. Sort of like Coincident cables: others may do some audiophile-nerd tricks better, but Coincident cables just sound right. The Cary SLAM-100's just sound right. They are also more quiet than the MA-1's when using RCA/single ended interconnects. (The MA-1's really are designed to run in so-called balanced mode [XLR] in all fairness to Atma-Sphere.)

I will spare you a list of the other auditioned amps' shortcomings. Contact me off the discussion group if you want to take that further.

Israel Blume (Coincident principle) will probably hate this Cary SLAM-100 suggestion because he is most likely more familiar with Cary's SET's and does not like them. I go with what works independent of what's sexy, or a theoretical match. Too often I was told rhetoric like. 'More than enough power with amp X. World-class performance with amp Z.' only to find my experience with those very amps to differ significantly from their hype.

Interesting to note, that some one who bought Israel's demo system (Sutts) stated-I believe-that it used 170 watts on the bass modules of the Total Eclipses with additional amplification for the mids and tweets in a bi-amp config. And the 'Totals' are supposed to be even more efficient than the 'Supers' are. Does this tell you something about how the Super Eclipses really can shine?