Please talk me out of buying the Avalon Eclipse

$700? Lol. What are you waiting for?

never heard them, but this excerpt addresses your question, quoting Charles Hanson:

"But you know, time has a way of sorting things out. I believe that the Avalon will be one of a handful of products from its time that will stand up in the years to come. Look at the 1950s—as far as we've come, there are still a select few loudspeakers that could make you happy today: the Klipschorns, Altec A7s, KLH 9s, original Quads... Think about it—if I told you that you could only have one system for the rest of your life and it consisted of a Marantz 7, a Marantz 8B, and a pair of Quads, could you be happy? I could. That stuff sounds good, looks good—there's integrity to the design. I'd like to think the Avalon will be remembered like those products."

from Stereophile

If they are in good functioning condition I would buy them.  You will not get any support from Avalon if something goes wrong so consider the $700 a sunk cost.  I had a pair of Avalons.  

30 year old speakers - in general - are not worth a 12 hour drive and $700. Consider two factors - can you sell them and who else the seller could sell them to? They are too expensive to ship, a pain to store, keeping something you don't love is more of a hassle than a joy. Speaker are so subjective, there is really less than 20% chance that you will fall in love with them, in your room, with your gear.

Are you being honest in the title of this thread?  Don't let the nattering nabobs of negativism deter you.

Btw, I drove18 hours to get my Spendor 9/1s.  A similar vintage loudspeaker.