@thecarpathian hit the nail on the head. Life is an adventure, I’d take his trip in a heartbeat, just for the fun of it. And I’d stop at every roadside Historical Marker and scenic spot, and hit some local bakery and coffee shops, too. Have a memorable journey and probably buy some speakers that are easily worth the ask. You’ll be telling the story for years.
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@celo , Are you OK with letting us know what town they’re in? Just curious as to how deep in Alabama they are. |
@thecarpathian ahahaha maybe I live in Utah and have four mother-in-laws? :) |
+1 to everyone who said "go on a road trip". If you can afford the speakers and the cost of the road trip, make it an adventure. I bought the entry level Avalon NP Evolution 2.0 speakers for my son's system (on a road trip where he agreed to the purchase) and, years later, they are still functioning well with surprisingly decent sound. They have limited bass, but sound decent in a smallish room. Speakers can last decades with reasonable care. Make it an adventure.
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@thecarpathian that was really funny. I am sorry. Please keep them coming. But mix in some Florida roasting too |
@celo, My previous post reads as somewhat of a vote to purchase. As content as I am with my Eidolons I'd pass on the Charles Hansen Eclipse. I agree with the issues raised here: They need plenty of room and proper amplifier matching. The missing shipping crates make transportation and resale difficult. Then there's the tweeter issue which could render them useless. Enjoy the season. |
No no. At first I was fifty fifty. Then I thought I would open a thread here to see. Then I was leaning more towards 80% a no. Then I found out my mother-in-laws might be going to TN and they asked my wife and I if we would go. I checked the map and saw it was going to be extra 3hrs drive if we went. I told myself if we go to TN, I will buy them. Then mother-in-laws said they weren’t going to TN so that’s that. |
let me sum it up: you advertised your noble but still insane quest (only sensible to the insanest of audiophiles) as you would drive 12 hours each way for a speaker you had never heard and never seen. It turns out, you would have done it ONLY when you were driving up there anyway, only a measly 5 hours away! After all, you are just normal |
Misunderstood. If my TN trip wasn’t canceled, I would have stopped in AL to pick them up. We aren’t going to TN. @ozzy62 I did hear Volti Audio at FL Audio Expo. Great speakers! |
@celo
If you are going to TN, you should contact Greg Roberts of Volti Audio and stop by for some audition time. |
@celo unless you have really top notch electronics with a lot of power, you may well have dodged a bullet on that one. |
@grislybutter @thecarpathian 🤣 I knew they were horrible speakers 🤣 |
In that case, @gbmcleod and everyone else raving about them were high as a kite. These speakers suck. Forget about them. |
Thanks everyone who has expressed their ideas. Unfortunately, I just found out that one condition I had is not going to happen. We were going to go to TN for the holidays, and I was going to make a stop (still some drive but not 12 hours)! to get the speakers. This trip is cancelled. Oh well, it did not happen. I guess it was not meant to be. Thanks again. |
The Avalon Eclipse is a splendid speaker. And it has one trait, almost NO other speaker has (I owned it back in the 1990s, along with the Ascents) and that is, a vanishingly low "grain." With the right amp, the view into the soundstage will feel as though you are hearing a microphone feed at the Metropolitan Opera. In other words, NO GRAIN. I had it with a Jadis Defy 7, and one friend would have (figuratively) murdered me, so much did he like it. The grain is so non-existent that if it were a film, it would be Kodachrome 25, the Holy Grail of photographic slide films (Holy Jesus was that a fine film). Too bad so many people arrived on the planet too late to even know about the era of slide film (which is STILL far better than digital). You will have to have an amp with no grain (and that’s almost NO amps) to hear this effect clearly. The only other speakers I’ve heard with no grain are the (defunct) Sound Dynamic RTS 3s. They sounded so much like Avalons, I couldn’t believe it. I hope you bought these. One thing, they do bass very well, but do not have the most "concussive" bass. Others have noted this, too. For me, it was less evident, because I had - at the time - a Versa Dynamics 2.3 turntable. The Versa’s low bass was astounding, so the Eclipses still sounded quite dynamic (just not exceptionally detailed from about 60 hZ down) The Avalon (even the Ascents) lose some of their definition in the midbass, but don’t let that deter you. They are fantastic speakers, and I’ve heard (and reviewed) quite a few far more expensive speakers. I did not have a 150 watt amp, as Atmasphere suggests (who, I assume, that is Ralph Karsten, the designer of Atmasphere). I found the 100 watt Jadis Defy 7 fine, but I also had a Goldmund Mimesis 9 amp, which was 175 watts and finally, my VTL 300s. Frankly, the Eclipse works extremely well (some would say "better" - and I would be one of those) with tubes, but many people don’t use tubes any more (too bad for them!). He liked the Eclipses better than any version of my WATT/Puppy system, my Goldmund speaker system, or even my Infinity speaker system. I agree with him, but only due to that non-existent grain structure (even the WATTS sounded like 100 speed film, which has a grain structure). Only the Kodachrome had absolutely zero grain. They are magical if you are the kind of person who goes to live UNAMPLIFIED concerts and knows what live music sounds like. |
@celo , those speakers need a lot of power (+150 Watts) and it should be clean power. They can play deep bass, but from all the feedback we have on that speaker, you need just the right amp to do it.
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@thecarpathian I am down to 10% :) There’s one condition in my end that I am still waiting to happen. I guess that’s why I am not still down to 0%😄 |
@celo , What did you decide to do?? |
@jmkrajnik, your a good soul. |
You already know the answer. That little voice inside is saying don’t do it. Trust your instincts. Don’t do it. I’ve been in the same situation too many times and Always regret when I don’t trust my instincts. Sometimes I’ll ask my wife who will tell me not to do it and it’s reassuring to have validation. Suggest you don’t do it. Move on to something else. |
If you’re addressing me, calm yourself, it’s called a joke. Quite the overreaction on your part, especially the pos addition. I have many friends from Alabama. Good, decent folk. When I lived down there we would often have good natured bantering like this. I was the damn Yankee. You should have heard what I got. It was not mean spirited nor malicious. Unless someone said "Bless your heart", then you know you went too far. If you are from Alabama, I meant no harm and I wish you a merry and blessed Christmas. And quit trying to get your sister under the mistletoe. |
@jmkrajnik so sorry about your friend. Wishing him/her smooth treatment. Thank you for taking time to respond. |
If it’s a particularly good price compared to other comparable designs and they are in good condition why not? Disclaimer: Heard Avalons once. Similar size and look but do not know what model. Liked them but found the sound quite unique. A lean sound for the size with a very expressive upper midrange as I recall. Were it me I would want to hear before buying. Proper gear matching may be key. I’d be less concerned if DSP were in my toolbox Did that do the trick?
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Well, I am still using my Eclipses I bought 33 years ago. Still work fine, and still enjoy them. Very inefficient: I have each of them biwired to a MC275 mk5. You need a lot of power. Yes, the bass can be a bit shy. Using Anticables improved that significantly. Currently I am in Mexico helping a friend get cancer treatment, so I cannot look at which flavor I have. But you need one of the higher versions of AntiCables for the woofers. Also I heard them with subwoofers. Bass issues go away with the right ones. If you can audition them to see that they are working fine, then you get an awful lot of speaker for $700. From the comments, sorry to see that Avalon isn't the company it used to be. Sounds like you need to make sure that they work before you buy them.
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