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It was in the presentation of the recorded soundstage that the Eclipse excelled. My usual test for image specificity is the imaging test tracks on the Chesky Test CD (JD37). The Eclipses performed better than any speaker I've heard on this test apart from the big Thiels. Lateral images were tightly defined in space from left of left to right of right. (It was interesting that the reverberation excited by Bob Enders's voice remained pooled in the center-rear of the soundstage no matter where the direct sound came from.) On the LEDR tests, the signals could be heard quite unambiguously to rise…
For the last listening session, I thought I'd return to the Jeff Rowland Model 1, this time using two of the amplifiers, bi-amping each speaker with each stereo amplifier. In this way, with the help of a Bourns 10k stereo pot in the feed to the HF amplifiers, I could lower the tweeter level by arbitrary amounts, which might help the sound of the speakers driven by the solid-state amplifiers to match the much better sound obtained with the tubed models. The only cable that I had four equal lengths of was the inexpensive (79 cents/foot) AudioQuest F14. This proved to be surprisingly good in…
Sidebar 1: 1991 Review Context
Source components used in the preparation of this review consisted of a Linn Sondek/Lingo/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on an ArchiDee table to play LPs, a Revox PR99 to play 15ips master tapes, and the Meridian 208 (Bitstream) CD player, this also used to drive the Stax DAC-X1t processor.
Charles Hansen is a big fan of Convergent Audio Technologies' SL-1 and recommended I use this tube preamplifier to get the best sound from the Eclipses. This didn't prove possible, however, so my preamplification consisted of initially a Mark Levinson No.26/No.25…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
I use a mixture of nearfield, in-room, and quasi-anechoic FFT measurement techniques (using primarily DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a B&K 4006 microphone, but also an Audio Control Industrial SA-3050A 1/3-octave spectrum analyzer with its calibrated microphone) to investigate objective factors that might explain the sound heard. The speaker's nearfield low-frequency responses and impedance phase and amplitude were measured using Stereophile's Audio Precision System One.
The first thing I wanted to examine was why the sound of the Eclipses seemed so…
Looking at the manner in which the fig.6 impulse response decays gives the "waterfall" plot in fig.9. With the exception of some nonsense between 1 and 2kHz, the decay is exceptionally clean in the treble, which undoubtedly contributes to the speaker's transparency and impressive sense of image space. Repeating the measurement for the woofer alone with 15Hz resolution, however, shows that the woofer does contribute some resonant hash in the midrange (fig.10), perhaps due to the cabinet, which might contribute to the feeling of hardness I felt the speaker's sound to acquire at high levels.…
Arnis Balgalvis wrote about the Eclipse in August 1992 (Vol.15 No.8):
In the Altis room at the 1991 Summer CES, an impromptu press conference was called to demonstrate Jadis's brand-new Digital Processor, flown in from France the night before. Jean-Paul Caffi, Mr. Jadis himself, was present, as was US Jadis importer Victor Goldstein and, of course, Altis's Howie Mandel. As good as their intentions were to demonstrate the masterful abilities of the Altis Bitstream processor when mated to a tube analog stage, what ended up impressing me most was the loudspeaker they'd chosen—the Avalon…
I'm sure the Eclipses also benefited from the exalted ancillary gear. First a Theta Data, then a Micromega/Versa Dynamics Duo transport fed a Wadia 2000 processor. Jeff Rowland's wonderful Consummate preamp fed a pair of Krell MDA-300 power amps. The analog front end consisted of the Ikeda 9R and the Lyra Clavis cartridges, the Airtangent and Graham 1.5S tonearms, the Basis Gold Standard Debut turntable, and the balanced Rowland phono stage. A Tice Power Block was used with all low-power equipment. I found that the Eclipses had a special synergy with Purist Audio balanced Maximus…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Two-way, sealed-box, floor-standing loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" titanium-dome tweeter, 8.5" Kevlar/Nomex honeycomb-cone midrange/woofer. System resonance: Q=0.5 at 42Hz. Crossover frequency: not specified. Crossover slopes: not specified. Frequency response: 45Hz-24kHz ±1.5dB (typical -3dB point in-room is said to be below 35Hz). Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m (2.83V). Nominal impedance: 6 ohms (minimum 5.5 ohms). Amplifier requirements: 30-200W.
Dimensions: 39" (991mm) H by 11" (280mm) W by 15" (381mm) D. Weight: 105 lbs (47.75kg) each.
Serial…
A tradition is anything we do, think, or believe for no better reason than that we have always done it, thought it, or believed it. Most traditions are followed in this mindless and automatic way, and, if questioned, are defended with the argument of, well, that it seems to work. It's time-tested, true-blue and, because so familiar, as comfy as an old slipper. So why rock the boat, throw a wrench in the works, or fix it if it ain't broke.
Although we like to think of audio as high-tech and up-to-the-minute, it, like virtually everything else, is hidebound by rituals, mental sets, and…
The paragon for lower-middle-range reproduction is the large horn-loaded system of the type used in recording studios and movie theaters, which more often than not sounds exaggerated through this range. But audiophile systems sound deficient here, even though designers' measurements show otherwise. And this region has a most profound effect on the ability of loudspeakers to reproduce the real timbres of real musical instruments. I have complained bitterly about this in countless speaker reports, yet my own response measurements have consistently failed to turn up any pattern of objective…