Stockstinks

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Used at Audiogon

Summary:
These speakers look awesome and sound even better. The real solid oak tops and bottoms are a nice touch and the black socks are a deep and dark black.

Amazing speakers.I purchased these speakers last year and all I can say is that I will not replace them with any other speaker regardless how well or better they may "claim" to be or sound. I have auditioned so many well known main speakers from Legacy Audio(Focus 2020),Martin Logan,Revel,Thiel,Definitive tech,Coincident,Canton,Aerial Acoustics and B&W, some of them costing twice or triple what the Paradigm eclipse cost in so called "high end " systems and truthfully none of them has sound with the transparency,realism,detail as the Eclipse. These speakers are opened giving you such a soundstage with the highs being clear and the bass tight not boomy as some other speakers.
These speakers can and do play very deep and low. They have a soundstage that you have to hear to believe.

For the money I don't think you can find a more realistic sound. I feel that they sound very natural.

Strengths:
Bass is very powerful

Huge soundstage

Will handle lots of power but sound great with smaller amps

Weaknesses:

These baby's need room to breathe.

Similar Products Used:
Definitive

Price Paid:  $850.00 from ebay

Summary:
I got these speakers at ebay after selling the smaller brother the Esprit and all I can say is awsome!!!!!! These speakers have it all especially a very deep and wide dispersion of sonic extasy,the bass is simply first rate ,the midrange is smooth and very realistic and the highs are very transparent but not bright.You name it you got it. The Esprit were great but the Eclipse does everything the Esprit does but better especially in the bass and less strain. It's a shame Paradigm doesen't make these anymore but for me and others these are and will be the finest speakers Paradigm has ever made.I'm real glad I got a hold of these.If you ever get the chance don't think twice and grab em.

Strengths:
Everything !!!!!

Weaknesses:
Pretty big and heavy,need some room.

Similar Products Used:
Paradigm Esprit, BW's ,Linn Ninka ,Polk audio,Kef,Klipsh,Maggies etc.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Actually for Esprit. For the record the Eclipse & Esprit according to Paradigm website are part of the Referance Series. Got these in a trade. The Esprit is the smaller brother to the Eclipse & is smaller & less heavy than the Eclipse.They fit well in my listening room.I vertical Biamped them using Tubes(Audionics BA150)for Highs& Solidstate(Crown Mono)for Mids&Bass.This is a perfect combo.On 2 of my fav CDs,Norah Jones"Come Away With Me"&Holly Cole"Temptation" their voices sound so real,you can almost touch them.If you ever get a chance to own a pair of these,take it, you won't be disappointed.

Strengths:
Good sound stage,GREAT presentation and clean deep bass.

Weaknesses:
Just a small thing.Binding posts could be Gold Plated Metal instead of Plastic.

Similar Products Used:
Eminent Tech. LFT VI Magnepan MGIIB Dahlquist DQ10 Seas Custome Build.

Price Paid:  $1100.00 from Alhambra Stereo (def

Summary:
The greatest challenge in making an audio system sound good has to do with room acoustics. Many of us cannot afford or cannot physically alter an existing floor plan in a home or an apartment we live. The Eclipse can sound as good as B&Ws, planar speakers,and other speaker designs avaiable today. The stock internal wiring are your basic thin copper wires. Then it occured to me that it does not make sense to place a $1,000 speaker cable in between the amp and the speaker while the internal load to the speakers is carried by a tiny low grade cable. It is like pumping water into a 5 inch pipe then downgrading it to a 1 inch copper tube. I used DH Labs, Tara Klara, and Analysis Plus Oval 12s. The Analysis Plus was the best of the 3 I tried. The change in the internal wiring opened up the soundfield with huge images, clarity,3-dimensionality, bottom end, heft, you name it you got it. It was a very inexpensive upgrade.

Strengths:
Wide and deep sound dispersion, holographic, clear, uncolored - what you feed it is what you get. It can boogie and can accomodate high power amps and also excellent for tube amps. I have used 5 watt per side Zen Decware mono blocks with the Eclipses with great results.It is an all-type music speakers, not just for few music styles like some other designs. Best used bi-wired.

Weaknesses:
Big and heavy. The speaker binding posts could use some heavy duty metal lugs instead of the plastic ones.

Similar Products Used:
B&W, Thiel, Maggies, DCM, JBLs.

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Private Party

Summary:
I've had these almost two years and am still madly in love with them. I purchased them as a package with the B&W center channel, and Paradigm surrounds in November 1999. I bought the Paradigm setup because I spend a great deal of time listening to music and most of the 5.1 systems I'd heard sounded downright awful when it came to listening to music.

I have to say one thing...these big boys rock! I have also found they are revealing with equipment and cables. If you have cheap, whizzy-sounding electronics or even the excellent B&K separates these guys will let you know. They really sound their best with MOSFET amplification or something 'tube like' (McIntosh, Acurus, Bel-Canto, Cary, Carver, Adcom, etc) and good-quality copper cables in bi-wire configuration. Rock, jazz and rap music listeners will love these speakers for the bottom end and smooth highs. Listeners that prefer more intimate and accoustical music will love them for their ability to deliver warm, detailed, and liquid vocals.

I have my Eclipse's hooked up to a Adcom A/V pre-amp using twin stereo pairs of MIT Terminator 4 cables in a bi-wire configuration (the first two days of the break in period for these cables with the Eclipse were beyond excruciating...yeesh!). Two pairs of Analysis Plus Oval 12 cables run for bi-wire, or Audioquest Slate were both outstanding combos with the Eclipse as well.

While it's already been said that the bottom end goes down the lowest of most speakers, with spikes that couple them to the floor, the right cables and good amplification, the bass performance is amazingly deep and distortion free, and tight all the way down to their bottom limit. They're extremely revealing of the textures and detail in music. Individual instruments are distinctly rendered within the soundstage and you can hear if your vocalist needs to blow their nose! Some of my favorite recordings, after listening to them through the Eclipse, now sound more revealing and I hear new detail.

The Eclipse really shine with high end gear. I had the outrageously good fortune to hear them hooked up to a Proceed Amp 5 and PAV for an evening using Analysis Plus Oval 12 cables. I was stunned at how well the Paradigm's performed with the Proceed /Analysis Plus combo. The highs sounded airy, smooth and limitless, and the midrange was downright orgasmic, sweet and lush beyond common decency. And man, the bass was truly amazing with all the Amp 5's horsepower on tap! Very tight, deep and distortion free. Although they sound just fine with 100 clean watts, the Eclipse really shine with megabuck amplification I couldn't possibly afford in a zillion years! Maybe I can afford some used Bryston gear one day...

I'm very, very pleased with my Paradigms. I fully intend on keeping them around a long time. Feed them right and they make the most beautiful music. I enjoy the music more now. Perhaps that's the best recommendation anyone can make.

Strengths:
Big, solid, tight and deep bottom end. Nice wife approval rate because of thin profile. Easy to look at. Sound great. Sounds good soft or loud...and they do play LOUD!

Weaknesses:
Tall and heavy. With spikes you can hardly move them without two people.

Similar Products Used:
Linn Espek, Martin-Logan Odessey, Sonus Faber Grand Piano, Aerial 10T.