How would u guys rate eclipse against infinity kappa(i assume those are the best infinity's) and boston acoustics. I have never heard either of those 2, but have heard only good.

 

Kappa Perfects are better

Apparently I've got a skewed view of Eclipse speakers so I can't really compare until I get a more recent reference...

Boston Acoustic speakers have the kind of sound I like...but I'm a weirdo who's into warmth

 

i found the Kappa Perfects to be bright and lacking in low end... but then again, the circumstances i demoed them under weren't the best... it took me 20 minutes before i could FINALLY convince the sales guy to just let me 'flatten' all the settings on the head unit. i was absolutely disgusted by the time i actually heard the 'pure' speaker. generally speaking though, i seem to recall they did have a nice sound. i do remember that they didn't do very well w/ female vocals.

Bostons -- which set? i liked the Bostons (i actually have Boston's original VR setup from the mid-90's for my home theater), and found them to be very warm and fairly full, but a bit lacking in off-axis sound quality. they tended to also have a slightly stronger mid-range presence than i prefer.

generally speaking, i prefered the Eclipse components over the similiarly retail priced Rally Bostons, but i prefered the Boston ProSeries over the Eclipse components.

this is the approximate 'ranking' i assigned the component sets i listened to (when i demoed all my stuff...) (this is regardless of price -- some of these were stand alone good at their price range.)

Focal Polykevlar
Focal Polyglass
Boston ProSeries
Eclipse Components
Focal Access
Infinity Kappa
Boston Rally
Infinity RS
Polk MM
Polk EX

others that i demo'ed and wouldn't put in my car if you gave them to me...
MB Quart's mid line
Kicker's top line
Rockford Fosgates
any Alpine
any Kenwood, Excelon included
Pioneer...
Sony...
and numerous other sets that i don't even feel like remembering...

(sorry to any and all whom i offend by rejecting your stuff... but i'm worried about my tastes, not yours... )

 

Thanks for the input...

I have listened to several... Alpine, Kicker, Rockford Fosgate, Eclipse, pretty much everything that PJK3 doesn't like

Just had no quality information on the Eclipse. This helps out greatly. THe Eclipse's were 2nd on my list behind the Kickers but I am just getting started with my search.

 

My suggestions are:

HeadUnit = Alpine or Eclipse
Mid/Highs = MB Quartz or Boston
Lows/Bass = JL audio

Amps = Xtant, PPI, and JL audio

 

Eclipse Amps & Speakers are cool but overpriced. You can definitely get something better for the same amount of money.

HeadUnit = Alpine or Eclipse (There are a lot of good HUs out there, it's mostly preference imo, just don't get a Sony)

Mids/Highs = Diamond Audio (Hex's) Focal (Poly kevlars, I don't like the Poly Glass at all), ID Horns+Mids, a/d/s - Note: I always prefer Silk tweeters compared to Titanium. I don't like ear piercing sharpness (i.e. Mb Quart)

Lows/Bass = Image Dynamic (IDMax especially), Focal, Resonant Engineering, Brahma

Amps = Xtant, PPI, Phoenix Gold, Zapco, ARC Audio, McIntosh, list goes on...

For components, I'd get the best components I could afford & a decent amp..

p.s. Anything JL/MB Quart is overrated hype IMO.

FWIW, I plan on getting an Alpine HU, Diamond Audio Hex's for my components, an IDMax for the sub, and one of the amplifiers listed above. In my Civic daily driver I have a Clarion 9675z HU, Diamond Audio Hexs, ID Sub, and a Phoenix Gold amp.

 

Seems I may be one of the few running an Eclipse amp.

In truth I only listened to 3: Eclipse, JL Audio, and Diamond Audio.
I wanted to listen to Zapco but alas I could not find a store. I found that the differences between the amps I heard were really more the result of differences in gain setting. I had a devil of a time getting the sales people to flatten out their gains. They were deathly afraid of the High Voltage / Low Impedance Eclipse HU's and their amps getting fried.

I agree with others that the best combination of components is rarely one where all the pieces are the same brand. For me it was first finding the speakers that brought tears to my eyes and then finding the head unit that really allowed me the most control over the sound, (because I'm always I tinkering with it). I knew with our S2K it was going to be a battle to get a decent sound stage with the top down or get tight low end with an exhaust system rumbling as I ran thru the gears.

For me the Eclipse HU (pre-amp actually) really made my Focals sing.

RE: Eclipse Amp - Now, the amp was the 3rd items on my priority lists after the speakers then HU. Since the Eclipse pre-amp HU was High Voltage/Low Impedance (16V/8V), I had to find an amp that could handle it. There aren't many choices. Eclipse was of course one that did have an amp that handled low impedance. In addition it fit perfectly in my vertical trunk mount I had. This made my choice pretty straight forward - it sounded great, worked with the HU, and fit the space I had.

Having used the Eclipse amp now for several months I've found it to be all that I had hoped. I've had only one incident and that was on a 96 degree day where it got too hot in the trunk when I was running it loud. It temporarily went into protection mode and shut down. Once the heat died down it ran like a champ again.

While I would rarely recommend multiple components from the same company, the low impedance HU's from Eclipse really narrow down the amp choices. Eclipse make a noise-less, excellent sounding AB amp, with the flexibility of 4/3/2 channels, and handles low impedances. It's HU's and amps really are made for each other.

 

I totally agree here. I've heard all the high end stuff and put my money where my mouth (ears?) is: components MB Quart QSD 216s, Amp PPI PCX-2125, and as soon as my car gets out of the shop I am planning on putting in the Eclipse CD8053 CD head unit. Also, make sure to use Dynamat Xtreme (or similar) on the innards of your door panels.

As far as ergonomics go, I think the CD8053 is in a league of its own with its mappable NOB rotary controller (check page 7 of the full line brochure PDF). Plus, it has a true parametric EQ, time alignments for all channels, 8 volt outputs (16V if you run balanced lines), and a 100db Signal to noise ratio. The top Alpine and similarly proced Pioneer Premier come close, but for my money the Eclipse is tops.

After this, rear speakers and a sub should bring my little S up to audiophile territory.



Here's some links:

Speakers: http://www.mbquart.com/2003/en_US/products...1&model=QSD+216

Amp: http://www.precisionpower.com/amps/pcx2125.asp

Head Unit: http://www.eclipse-web.com/cgi-bin/com/pdf...i/CDTuner_L.pdf
all PDFs http://www.eclipse-web.com/products/pdf/index.html

 

I have had the Eclipse 8053 HU installed since early Aug. I agree it is in a league all its own based on the list of top-of-the-line HU's I'm sure we have all listened to. The 8053 that was released in June is a different model number than the one they released in 2002 and best of all it cost half the price of last years equivalent. While still a pricey deck at ~ $550 what a difference a year can make in pricing.

Here's the rub ... the 2003 model year was a radical redesign year for Eclipse HU's, both inside and out. They packed all kinds of high end components and functionality inside. But, the dealer I bought mine from confided that he has had nearly 12 returns to Eclipse for 2003 HU warranty work because of hardware problems. Whereas he only had one HU warranty return during 2002.

My 1st 8053 HU was one of those problem units. It would shut down & repower-up at random. My dealer was great. He swapped out a replacement 8053 as a loaner (no charge of course). Mine was sent to Eclipse and returned in 3 business days. Come to find out they gave me a brand new HU but moved my serial number from the old one to the new one. The new one has been wonderful for 2 weeks now. No problems and the sound is spectacular with the Focals

Moral of the story -
1.) I recommend buying HU's from authorized dealers, especially model year 2003 Eclipse HU's. They make problems go away at no pain to the customer.

2.) Don't buy a gray market 2003 Eclipse HU unless you are feeling really lucky

3.) The sound makes it worthwhile to consider Eclipse for a listening test.