Paradigm eclipse/bp

[saabracer23]

Hello everyone, it has been a very long time since my last post although I have been surfing the forums a bit. I'm sure this is the wrong forum to ask about non diy speakers but this forum is full of very wise people. I have made quite a few diy speakers mainly fullrange. I got out of diy for a bit and played with klipsch (for a very short time), dcm timeframes tf600s, and a few others. I thought I would get back into diy but I had a $150 budget for drivers and all. Well I came across a deal I could not pass up, a pair of paradigm eclipse/bp's. They are bipolar and I believe they are transmission lines using two 8.25 inch woofers and two 1 inch tweeters. I can find very little info on them, but they are they best speaker I have heard in a very long time. Are they TLs, they say they are flat to 18 cycles and apparently they are to at least 22. Has anyone had any experience with these and can shed a little light on these. What is the best distance from wall to have a bipole? I think for $150 I could not have built anything close to these! I'm always up for change and i'm sure in time I'll sell these and build the revelator two way tower zaph designed. Am I wrong for falling in love with a manufactured speaker (for the first time)

Thanks
Dan

[marchel]

HI,

Can you check the speaker for damage, or dead drivers?

If all is good, Buy it. You cant build anything close to it for $150- for sure.

[saabracer23]

Oops, sorry if I didn't make it clear but I did purchase them. They are in tip top shape and I know the original owner so I know they were well taken care of and never played loud.

Dan

[marchel]

Originally posted by saabracer23
Oops, sorry if I didn't make it clear but I did purchase them. They are in tip top shape and I know the original owner so I know they were well taken care of and never played loud.

Dan

Well, Congrats then,

I actually dont have experience with that speaker, But I've heard other bipolar speaker, They tend to sound best placed away from walls more than conventional speakers.

As for it being a TL, I'm not sure what kind of TL has been employed as there are more than one kind of TL I know of, It looks a little small for a classic TL as far as I can remember seeing it. It must be using another TL alignment. Just keep it away from walls.

As for falling in love with a manufactured speaker. There is nothing wrong with that, I'm in love with one too, And I'm using it to judge all the speakers I made, But if I happen to make a speaker that sounds better, I'll replace it in time, Just like in your situation.

[saabracer23]

well I have them about 16" from the front wall right now but they are too heavy and awkward to move around a bunch to see what is best so I was just seeing if anyone knew what the best distance was for this speaker or if bipoles in general had certain distance that was good

Thanks
Dan

[John Nail]

With bipolars you want to place them about 2 feet from the back wall and maybe 2.5 - 3 feet from the side walls. This gives the back wave more time to spread out and get a better arrival time to blend with the front. The rule of thumb on the side wall distance isn't hard and fast.....it depends on the amount of "cardioidal" radiation that these have.....don't be afraid to experiment a little.
Are you sure those speaks aren't just vented? I wasn't aware that Paradigm even messed with using TL types....they usually do the sealed or vented thing....though, in truth, I don't know every model of speaker they ever made....but I have been a Paradigm fan for many years....great value for the $$.

John