Soliloquy 6.5 vs. Coincident Super Eclipse same $

I have the 6.5s but haven't heard the Super Eclipses. Judging from T_bone's comments though, I think they may fall on opposite sides of the neutrality line. He says the SEs are somewhat unforgiving. I would say the 6.5s are somewhat forgiving. They have a beautiful midrange. The treble is a little polite which makes for very low listening fatigue. However, they are close enough to neutral you can make them sound bright or dark, or anywhere in between, via cable selection.

One thing to note, you have to hear a well broken-in pair of 6.5s to get their true character. Out of the box, they are dark and muddy. After 500 hours you can't believe it's the same speaker.

May I ask which version of the Coincident Super Eclipses you're considering? I believe they may differ enough to warrant clarification in this discussion.

I have the original version in a 12 x 17' room being driven by about 100 tubed watts. I find the Supers somewhat picky about placement for two reasons: 1. their bass output is prodigious and can overwhelm a room with bass bloats and suckouts. 2. Their side-firing double woofers require a different approach to placement than front firers.

In the two different rooms I have used them in, I have found that placing the woofers on the inside and well into the room on the short wall works best. In my current setup, I place the mid-point between the two staggered woofers (on each speaker) at 63" from the wall behind them and 38" from sides walls (a la Cardas placement formula).

Another factor to keep in mind is the relatively high impedance of the Supers. This favors tube amplification since SS reduces its output significantly with higher impedances. The only SS amp I tried with my Supers was the 47 Labs Gaincard S (50-watt version) with double power supplies, and I did not find the result satisfying.

I can recommend the Supers if you have very smooth, tubed electronics and can be flexible with their placement.

As far as a direct comparison with either the Soliloquy 6.5 or even 6.3...never have done the side-by-side to know. I have heard other Soliloquy speakers and have liked them: integrated, coherent, musically meaningful presentation.

You can get these things from the Supers with low and powerful bass; you just have to work at it.

Kalan, The Supers have the latest tweeter upgrade and the associated crossover, but that is all I know about the vintage. I am going to run whichever speaker with an 150 watt SS Musical Design amp. The pre-amp will be a tubed CJ PV-11.

I have a question. Do the woofers on the Supers have to be facing each other? The Soliloqys have rear firing bass ports which creates its own unique positioning problems. Thanks for the information. Jim

Jimd,

From your comments referring only to the tweeter and crossover I'm guessing these would be the Series II. The Series III released this year have carbon-fibre midrange units, as opposed to the magnesium ones in Series III. The latest one also has a port on the front, according to the Coincident web site. Also, the midrange units are mounted in cutouts so the frame is flush with the front baffle, whereas the Series I and Series II had these drivers standing proud.

The woofer arrangement gives flexibility. I have my Eclipses on the long wall with plenty of side clearance, so I have the woofers facing out.

I have not done a comparison either. I must say that the Supers sound, well, "super", in my system. They don't come up that often on the second-hand market, which is a guide to the level at which they are appreciated (I think so).

Regards,

Israel has also re-tuned the bass with the newest Supers to be a bit tighter...