Please talk me out of buying the Avalon Eclipse

If they are in good functioning condition I would buy them.  You will not get any support from Avalon if something goes wrong so consider the $700 a sunk cost.  I had a pair of Avalons.  

30 year old speakers - in general - are not worth a 12 hour drive and $700. Consider two factors - can you sell them and who else the seller could sell them to? They are too expensive to ship, a pain to store, keeping something you don't love is more of a hassle than a joy. Speaker are so subjective, there is really less than 20% chance that you will fall in love with them, in your room, with your gear.

Are you being honest in the title of this thread?  Don't let the nattering nabobs of negativism deter you.

Btw, I drove18 hours to get my Spendor 9/1s.  A similar vintage loudspeaker.

he wants to be talked out. Maybe he needs a real man to man talk. Like my mother used to say: "Are you nuts? Children in African are starving!"

Yeah for $700 it’s hard to see going wrong.  From John Atkinson’s review they lend themselves to brightness quite readily so hopefully you have partnering equipment that won’t trigger their brightness, but their imaging/sounstage abilities appear to be sublime — not surprising as that’s an Avalon house strength.  Best of luck!