Coincident Total Eclipse/Avalon Radian


Live in Pittsburgh,PA, the black hole of audio. Local
dealers carry PSB, B&W, NHT and Vienna Acoustics. Without
spending $10k or more, anyone have extensive experience/ own
one of these speakers and heard the other brand for their
opinion on quality of sound? Total Eclipse has side firing
woofers-does this make room placement difficult or require
large room? Radian HC's being replaced by Eidolon so there are deals to be had. However, before traveling to another
area to listen to either/both, any one have comment?
gvwaudio
Question for the Avalon owners. Will 32W (high current)
SET amps power the Radian HC which is listed as a 88 db,
4 ohm speaker? If not, which is better: high powered
tubes (100-150W) or similar solid state units? Thanks to
those that took time to reply.
gwaudio: 35 watt set's (high current or no) will NOT drive radians (makes no difference whether the radians are "ht," BTW). in my experience, you will enjoy radians more with ss amps than valves, unless you can afford very high power, very clean tube monoblocks (not otl's). -kelly
Gvwaudio- Cornfed is quite right. I've listened to the Eidolons and the Total Eclipse. If you want SET amps, go with the T.E. If you're willing to trade the sound of SETs for extremely high quality ss (which means $$$), then the Avalons are a consideration. You have to match the speakers to the amps and then the room. It's always a matter of synergy. Good luck.
Very true if you want SET the Coincident's are your choice.They can also play with SS amps.
Room placement for side firing WOOFERS should not be a problem at all. That is, unless they are actually MID-woofers and placed up too high on the cabinet. If the woofer is crossed over higher than 200 Hz (at most), expect problems. If the woofer is mounted up high in the cabinet, expect problems.

For speakers to work optimally, they SHOULD have been designed to take into account room loading effects. On top of that, the manufacturer should make you aware of what works best with them and offer specific suggestions in terms of placement.

Look at the manual before buying ANY speaker. While many will tell you what a WONDERFUL product it is, very few will give you useful information in determining if it is suitable for your specific room and listening tastes. If the manual does not go into specifics as to why they were designed as such and how they work best, they probably put just as much thought into the designing and building process. After all, if they really DID do all of the testing and research that they claim was necessary to come up with "the best possible", they should know EXACTLY what it takes to make them "tick". Even with these guidelines though, every room is slightly different and you will still probably have to fine tune them somewhat for your specific application. Sean
>