Anyone have info on older "Eclipse" brand Speakers

[Ficklistnr]

I'll add a photo soon but Im hoping someone may have a little info on the company, products, specs and anything else relevant to a speaker brand name called "Eclipse"
I have seen them twice in my lifetime, once in 1989 when my father passed along a pair to me he was no longer interested in (which I sold or traded long ago) and today when a friend dropped off what appears to be the exact same thing.

They are 3 way active crossover floor standing speakers. The oak veneer cabinets are approximately 36 inches tall 14 inches wide and the depth at the base is 14 inches +/- From the base of the cabinet the face tapers back towards the top at about a 10 degree angle for an obvious upward firing design.

There is currently an 8 inch semi-transparent poly bass driver aligned in the middle of the cabinet. No Idea if it is OEM. Above center is an enclosed opening for what appears to be a 4.5 inch mid driver (not present) and one black "AUDAX POLYDAX HD 100 D 25" dome tweeter above it with round aluminum mounting plate. At the base is what I assume to be an opening for a 10 inch passive radiator as there are no signs of mounting hardware (brackets, screw holes etc. Nada!) The crossover appears to be configured to accommodate 3 voice coils @ 8 ohms impedance. The crossover components are glued to a piece of particle board and attached to the bottom of the cabinet. Obviously its an enclosed cabinet with no ports which makes sense with the opening that I assume used to contain a radiator.

Grills cover the entire face of the cabinet stopping 2 inches short of the base where a small strip of oak trim wraps the front.

These cabinets are very well built with furniture grade oak plywood sides and top, solid oak rounded corner trims at the top, and 5/8 particle board front and rear panels.

I remember nothing about the pair my father gave me other than the fact that I was very impressed with their design, sound and furniture grade cabinets. I believe my father told me he purchased them from a small privately owned specialty audio retailer in Portland Oregon. I do recall seeing the same design and badge years later at a Radio Shack in Portland and I believe one of the staff had mentioned that Radio Shack had purchased the Eclipse name.

My first interest is OEM replacement drivers/tweeters and where to find them. (Radio Shack says "nay")
I'd be very interested in component specs assuming OEM parts will be extremely hard to find if anyone could help me out in that realm.

Thanks

Pics to follow within a day or so.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

Is this the Eclipse that went on to make car CD-players and such? That's the one I know. They made a nice CD head unit back in the '90's.

 

[Ficklistnr]

Good question. I'm banging my head trying to find ANY reference material for Eclipse home speakers and good ole google is failing me.

 

[yopyop]

I just saw some Eclipse speakers are the goodwill in Portland. These looked fairly decent, probably early 80's with wood veneer over masonite. The drivers looked to be 4.5inch with rubber surrounds and I think a paper cone tweeter. The port had what looked like honeycomb or straws inside it -- never seen that before. The logo had an illustration of the sun hidden behind a black circle over the 'e' in 'eclipse'. They looked nice for twenty bucks, but they were a complete unknown, so I didn't go for it.. If anyone is interested I can put pics up that I snapped of them.

 

[rolfsky]

Couple weeks ago, I spied a set of 3-way Eclipse bookshelf speakers in Beaverton, OR, but the foam was rotted out and not worth the hassle for $40. Something about them intrigued me though, they were well veneered and HEAVY for their size -- a nice dull twock-twock when tapped instead of the hollow sound of cheapie mass-produced speakers.

Back on the prowl at the same Goodwill, they were still there and I asked for a discount since the woofers were blown -- $20 for both! With some glee I carted them out to my Subaru.

So here's what I know about my set:
- high quality honey-oak veneer with commercial grill pegs
- standard black fabric grill with the "sun behind the E" logo, professionally silkscreened on a pretty sizable chuck of metal
- spring-loaded bindings of average quality
- no markings, writing, or specs of any kind anywhere on the speakers, other than the badge on the grill
- 9 x 12 x 24, and well-constructed throughout
- 8" poly woofer with a textured milk-bottle plastic cone (rotted foam)
- 5" midrange
- Philips tweeter made in Belgium (?)
- each speaker sealed behind the basket ring

I tried to get some idea of the manufacturer/specs of the woofer and midrange, but the numbers are a bit faint and my Googling didn't return anything useful.

Opening the cabinets is fascinating as they appear to be entirely hand-built with materials at hand. The crossover is twisted-together components, then stapled to a chunk of particle board and soldered in place. The midrange sits in its own internal sealed enclosure apparently made from what looks to be a margarine tub. All the internal wiring from the crossover is done with generic lamp cord. Yellow fiberglass batting is held in place with staples, reinforced by business cards cut in half for a Eugene ornamental door company (no longer in business). The rear mounted bass port is a 2" section of ABS glued into the cabinet.

Now, here's the odd thing: while my description may seem a bit hap-hazard in construction, these were obviously put together by somebody who knew what they were doing, and did it often. Everything on the outside is finished as high quality as any boutique speaker I've seen, but the builder obviously was emphasizing completeness of construction rather an beauty on the inside. In my head I imagine a lovable hippie in the eighties with a joint at the corner of his mouth soldering these components together in his garage because he knew what worked, and what sounded good.

Oh, and they sound GREAT, even with the blown woofers. Hooked to a 30wpc 80's vintage Yamaha amp, they are very pleasing.

I'm going to grab a couple of $12 poly woofers from Parts Express and drop them in to see what happens.

Maybe this thread won't go anywhere, but I still have a few questions:
- so what's the deal with Eclipse... a specialty badge based in or around Portland?
- what's the vintage on these? I'm guessing early-mid 80's?
- I'm going to make a guess these are 8 ohms, but I don't have anything to base that off of

 

[cubdog]

Welcome to AK. Why not refoam those woofers instead of replacing them?

 

[rolfsky]

good question @cubdog, I do read the stories about folks regretting replacing vs refoaming woofers.

The short answer is "time and money". $12-24 for some drop-in woofers from PE which get immediate results feels reasonable to me as a first step. The existing woofer drivers don't have many markings, but the fit and finish leads me to believe they aren't particularly high-end. The baskets are pretty sharp stamped metal, the foam and dustcap glue are somewhat sloppy. If the replacements don't sound great, I'll have the original drivers on hand.

 

[CopperWizard]

I have some of those polycarbonate woofers from eclipse speakers and they do seem pretty robust. Large magnet, nice size aluminum voice coil. The size is a little smaller than the foams I have so you might want to take detailed measurements if you decide to refoam. Drop in replacements without knowing some t/s parameters is fun and educational but isn't winning strategy most of the time.

 

[AFP1]

I think Meniscus Audio in Grand Rapids Mi. Was a dealer for Eclipse raw home audio drivers back in the 90's. You might give them a call as they are still in business.