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Accusound
Eclipse ES-55 Home-Theater Speaker System
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Description Model:
ES-55 speakers
Dimensions: 43.3"H x 10.6"W x 17.7"D
Weight: 40 pounds each
Model: ES-55 center-channel
Dimensions: 23.2"W x 6.7"H x 7.5"D
Weight: 15 pounds
Model: ES-55 surrounds
Dimensions: 11"H x 6.7"W x 8.25"D
Weight: 8 pounds each
Model: ES-150 subwoofer
Price: $499 USD (sold separately or included as part of system)
Dimensions: 12.6"H x 11.8"W x 14.2"D
Weight: 31 pounds
System Prices: $1699.99 USD with
subwoofer, $1199.99 without
Warranty: Five years parts and labor |
Features
- 1" soft-dome tweeters
- 5.5" polypropylene woofers
- Bass-reflex design
- MDF cabinetry
- Gold-plated five-way binding posts
- 8" passive radiator (ES-150 subwoofer)
- 8" polypropylene woofer (ES-150 subwoofer)
- 150W amplifier (ES-150)
- Adjustable crossover (ES-150)
- Variable phase (ES-150)
- Polyurethane gloss-black finish
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Accusound makes several speaker lines ranging in size from
mini-speakers to large towers. The subject of this review, the Eclipse ES-55 home-theater
speaker system, is near the middle of Accusound’s product range. The system,
comprising pairs of main and surround speakers, a center-channel, and an ES-150 subwoofer,
is priced at $1700.
Glossy looks good
If, like me, you’re a fan of the glossy speaker look,
you should be pleased with the ES-55 system. All five speakers and subwoofer have
high-gloss black polyurethane finishes that will complement most living-room furnishings.
The main tower speakers are the opposite of the
run-of-the-mill boxy speakers that populate this price range -- there isn’t a right
angle to be seen. The curved side panels, reminiscent of B&W’s 800-series
speakers, start at about 6" wide on the front panel and taper to 2.5" in the
rear, and the top portion slopes downward from back to front. If, as mine sometimes does,
your significant other likes to use your speakers as plant stands, then he or she will be
out of luck with the Eclipses. Hooray!
The removable grilles are nicely styled, and magnetic nubs
grip the grilles firmly. Around back are two sets of high-quality, gold-plated, five-way
binding posts, stacked vertically near the top of the speaker, and two 1.5" ports in
the middle of the rear baffle. Inside, the tower is divided into two chambers. In the
upper chamber, one 5.5" woofer is stacked atop the 1" soft-dome tweeter. The
lower chamber contains two 5.5" woofers.
The Eclipse ES-55’s rear speakers are small
bass-reflex bookshelf models with the same 1" soft-dome tweeter and 5.5" woofer
as the main towers. The rears look more conventional than the towers, but still sport
slightly curved side panels. They have a single front port and one set of five-way binding
posts.
At 23.2", the ES-55 center-channel speaker is wide.
It, too, has curved top and bottom panels, and a slight taper to the rear. The driver
array is a conventional midrange-tweeter-midrange layout, with front-firing ports to the
left and right. There’s a single pair of five-way binding posts in back.
The little ES-150 subwoofer that Accusound sent with this
system is intriguing. Compared to the main towers, the sub is tiny -- barely more than a
cubic foot in volume. It houses two 8" polypropylene cones: the active front-mounted
driver is powered by a 150W (continuous) amplifier; the second cone, a passive radiator,
is mounted on the cabinet’s underside. A passive radiator is a form of cabinet
venting, without the potential drawback of audible "chuffing" commonly
associated with ports. Around back are adjustment controls for volume, phase, and
crossover frequency (40-200Hz). There are also single RCA inputs and outputs. The output
lets you daisy-chain multiple ES-150s -- a nice touch.
Items missing from the ES-150’s rear panel but
commonly seen in other subs are a direct RCA input that would bypass the ES-150’s
crossover, and speaker inputs and outputs. The latter are seldom needed in this age of
Dolby Digital and DTS processing because the RCA-routed LFE channel is the prime method of
connectivity.
Performance
The Accusound Eclipse ES-55 speaker system proved to be
fairly easy to set up. I played around with toe-in a bit to get the imaging just right,
and ended up with the front left and right towers toed-in slightly, 7.5’ from my
listening seat and 6’ apart. The center-channel and surrounds were 7.5’ from my
listening seat, the surrounds directly to the sides; I placed the subwoofer beside the
left front tower. The trickiest part of setting up the main speakers was taming their
deep-bass output. To limit the bass, I ended up pulling them well away from the walls --
about 4’ into the room.
One of the first characteristics I noted was precise
multichannel imaging -- not surprising when all five speakers have identical drivers.
Watching the Pod Race in Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace, it was easy to
follow the sounds of the pods as they whipped around the course. I was aware of no audible
gaps between the widely placed surrounds, and the roar of the pods did not change tonally
as their sounds traveled from speaker to speaker -- a testament to the great timbre
matching among these speakers.
The Accusound system had a very lively, edgy sound.
Throughout The Phantom Menace, the sounds of light sabers striking home had an
exciting crispness that drew me into the action. Sometimes, however, this crispness was
unnatural and a bit fatiguing, especially with music. For example, the acoustic piano in
Norah Jones’ Live in New Orleans DVD had a sharp tone and sounded a bit thin
in the midrange.
The surround speakers in the Accusound ES-55 system are
monopoles, so I didn’t expect them to be as enveloping as dipole or bipole surrounds.
This was indeed the case with the ES-55 surrounds. In chapter 29 of The Phantom Menace,
the reverberation of the huge space of the senate room was a bit too localized in each
surround speaker. Nowadays, with A/V receivers commonly including 6.1-channel modes, such
localization can be minimized with an additional back surround speaker.
Dialogue intelligibility through the ES-55 center-channel
was convincing, with the same crisp, edgy tone as the main speakers. However, Samuel L.
Jackson’s voice in The Phantom Menace lacked the deep resonance I’m used
to hearing through other center-channels. As well, with most DVDs that I watched, such as Gladiator,
voices had a boxy or hollow coloration, especially male voices such as Russell
Crowe’s.
The Accusound ES-150 subwoofer had solid bass into the 40Hz
range, which was enough to pump out the bass from the LFE channels of most DVD
soundtracks. In chapter 43 of Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones, the
multiple explosions throughout the scene were reproduced with impact. I could see the
excursions of both the active and passive 8" cones -- the system was working hard.
However, when I pushed the system to its high-volume limit, I could hear the woofers
bottoming out. Those unpleasant thuds disappeared at saner listening levels,
however. With all of the movies I watched, the reproduction of explosions sounded tight,
with little overhang -- a good trait in any subwoofer.
Comparison with the Axiom Epic 60 system
I also had on hand the Axiom Epic 60 system ($2004), which
retails for slightly more than the Accusound, and consists of the M60Ti main speakers, the
VP100 center, the QS8 Quadpole surrounds, and the EP350 subwoofer. The Axiom system’s
towers and center-channel are similar in size to those of the Accusound system, although
the surrounds are radically different in design.
There was a huge difference in tonal balance between the
systems. Where the Accusound was crisp and edgy, the Axiom Epic 60 system was dark.
Through the Axioms, the piano on the Norah Jones DVD sounded truer to the sound of
a live piano. As well, Jones’ voice sounded fuller, illustrating the Axioms’
midrange prowess. Some of you might prefer the excitement of the Accusound system; I found
the Axioms tonally more pleasing.
Both the Axiom VP100 center-channel and the Accusound
center suffered a bit from the colorations I’ve found are associated with most
horizontal center speakers. However, this was less obvious with the Axiom. Throughout the Drumline
DVD, male voices had a "cupped-hands" coloration that was more prominent with
the Accusound center than with the Axiom VP100.
The Axiom QS8 excelled at surround-sound envelopment
compared with most other direct-radiating surrounds, including those of the Accusound
ES-55 system. In chapters 12 and 13 of Drumline, the crowd noise was seamless
through the Axiom QS8s. Listening carefully through the Accusound system, I could localize
the sound at each surround speaker.
The Axiom EP350 subwoofer is much larger than the Accusound
ES-150 sub, and put its size advantage to use with greater output and deeper bass. In the
Pod Race from The Phantom Menace, the Axiom sub excelled in its ability to shake
the walls and floors of my listening room, a feat the little Accusound couldn’t quite
match. However, a sub the size of the Axiom EP350 can’t be handled by many small
rooms, which is just where the Accusound ES-150 might shine.
Conclusions
The Accusound Eclipse ES-55 is a great-looking system --
perhaps the nicest I’ve seen in its price range -- and is sure to complement any
modern living-room décor. The system’s standout trait is its excellent imaging, from
side to side and from front to back. It should appeal to those who enjoy a crisp, exciting
sound and want good bass from a small footprint. If this describes you, be sure to check
out the Accusound Eclipse ES-55.
| Review
System |
| Receivers - Outlaw Model 1050, Sony
STR-DA5ES |
| Sources
- JVC XV-721 DVD-A/V player, Pioneer Elite PD-65 CD player, Sony DVP-NS650V SACD/DVD
player |
| Cables - Sonic Horizons, TARA Labs |
| Monitor
- JVC 32" direct-view TV |
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