Japanese audio specialist Eclipse graced our news channel last week to announce the retirement of its flagship TD712zMK2 speaker, thus making way for new products. Now, the Kobe-based company has launched a fresh loudspeaker – the company’s first new model in seven years.
The TD307MK3 is billed as "a compact full-range speaker for the modern music lover" and following several years of research and development, the TD307MK3 includes the latest Eclipse technologies to deliver today’s high-resolution music. It also directly replaces its predecessor, the TD307MK2.
Developed and refined in Eclipse's Kobe factory in Japan, the company tells us the new 2kg-heavy TD307MK3 features "the same technologies as Eclipse’s upmarket models at a fraction of the price". And it is highly flexible too; the TD307MK3 can be used for more than just music thanks to a clever integrated mounting bracket with angle adjustment to enable wall- or ceiling-mounting for a range of A/V applications, including custom installations.
At the heart of the TD307MK3 is a new high-performance 6.5 cm full-range fibreglass drive unit upgrade – the first time fibreglass has been used in the TD307 series. This new driver is supported by 12 key improvements to help it deliver its full potential.
Although Eclipse's trademark oculus aesthetic remains, a new, larger ‘repulsive’ (not in that way) neodymium main and sub-magnet system has been implemented to provide greater power for the new driver. Said magnet system not only increases efficiency, it also helps to deliver a wider frequency response, especially in the bass region – the TD307MK3 boasts an impressive 80 Hz–25 kHz range.
Eclipse states that the new fibreglass cone also benefits from greater speed, lower vibration, greater dynamics and a lower noise floor. Vibration has been reduced by a claimed 50 per cent over its predecessor and Eclipse’s engineers have, says the company, achieved an 80 per cent increase in linearity.
That uniquely Eclipse ovoid cabinet now has a greater volume to promise an improved environment for the new driver – which now moves a greater volume of air. Further improvements include a new, improved terminal arrangement that accepts both bare wire and banana-terminated speaker cables, plus a new cable-routing design to accommodate larger cables and obscure them from view (for desktop users, say).
Naturally, the TD307MK3 also benefits from Eclipse’s established proprietary technologies, including the diffusion stay (where the driver is internally mounted onto a vibration-eliminating five-pillar stay) and the mass anchor, to provide a solid support for those high-speed cone movements.
And achieving optimal listening height and sound quality for music, movies or TV should be easy thanks to the integrated angle adjustment, which provides -25 to 30 degrees of movement when placed horizontally, or 0 to 90 degrees when used on a wall or ceiling.
The Eclipse TD307MK3 is available now in black or white, priced at £300 each or £600 per pair, which is roughly $390 / AU$525 for one, or $780 / AU$1052 for the set of two.
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