Edifier Luna Eclipse Review

Hi! Today we will take a look at very interesting multimedia speakers.

 Edifier Luna Eclipse is interesting for me for a few reasons. First reason is their looks. They look stunning for my taste. Another reason will be the amplification used to power them. They are biamped, have digital crossover and use Digital Sound Processing to squeeze all the sound possible from this stylish boxes. Third interesting fact about them is that Edifier decided to ditch bass reflex and went with two passive radiators to get good bass out of these speakers.  They also have Bluetooth connectivity and remote control, so You get a lot of technology and style for around 150euro/dollars. Lets check how they behave in desktop situation.

I will start with looks, because it is the first thing that hits You – they look sleek, stylish and slender. Your girlfriend will love them! I got my hands on pair of gloss white Lunas to match my desk ,but You can also get them in grey, black, red, blue, orange and they all looks glossy good. The only one problem I have with Lunas is plastic peace that supposed to protect the tweeter. This grill looks cheap and should be removed immediately. Front fascia of each speaker sports two drivers, one is ¾” tweeter, and 3” midwoofer. Black plastic surrounding drivers is matte and rubbery and it is nice to touch. These speakers also are well made and dense.

 To control volume and power, we can either use touch controls on side of right speaker or use remote control delivered with Lunas. This remote also looks nice but is not on the same level when it comes to built quality. Remote is made out of plastic and does not feel as robust as speakers itself but does the job. I find myself using remote more then touch sensitive buttons.

Inside each of speakers there are two amplifiers, one for each driver. Tweeter gets 15 watt amplifier and 22 watts goes to midwoofer so pair of Lunas have over 70 watts in total which it is a sign of some good power. Looking at side profile of Lunas, You can see a gap. This gap is a creative way, that Edifier used to hide two passive drivers, so they do not spoil great looks of Lunas. Passive drivers are 3 inch each, and they help Lunas produce some really good bass from those small cabinets.

You can feed the signal to Lunas in two ways. One is the usual analog 3.5mm jack input on the back of right speaker and the other one is  via Bluetooth. Bluetooth connection is very straightforward, reach is very good (6-7m) and audio quality is also nice. There is no source selector so if You connect to them by Bluetooth than it automatically switch to Bluetooth signal. If You want to go back to analog signal You have to disconnect Bluetooth.  

Sound

As usual, I connected Lunas to my DAC and gave them a few days to “burn in” playing some random stuff. During that time the thing that hit me the most is the way Lunas reproduce bass. Bass was big, thick and groovy especially given the size of enclosures. They filled my room with big, dynamic sound and they could go quite loud without distortions. At that moment I was sure that engineers at Edifier took the right path with their active design and passive radiators instead of bass reflex. The only thing that was not so good was the ability to deliver crisp detailed vocals. I found myself turning up the volume when I was listening to podcasts and watching movies.

After few days I started to listen to Lunas more critically and my first impressions confirmed. Lunas deliver suprising nice bass response that is slightly elevated comparing to midrange and high frequencies in typical consumer speakers way. It is not the fastest an detailed bass, but it is good in both respects. Thanks to passive radiator design, bass has less overhang and boom than similar bass reflex designs, making kickdrums sound thick and punchy. There was no problem of differentiating between kick drums and bass guitars as well. Bass reach was good for this size of speakers and is enough for most kinds of music, except maybe hardest hitting hip hop, drum and bass, and pipe organ music. Nice thing about Lunas is that they deliver nice bass even used on low volume levels as well as when pushed hard. Thanks to big power and active design Lunas sound dynamic. They can start and stop very quickly, playing quiet one moment and then hit You surprisingly hard next moment.

 Unfortunately the same thing can not be said about midrange that only deliver the goods when speakers play at higher volumes. Overall midrange performance here is laid back, warm with a feeling of missing details. Snares and cymbals lack crispness and “zing” and sound rather flat. It is definitely not what I would call “audiophile grade midrange”, but it is perfectly fine for multimedia use and general music listening. Thanks to laid back nature of midrange, badly sounding recordings do not kill Your ears immediately so You can listen to them for hours. High frequencies are also good but lack some air. Again, it’s perfectly acceptable given the multimedia nature of Edifier Lunas, but if You want speakers that will let You listen all the details in Your favorite tracks than You should probably look elsewhere.

Lunas, with the right material, create very good soundstage, with stable center image but lacking finest details. Soundstage stretch beyond speakers and has some depth as well. Imagining is also nice but only if You listen to them in the sweet spot that is not very big. As You move from the sweet spot soundstage collapses and You can hear sound coming from the speakers themselves. 
Bluetooth sound quality is also good, but it is slightly dryer and digital than analog, but this is only minor complain, because it is detectable only in direct comparison of both bluetooth and analog.

Comparison

When You compare Lunas to Bose Companion 20 I had here few weeks ago,  I have to report that I like Lunas much better. Ascetically they are two completely different beasts. Bose Companion 20   is simple, elegant and will fit more in to traditional designed spaces, they will blend in. Edifier is quite the opposite. With its  futuristic and flashy design, they will look more like a piece of art on Your desk, shouting “"Look at me!!!"” to everyone around. They both look good and are well put together.

Soundwise Lunas have much more power, can play louder without distortion and can fill room with sound more easily. Also bass response in tighter with Lunas. They both seem to reach to around 60-70Hz, but Lunas does bass more tidy and with stronger punch. Once again I have to say that passive radiator design in Lunas helps them to keep bass in check where Bose is more boomy and monotone. Bose is also much more hyped in upper bass regions. Midrange is the strongest feature in neither Bose or Lunas, with slight edge on Bose thanks to better reproduction of vocals. Lunas overshadow Bose when it comes to high frequencies. They are more natural sounding and extended.

Lunas beat the crap out of Bose when it comes to price. They can be found for around 50 euro/dolars less, have more features (Bluetooth!) and just plain sounds better.

When  I compare Lunas to my JBL LSR305 there is not much to compare soundwise. Difference in price is totally justified by sound difference. JBL has much better, deeper bass, that is less boomy and much more detailed. Midrange is where JBL slaughters Lunas the most. Vocals come out to You and sounds real, snare hits hard, cymbals have nice “zing” and texture to them. Same story goes when You hear heights from JBL. Soundstage is bigger, more 3D and sweetspot is bigger. They also can play MUCH louder without distortion and reveal much more details across the band. Lunas on the other hand is more forgiving to bad quality source material, so poor quality MP3’s and Youtube vids sound OK on them.

Conclusion

If You are looking for some cool looking, cool sounding multimedia speakers than I believe Lunas can be everything You are looking for and some more. They have a good price, great looks and save lots of space on desk thanks to clever design. Thanks to good Bluetooth connectivity, they can also be a great solution if You look for good wireless speaker for Your livingroom. But if You look for ultimate sound quality then this is not Your speaker, sorry. But this is good pair speakers nonetheless.


Pros:
+stylish look, good build quality
+active and biamplified
+deep bass for such a small boxes, no booming
+spacious sound
+fills the room nicely, good power
+very easy on ear, mellow and rather dark sounding
+Bluetooth connectivity and IR remote
+good value for money
Cons:
-recessed and mushy midrange
-bass not the most detailed
       
Verdict: 7.5/10