Pure Fidelity The Eclipse

Delight your eyes as well as your ears.

Music lovers seeking greater enjoyment of their LPs welcome the Eclipse into their homes with enthusiasm. And sophisticated audiophiles recognize that the Eclipse “punches above its weight,” performing on a par with more costly alternatives. The secret is our “hybrid” design, which takes advantage of proven materials, thorough engineering and high-precision fabrication. You’ll hear deep, silent backgrounds; solid bass; subtle midrange timbres and uncompromised highs. And you’ll bask in the sound of your favorite vinyl.

~ Rafe Arnott, The Occasional Part-Time Audiophile

Pure Fidelity “hybrid” design.

The plinth has a major impact on turntable sound. High-mass designs can have solid bass, but can sound dull. Low-mass designs can have good speed and dynamics, but often sound bright. Suspended decks can have good timing, but may lack bass. To combine the best elements of each design, Pure Fidelity’s founder, John Stratton created the ultimate “hybrid” approach, with intermediate mass based on an ultra-MDF plinth. The result is completely neutral sound. Bass is strong without being sleepy, while the highs are detailed without being bright. Fittingly, when each Pure Fidelity turntable reaches completion, John Stratton proudly signs the plinth.

Ultra MDF plinth.  To realize the benefits of “hybrid” design, the Pure Fidelity plinth is built on a 50-mm core of substantially upgraded Medium Density Fibreboard called ultra MDF. Compared to standard MDF, our ultra MDF offers higher density, better fibers, and better machineability, enabling far more precise assembly. Ultra MDF also helps control resonance, as described below.

Defeating vibration and resonance.  Like a microphone, a phono cartridge works by converting mechanical vibration into voltage. Crucially, the cartridge not only picks up motion from tracking the record groove, but also unwanted vibration when sound from the loudspeakers impacts the turntable and the shelf it’s sitting on. The cartridge simply cannot distinguish between the music and unwanted vibration, which can degrade playback, damaging musicality and collapsing the soundstage. Pure Fidelity turntables fight resonance with highly-engineered isolation feet and the Ultra MDF plinth. The combination is highly effective, resulting in sound that is effortlessly transparent and musical, with an unconstrained soundstage.

Highly-engineered isolation feet.  To minimize shelf-borne resonance, each machined aluminum foot is isolated from the shelf by silicone O-rings.

Ultra-precise CNC machining.  To achieve the most consistent unit-to-unit performance, we make extensive use of computer numerical control (CNC) machining, using custom tools with a repeatable tolerance of 1/1000 inch – one-third the thickness of a typical human hair. We apply CNC machining to the ultra-MDF plinth, sub-platter, Delrin® platter, and even the high-density foam packing carriers. The result is predictable, stable performance for each and every turntable.

Ruby bearing in a low-friction bronze shaft.

By the time it gets to your ears, the output of a moving coil cartridge can be magnified by a factor of 10,000 or more. So even minuscule imperfections in the turntable drive system can become audible issues. For this reason, even though we could purchase 100 steel bearings for the price of a single ruby bearing, we’re sticking with ruby. Ruby offers incredible hardness, with a Mohs scale of 9. (Only one precious stone is harder: diamond.) For similar reasons, we chose bronze instead of the industry standard brass for the bearing shaft. Bronze offers better durability, higher strength and a lower coefficient of friction. The end result of these two materials is a dead silent, near-frictionless drive system.

Perfecting rotational speed.  The time base of vinyl playback depends on the rotational speed. Of course, any large change in platter speed would cause an obvious change in musical pitch. But even minuscule, momentary speed variations can blur instrumental timbre, placing a veil between you and the music. To maintain speed with utmost precision, Pure Fidelity optimizes the Maestro speed control, AC synchronous motor, pulley, dual drive belts, aluminum/stainless steel sub-platter, and Delrin® platter. The result: an uncanny ability to faithfully render musical timbre.

Custom AC synchronous motor.  To satisfy our stringent requirements, the motor is quiet, stable and free from “clogging” – unwanted pulses of torque. We outfit our 12-volt AC synchronous motor with our own custom modifications that reduce clogging to the vanishing point.

Stainless steel pulley and two drive belts.

After extensive listening tests of different belt styles and configurations, we selected two drive belts with round cross-sections. It’s by far the best sounding choice for our drive system.

Aluminum/steel sub-platter.  Pure Fidelity insists on a sub-platter combining 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum and stainless steel, both CNC-machined to a tolerance of 1/1000 inch. The result is near-perfect roundness and stable speed.

Massive, 36-mm Delrin® platter.

Some manufacturers choose glass platters, believing low mass is the way to go. Others choose aluminum for high mass. But either way, you’re stuck needing some kind of mat on top to tame the resonance and ringing. To overcome this limitation, we chose an inherently non-resonant platter material: an engineering thermoplastic called Delrin. A classic choice for applications that require high stiffness, low friction and excellent dimensional stability, Delrin also shares many of the same properties as the vinyl record. And it has the mass needed to maintain speed stability. We auditioned many other thermoplastics but ultimately chose Delrin for its exceptional sound. You get a very balanced frequency response with an almost organic feel to the music. While Delrin is far more expensive than acrylic, the musical rewards more than justify the cost.

SS-1 record weight.

If the record is not properly seated on the platter, your sound can be degraded by vibrations and departures from flatness. That’s why the turntable comes equipped with the SS-1, a solid stainless steel record weight with black felt on the underside. It slips over the record spindle to dampen vibrations and flatten your LPs. The result is an increase in resolution and a lower noise floor. The SS-1 measures 0.75” high x 2.75” wide and weighs 1.6 lbs. (20 mm x 70 mm; 750 g).

Acrylic Dust Cover

This is an optional accessory that fits our “E” and “H” series turntablesIt is made of ¼” thick acrylic with polished edges and has aPure Fidelity logo embedded in the inside rear panel. These arecustom manufactured to our exact specifications and are specifiedas “Museum Quality” A very elegant solution to a common problem……Keeping dust off your investmentSize: 19” Wide x 16” Deep x 8” Deep

Custom configurations.  You can configure the turntable with or without one of the tonearms we offer. You can select it with or without our Stratos MC cartridge.Optional GAIA™ IV isolation footers.  The turntable comes with highly engineered footers to isolate the plinth from shelf-borne resonance. For an even higher degree of isolation, we offer an upgrade: the GAIA® IV footers from Markham, Ontario-based IsoAcoustics. This special, low-profile version of their multi-award-winning footers improves the focus and expression of music reproduction.Choice of lustrous finishes. Try as we might, our photography never quite captures the lustre, depth and romance of our available finishes. Choose from our two standard finishes: either Semi-Gloss Santos Rosewood or Dark Walnut. Or step up to a premium finish: High Gloss Quilted Maple or Piano Black.Dimensions and weight. 17” wide x 14” deep x 6.5” average height (430 x 355 x 165 mm) and weighs 25 lbs. (11.3 kg).