Raw Power: Luxury desktop speakers

Are your desktop speakers sounding under the weather and looking over the hill? Too far gone for a bit of TLC to improve the situation? Looks like it’s time for out with the old and in with the new. And if you’ve got some serious cash to splash you’d be well-advised to consider a pair of the Eclipse TD-M1s.

The ‘pod’ styling (for technical reasons, not just aesthetics) makes them good looking, and the sound will blow you away. The connectivity options enable you to stream music from compatible sources – there’s a USB A socket for an iPhone, iPod or iPad (which also charges them), a USB B port for connection to a PC or Mac and a 3.5mm socket to connect external devices (TV, CD player etc). You can also control them from an i-device using an iOS app, or from the speaker’s on-board controls. Looks-wise… well, we’ll let the photo do the rest of the smooth talking.

So who else says these pods make sound sense? Well, according to the know-it-alls in the hi-fi press, you’ll be so enamoured with the TD-M1s that you’ll want to curl up next to them in bed every night, make them breakfast in the morning and take them swinging at weekends.

Yes, they’re expensive. But, boy, they might just be worth sticking your neck on the line for. Like, you could always raise some cash by selling some of your partner’s designer clobber on eBay*. Tell them you washed them on the ‘Mega-Bio-Stains’ program and they came out small enough to fit an eight-year-old, so you dropped them off at the charity shop.

(**This could possibly be illegal, or you might have to find somewhere else to live, or maybe you just won’t get laid for a while. Classic Rock takes no responsibility for these, or any other consequences, after following its unorthodox financial advice.*)

Around £1,000 a pair. Dig the science stuff over at www.eclipse-td.com/uk/

Classic Rock 215: News & Regulars

Classic Rock’s production editor for the past 22 years, ‘resting’ bass player Paul has been writing for magazines and newspapers, mainly about music, since the mid-80s, contributing to titles including Q, The Times, Music Week, Prog, Billboard, Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and International Musician. He has also written questions for several BBC TV quiz shows. Of the many people he’s interviewed, his favourite interviewee is former Led Zep manager Peter Grant. If you ever want to talk the night away about Ginger Baker, in particular the sound of his drums (“That fourteen-inch Leedy snare, man!”, etc, etc), he’s your man.