Any Large Acoustic Suspension Speakers Being Made?


I auditioned some Dunlavy SC-IVAs in the 90s. The sound was unlike anything I've heard before or since.

Was more like a video projector creating living sonic-images in the room.

The Dunlavys are a sealed box system. The front of the speaker is heavily felt damped (mids & tweets).

I'm also wondering about anything unusual about its crossover. I have to find out why these sounded so good!

The system: Audio Research VT-120 amp, ARC LS-2 pre, Theta DAC (pre-pro?), CEC Disk spinner, and Dunlavy wire. The room was about 25 * 25 with curtains on a glass wall and LPs on the rear wall. Power conditioning is unknown.

So I'm thinking it's either the acoustic suspension or a special crossover that made the difference.

Does anyone make large sealed box speakers anymore? 

128x128dweller

Showing 1 response by johnnyb53

Sealed box and acoustic suspension are not identical. All acoustic suspension loudspeakers are sealed, but the opposite is not true.

Sealed enclosures are obviously unvented, but the box is big enough to leave plenty of room for the back wave, and the speaker drivers have normal suspensions, rigid frames, and strong magnets to return the drivers to the neutral position.

Acoustic suspension speakers rely on a specific volume of air to power much of the rebound to center after an excursion or incursion of the driver. Thus the acoustic suspension model doesn't need as powerful a magnet, nor as rigid a cone because the air in the sealed box performs much of that function.

As for sealed box speakers, both Magico and YG use sealed enclosures. I'm sure there are more.