Anyone compare Dunlavy vs Aerial

Without delving into the sonic differences, nor the match between your amp (of which I know absolutely nothing) and the speakers you list, I would submit that the Aerials and Dunlavys are not the easiest of speakers to drive, maybe a bit much for your amp's 40 watts. I own Aerials and as many here at this site will tell you, they are a little power hungry. The Proacs may match better with your amp, from a power/current standpoint. Even if the deal is that good on the Dunlavy's, if you couldn't fit the Proac 3.8s, how ya gonna fit in the SC-IVs? Those things require an addition to most houses to enclose them. Maybe an amp would fit into your future? It certainly would open up some possibilities on other speakers.

My opinion, for what it's worth.

I own Dunlavy SC-Vs and auditioned the IV's. They are great speakers but they need a big room and a big amp. My room is about 8000 cubic feet and I drive them with 400 watt custom modified Melos Soloist monoblocks.

I can't agree with the above posts. I own Dunlavys' and they are far superior to the other speakers you mention. They do not require 400 watt amps. In fact, a friend uses 15 Watt (Yes, 15 Watt) tube amps on Dunlavy SC-V's with great results. I use 25 watt (at 16 ohm) tube amps on Dunlavy SC-III's with excellent results. You may need more power using solid state amps, but this should give you an idea of how efficient the Dunlavys' are. They sound their best bi-amped. If you don't want your friends SC-IV's, let me know.

I compared Dunlavy III, athenas and Aerial 7b and 10-T , liked the 10-T lot but ended up with the athenas. The dunlavy speakers give a much more airy open sound than the aerials and the soundstage is much taller. I think the bass is more controlled as well. I just listened to a pair of aerial 8s yesterday and the bass was pretty mushy. The aerials also tended to be a bit uninvolving...they sounded good they were just kind of lifeless. I may have been the Transparent cables. The aerials were all heard on a transparent wired system driven by Levison 33 monoblocks and either a 39 CDP or their reference CD seperates. The Dunlavies were heard on mostly tube gear (ARC VT-100 and VTL 185) except for the III which i also heard on the levison system. Don't even think about aerial without a lot of current. The folks from aerial told me my 185 monoblocks were marginal to drive the 10_t and the whole aerial line tends to be current gready.

Whoever told you that you need a big amp to drive the Dunlavy's was incorrect...nor is it a difficult load to drive. About 4 to 5 ohms. While bigger amps are better, I have a friend who drives Sc_IV's with 30 watts and they are outstanding.

I am using Aloia's for Dunlavy V in a vertical Bi-amp. They are rated at 30 watts and they control these speakers. I'm not sure that this rating is correct. Does anyone know?

I've heard the rating is very conservative and that they might actually be about 75 watts.Snook what else do you have in your system? I just got the Aloia and am getting the Cantatas .Also just got the new Legend Audio line conditioner.Any recommendations for a cd player?

Khaki Check out the Audiomeca cd player. I am using the Audiomeca Mephisto Transport and Muse 296 dac. I will be checking out the Audiomeca dac in the future. Little pricey for both but killer sound