Dunlavy SC IV Speaker- Any Good???

I owned a pair of SC-IVs for almost five years before replacing them with Revel Ultima Studios.  At the time, the swap was driven mainly by a complete speaker “solution” offered by Revel, as I was converting a listening room into a home theater. Sonically, the performances of the two speakers were very close and both quite satisfying. 
 

I would take to heart the warning others have made about the likely age of the SC-IVs. Over time, certain mechanical and electrical aspects of a speaker can degrade, making their perfect repair a real nightmare.

I went to hear these locally over 20 years ago when I was out on a speaker search. 
They were properly set up in a nice size room and driven by either plinius, Levinson or Krell…one of those I can’t remember exactly. I do remember though that I was not impressed especially with the bass they produced for that size speaker.
I walked away and delisted them.  
At this point in 2022 they’re way too old. 
just my $0.02

Unless you are willing to drop multi thousands more on something new, that would be a heck of a get.  And if doesn't work, it wont be because the speakers.  You'd be able to sell then quickly.

I have owned the SC-3 signature collection since new.  They are as musically lucious and the drivers are in perfect condition. John Dunlavy and Geoff Poor did a near perfect job of making speakers

I would take to heart the warning others have made about the likely age of the SC-IVs. Over time, certain mechanical and electrical aspects of a speaker can degrade, making their perfect repair a real nightmare.

Is there any evidence that that this is a likely problem?

We could use the same logic with a car, and get a new one each week to avoid some issue.

 

I suspect that this is more factually probable:

I have owned the SC-3 signature collection since new.  They are as musically lucious and the drivers are in perfect condition. John Dunlavy and Geoff Poor did a near perfect job of making speakers

Chorus

i am sorry to hear that you did not proceed with the transaction.

Let me share my recent experience….

I bought the Dunlavy Athena and shipped by air from the Netherlands to Singapore. Apparently this set was owned by the Dutch importer for Dunlavy. Condition is comfortably an 8 out of 10. I was amazed by how good condition the speakers are. There are about four light scratches which I fixed. Sub-woofer, mid-woofer and tweeter appears to be in good condition. The sound … wow!!! 
 

I have a pair of Atohm GT3HD which is not a walkover, this retails at around US$10,000. I have now shifted the Atohm as rear surrounds for my home theater. The Atohm probably has about 90 per cent of the Athena, where it makes a difference is on some tracks the Athena has more details, bass goes way down deep, sounds big and has the imaging and depth. 

I have always known about the Dunlavy since 2001/ 2002, like the sound but never really attempt to buy one due to the imposing size as well as the unusual shape. Therefore when the local Singapore distributor sold off all the units in 2006/7, I knew my chance had gone and forgot all about it until about 6 months ago.

I brought my CD player, amp and speaker cables to my friend’s place and he has the Corinthian I. Using the below tracks convinced me what I have missed all these years. Bearing in mind the main variable is the speakers, I came home and plugged in the same CD player, amp, speaker cables onto the Atohm and what I heard broke my heart. I knew I have to look for a pair. 

Using Jennifer Warnes’ Way down deep (not many floorstanders can handle the deep bass) and Fourplay debut album demonstrated the difference.

I know it is a crazy thing to bring a 23 year old speakers halfway around the world, I am now a happy person. I do understand parts could be failing. Together with my friend who owns the same model ( the Corinthian I), we have spare drivers, no doubt they may not be as closely matched as the original install, this will ensure the speakers can operate for a long time.

I am sure there are many better speakers around, just sharing my experience. 

I know it is a crazy thing to bring a 23 year old speakers halfway around the world, I am now a happy person. I do understand parts could be failing. Together with my friend who owns the same model ( the Corinthian I), we have spare drivers, no doubt they may not be as closely matched as the original install, this will ensure the speakers can operate for a long time.

I would not worry that things will be failing unless you are driving them super hard.

I am sure there are many better speakers around, just sharing my experience. 

There are not many speakers that were/are better. I don’t think is is crazy at all to have seeked them out and shipped them (1/2 way across the flat earth.) ;)

I don't know what kaplandeisgn is talking about, but he's not correct about drivers needing to be reconed. I own 4 pairs of Dunlavy speakers; 2 pairs of SC-Vs, a pair of SC-IVs and a pair of SC-IIIs. I also own a SC-II.CC center channel. Out of 51 total drivers, not a single one has any issues.

The IVs and Vs are incredible speakers, and very accurate. If you want the truth, not a colored version of it, then you can't beat them.

John moved to Australia because the government was giving incentives to start businesses there. 

Dunlavy Audio Labs was based in Colorado after John moved back to the U.S., and picked up where he left off with the Duntech designs. In one of his interviews he said that the DAL models were far superior to the Duntech models due to his much-improved measuring equipment and his large anechoic chambers. He considered the Duntechs primitive in comparison.

Reviving this old post! Any one running Pass Labs With DAL? Well I am and the synergy is magical to say the least...

@pwayland which model pass and Dal do you have? I own Duntech Princess and I’m considering purchasing a pass amp. 

@btrail I have SM-1's and SC-S2 sub. The SM-1's are driven by an X150.5. Sound is detailed, soft and warm with wonderful imaging, mostly in that sweet listening position.. I find the SM-1 with sub similar in sound to my previously owned SC-IVA's, however hadn't experienced those with Pass...