Dunlavy SC IVA X-over resistor values

Thank you all for this. I do appreciate it. I'm new to this. I did have the connections to the actual speaker elements soldered and that made a nice improvement in the sound. Removed a kind of rizz or roughness I had not noticed until it was gone. These speakers have a wonderful top to bottom consistency or coherence I haven't heard before in a cone speaker. I have heard other speakers do certain things better but not overall. The bass quality is very accurate as well. Again, thanks for your input and if you have more data on this it would be welcome. This speaker is worth every minor improvement added to it. Jonathan

Again I want to thank all of your for your very helpful and intelligent comments and observations. I hope my questions and quest here will help you all in turn. My concern now is I note two of you did not elect to replace the resistors and I guarantee you that those who declined to do this are more capable of such a task than I will ever be. Without direct knowledge, and I stress that, I do not believe John Dunlavy had the time to hand pick his resistors or tweak them for each speaker other than to buy them in lots and stick them in the speaker. I am convinced that fine quality resistors (and capacitors) would make a major upgrade. I cannot back up this statement except it has been my experience in the past with other components (which my engineer soldered in for me). I know I recently made two minor adjustments with cardboard on top of the speakers and brass screws on the tweeters and I heard a noticeable improvement worth the $5.00 for the thick cardboard and the $2.50 for the eight screws. I also had the speaker elements soldered bypassing the cheap clip ons that are used to connect to each speaker element. That made a very nice improvement. I will next take off the Dunlavy basses and put cheap points under them and then in a week or so add the Star System points. Then once I have that settled and confirmed as better I'll somehow confront those xovers. From all of this I will also do a summary of what actions I took that improve a Dunlavy SC IVa and for how much money. I will include resistor values and whatever detail I can to help others. That way we all will have a complete record of this. I believe this speaker is worth the effort and whatever pain. I hope you all will keep giving me input and suggestions as you think of possible upgrades. I really want to hear more from you all. Like tonight. Jonathan

Thank you all for your continued input. My unsubstantiated premise regarding some of the parts in the SC IVAs is that Dunlavy did not have the time to hand match each component in each speaker. Nor did he want to jack the price of the speaker way up with the absolute best parts. Whatever, some of the parts can be improved judiciously. On the other hand, Dunlavy hit the jackpot with this speaker as something about it is so right and so coherent. The bass quality is as good as I've ever heard from a cone speaker. So messing with it is a careful process. Here is what I have found so far that improved the speaker all based on input from Audiogon members (since I had no clue about these matters--I can just hear the smallest changes in my system). 1. I put cardboard on top of the speakers. I bought thick cardboard flat boxes at UPS store for 5.00. I cut it up so one flat piece about four feet long was used for each speaker. I then folded the cardboard so it sat on the speaker kind of like those small picture frames do with the picture leaning back and a support behind it leaning on the table it is sitting on. In this case it sits on the speaker slanted back away from the front. Hope this is clear. The theory from Tom is that it helps equalize the distance that each woofer is from a surface, the bottom woofer being closer to the floor than the upper woofer. Did it work. Yes. This is a minor but worthwhile upgrade which makes the images a bit more stable and present. I took them off and on to check this. If I keep these there I'll cover them with speaker cloth so they look a bit more coordinated. Right now they are ugly as sin. 2. I replaced the tweeter and midrange screws with brass. This made the highs less tizzy and more solid. 3. I had the speaker elements themselves soldered instead of using the cheap push-on connection tabs that exist on each speaker element. That really improved the quality, smoother. 4. I installed a direct electrical line from my elect service box right to the wall that my amp and pre-amp plug in. I had VH Audio tell me what to get. I put in new outlets (Oyaide receptacles and #10 wire.) Major change for the better with solid images, less noise, etc. By the time all of these improvements were done my speakers sounded about 10-15% better. A major improvement for speakers that were already wonderful. Those are the improvements. Next I'll post what didn't work and in fact ruined my sound temporarily. And ask for data from those who have made the resistor change to the SC IVAs. I cannot imagine it not making a major difference. Jonathan

Here is what I did to my SC IVAs that didn't work, from subtle to bad. 1. I put short cones under my SC IVA bases. It made almost no difference. If forced to decide, I'd leave them there but either way I don't hear a big or even small difference. I think the bass is slightly tighter with the feet. They are some generic cone and not high quality. As a note I have a very thick solid concrete floor with an indoor outdoor carpet over it. Basement studio. 2. Two Audiogon members said to remove the bases of the SC IVAs and it would make a noticeable improvement. I did this and the magic I had gained from my other improvements completely disappeared. This was not subtle. My system was worse by about 10%. I have no idea why but it was bad. I put the bases back on and voila. The great presence I had achieved was back. Without the basses the sound was recessed with loss of solidity and presence. Frankly this makes no sense to me why this would be so much worse, but it was. These are the only changes I made that either made little difference or were worse. Jonathan

Dear All Who Helped me,

As a final note I chickened out on any other changes to my SC IVAs after taking the bases off made such a negative change. My system sounds great since re-attaching the bases so I'll leave it at that. If anyone finds any other changes that really help I hope they will post it for our mutual benefit. But for now no more major changes for me. Thanks again. Jonathan

Dear All,

Again thank you. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately my speakers are very limited where they can go. This is because they are used in my studio to make digital masters and produce my jazz radio show. In fact I never sit down and there is no chair to sit down. I work standing up at a digital workstation which has a stand up desk. My speakers are on the long wall about 8 feet apart and about 2 feet from the left side wall and about 4 feet from the right side wall (this imbalance is not optimum I am sure). And about 4-5 feet from the back wall. Yet for some reason this sloppy placement (by necessity) sounds wonderful. The speakers are world class sounding. I listen anywhere from 12 to 25 feet away depending on what I am doing in the studio. At 25 feet they sound slightly better. I can hear the smallest changes in sound. I am sure others in this forum have a much better set up as this is really rinky dinky (except for my floor which is very very thick concrete with indoor/outdoor carpet over it. But this placement works for whatever reason and the sound is quite good. And getting better as I make minor upgrades such as the brass screws, cardboard on top, etc., as described earlier in this forum. Any suggestions I'll try and implement but I have limited maneuvering room. Jonathan

Dear All Dunlavy SC IVa Owners,

Has anyone come up with other improvements to the SC IVa since our last thread of Sept 2008? I have since added Walker Feet under the bases of the speakers to good result. And I have added two Sunfire MK IV subwoofers but set at a very very low frequency (25Hz) and at a very low volume so they just add a touch of low base. This opened up the midrange nicely. My normal experience with subs has not been good, so this surprised me. No other changes since Sept 2008. Hope to hear from all of you again.