Hello Everyone. so glad I ran into this thread. I happen to be the owner/seller of the above mentioned Duchess IV speakers. I will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
I was almost done posting a real long history of these speakers, how they were acquired, how they sound and why I am selling them, but unfortunately I somehow managed to delete everything before being able to post it. ugh. And I just don’t feel like writing all that all over again, right now. Perhaps at a later time and date. Just disappointed at myself for doing such a stupid thing right now.
One thing I will mention since a poster above had commented on the sound description of these speakers is that they sound similar to Klipschorns except the midrange is smoother in a way that it is not harsh. Everything is original as far as I can tell, and I’m sure a recap of the cross-overs will make these sound even better but I didn’t care to change anything since they sounded fine to me. The attenuators do work but also do have some dead spots on them. The cabinets and grills are in good shape, I’d give them an 8 but your eyes could differ. The woofers can be installed facing towards the back OR towards the front, based on your listening room and desires. The back panel has an opening and screw holes just like the front panel for a somewhat easy reversal. I say somewhat only because the woofers are super heavy, at 48lbs each. So removing them and re-installing them and making sure the wiring is lined up and does not get damaged, is a time consuming procedure, if you are as careful as I am. Besides that, the only other way to really know if you like them or not is of-coarse to make a road trip to so-cal on a nice sunny beach day (almost everyday) and come over for a listen. I have paired them with SET’s, push pulls, solid state of all names and brands and wattage. To my ears, they sound the best (overall) with either EL-84 or similar PP tube amps, or EL-34’s (which I am biased for). Yes they sound great with my 2A3 SET tube amp as well, but only for certain types of music. Again, this is all IMO and to my ears. I’ve gone through all the McIntosh, most fishers, scotts, sherwoods, marantz 8,8b’s, Luxmans, Pilots, Harman Kardon, Sargent Rayment, Laffayete, and more PP tube amps, and have also gone through about 30 pairs or so of vintage speakers.
Selling only because we are moving out of the country. Otherwise, these will go to my grave with me. All the components are still fairly available if you look around (in case one fails or is not up to standard), and at a fairly reasonable price compared to some similar Altecs or Klipsches, Tannoys or Stephens Tru-Sonics. I also happen to have ONE (1) backup midrange horn and driver for one of the speakers that I will include with the sale.
Well, it looks like I managed to bore you all with another long description of these speakers, now, let’s hope it gets posted before I manage to delete it again.
Cheers!!
