Help with Dunlavy SC-IV signature


Hello to all. I friend recently gave me a pair of SC-IV as they were too big for his room and he did not like their sound. The speakers sounded very bright to me but I attributed that to the cheap surround sound receiver he was using. I expected them to sound way better on my gear. No such luck. I tried them with a Moon P5 and Ayre v3 and they made my ears bleed, same with aMusical Fidelity M6PRX and Pre. I finally put then on a Nakamichi CA7 and PA7 with the tone controls all the way back and they started to sound way better. My current speakers are Martin Logan Expression 13A and Von Schweikert VR4 Get III. I added a Behringer DEQ2496 and turned the mids and highs down 7db and now they sounded very good. I have had Vanderstein 5A, Magnepan 3.7i and Utopias among others and I have never encountered something this bad. It's as if an equalizer was turned all the way up in the mids and highs. I removed one of the crossovers and to the eye they look ok I would have to remove them and measure everything to know for sure. Has anyone run into this before ? should I rebuild the crossover to see if it will improve ? What other measurements should I take ? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

cerberus79

Showing 4 responses by cerberus79

@tomic601 

@grumpybb 

I have had a bunch of great speakers in the last 10 years including Vandersteen 5, 5a, Utopias, Electras, Magnepan 3.7i, Ariel 10t, Von Schweikert VR4 GenIII, B&W 802 D2, Tyler, Martin Logan Summit X, Martin Logan Expressions 13a, Reference 3a and more. The Dunlavy speakers were terrible. As it turns out the person that purchased them from me informed me that changes had been made to the crossovers. I suspected that but it was difficult to confirm because Dunlavy speakers of the same model can have different crossovers as they are voiced individually. The new owner has much experience in this area and was able to correct the issue. The speakers now sound very good.

I am going to disassemble them and check drivers and connections. ultimately I will then look to do something about the crossover. thank you for the responses.

I used both Qobutz and CD sources. I played Jazz, Blues and Rock. The results were the same regardless of music or pre and amp. I have not tried tubes. My tube amp is a Cary 300SEI F1 and it only puts out 13 watts per channel.

It appears from my research that these speakers do not have a common crossover. The crossovers were voiced to the pair, with that in mind I am going to remove but not disassemble the crossover and make a schematic of it. I am also going to get some speaker analysis software and measure their output. It was suggested to me that a simple resistor change in the Mid and Tweeter section might solve the issue.