Need Info Re. Duntech Home Cinema System 100

No disrespect intended... Mr. John Dunlavy. I'm really interested to find out if these were his design or came after hid departure.

Lifeislarge, I owned a pair of Duntech Princess speakers from 1990 until last year and I attempted to keep abreast of Duntech and DAL products during that time. I was also fortunate to have personal conversations with John Dunlavy on three occasions.

I never heard of Duntech Home Cinema System 100 speakers. Mr. Dunlavy returned to the US from Australia by around 1993 and had no further design input for Duntech models. He set up production for the Duntech Black Knight speakers in the US but ended that and established Dunlavy Audio Labs (DAL) by about 1995.

I would continue to attempt to reach Duntech Australia via their website to inquire about your speakers.

Received a response from Duntech, but when asked the purpose of my inquiry received no further correspondence. Either I have the rarest speakers in the world, or I've been duped. AARRGGHHH!!!

Wanted to finally finish this thread. After over two years I was finally contacted by the man responsible for these speakers coming into my possession.

Turns out that the Home Cinema Series 100 was a prototype made by Jack Davis of Duntech. It never went into full production due to board level disagreement. This set was brought to the US for the CES show in late 1995, early 1996, which Duntech pulled out of at the last minute.

I am the owner of a virtually "one off" set of Duntech speakers and have probably the only set to ever land in North America. Pretty frikkin neat. MSRP at the time was $7676 US for the set. I have the original spec sheets and the press release of these awesome things that never came to be.

Interesting. I would think that if they were brought over to show off at the CES show, they must be pretty good.

Hi Lifeislarge,

I had correspondence with Jack Davis regarding my Princesses after John Dunlavy separated from Duntech. My impression was that Mr. Davis was knowledgeable but not to be confused with Mr. Dunlavy. I know that Duntech expanded their line up to three series, one of which was the continuation of Dunlavy's designs.

Your curiosity about their linage is understandable. Now if you enjoy their performance, no worries.

I've decided to sell the speakers to avoid packing them yet again for another move. Anyone interested can locate them on eBay by searching Duntech.

I ended up deciding to keep the speakers and have been using the small TH-33s in my recording studio as monitors. They are so accurate I hate the way I sound through them lol. The rest have been preserved in my living room, and have provided years of enjoyment. They do need a sub to really bring out the home theater experience but all do these days. Driven by a Bryston 4B-ST in stereo, the sound is immaculate, and I never pushed never to see what the boundaries were. 

I've decided to sell everything I own and go travel the world so these need a new home. They have been preserved the entire time I have owned them, and for a set of 7 speakers, I would have to say they are in phenomenal condition for 30 year old speakers. All the grills are perfect, and there is only one ding on one rear corner of one speaker. All the drivers are mint, and have been dusted with air regularly. 

The big question is... what are they worth? As studio monitors all of the included speakers except for the stands with the 8" drivers in them are exceptional, with the accuracy that Duntech and John Dunlavy's legacy there produced. I'm fairly convinced that this is the only remaining set in existence (mine was the last set produced), and they're  near mint. So I have a one off set of high quality finished prototype speakers because they never went to market. Apparently Duntech as a company was going through some challenges at the time. Any input before I list them would be appreciated. Can email pics to anyone interested. 

 

@lifeislarge, this may no longer matter too much but I don't believe it is fair to attribute legacy of your speakers to John Dunlavy.  As I mentioned previously he departed Australia to return to the US prior to the time your speakers were produced.  John was adamant about the importance of time and phase in his designs.  I don't know if Duntech continued that approach after his departure, other than continuing that in the models he developed.

Regardless, from your comments it sounds like Jack Davis was the one responsible for development of your speakers.  But irrespective of that I believe Duntech continued to be a well regarded company after Dunlavy's departure.  I have no idea about their worth, but I would advertise them based upon the Duntech reputation.

Over the years I’ve learned quite a bit about the history of both John Dunlavy and Duntech. I spoke to Jack Davis via LinkedIn years ago and he confirmed that the speakers were of his design. He would not confirm however, the details of John’s departure and the agreements regarding intellectual property, but you can’t make a company or its staff "unlearn" scientific principals or technology. 

I don’t know if Duntech was as pedantic moving forward on matching drivers or setting time phase and testing each set of speakers as John was, but there’s a reason they’re still in business and regarded still as being some of the worlds most accurate speakers. Either way, it hurts me to sell them now but I sure am glad to have had them in my life. Suppose this is akin to putting a beloved pet down.