Question for Dunlavy ScIII users

Pass labs matches the Dunlavy speakers extremely well.

I have also enjoyed the Plinius sound with Dunlavys.

I have a friend that uses Alioa amps and preamp with the Cantata (very much like the SCIII) and his system is great.

In general, these are easy to drive, but having a little extra power will help them sing.

Like Spudco said, the Dunlavy's are easy to drive. I had a pair of SC-III's for a short time, but returned them for the SC-IV's for more bass. I drove both with a Krell KSA-50S, 50 watts into 8 ohms, but the Krell is a powerful amp. The Dunlavy's would literally slap you in the chest when Enya hit a kettle drum in "The Long Ships" with those 50 watts. Get a powerful amp, an amp that takes over the speakers and makes them do what it wants them to do. The old Adcom GFA-555 didn't do them justice, even when bridged to mono. I've recently traded my Krell pre-amp and amp for a Musical Fidelity A308cr pre-amp and amp, and I'm smiling and have never regretted the switch. Audition them if you can.

Pass labs indeed sound nice with the dunlavies but IMO ARC or VTL, tubes take them to an entirely differnt levelin the midrange and top end openness. I agree with the above posters that they don't need a lot of power but more is definitely better.

I'm glad Piezo brought up tubes. I bought a pair of B&W Silver Signatures ($8000.00) to use in my main system when I moved it into the basement because they were stand mounted monitors. They didn't have the bass of the Dunlavy's of course, so I tried to insert the Dunlavy's back in, but I couldn't keep them there. The B&W's were so sweet in the midrange that it sounded like the singer was in the room with me. As good as the Dunlavy's sounded, they didn't do that. I used the Krell KSA-50S with both, so I can't blame it all on the 50 watt Krell. But tubes are sweet through the mids, and with enough power in reserve, it may very well the better way to go. Besides ARC and VTL, try giving the Conrad-Johnson Premier 140 a listen.

Mike, you asked about the room. My room in the basement is 16' x 23' with a 7' ceiling. I've had the system on both the long and short wall. The short wall worked better because I have the speakers 4'-5' out into the room, and along the short wall allowed me to sit 8'-10' away. The long wall create a near field monitoring situation that doesn't really even work with the B&W's since I like rock at realistic (emotional) levels.

Ive owned 4 different amps with my dunlavys. Started with a B&K to an Acurus to a Krell and finally to Pass Labs. What Ive found is that the Dunlavys, while fairly easy to drive, are also ruthlessly revealing, especially in the higher frequencies. The cheaper amps and the krell had no problems driving the woofers but the highs were very often harsh and grainy. The Pass took care of that and improved the detail in spades. I run my 4a's with the Pass x-350. Its probably overkill but the looks are great and I like the zero feedback design. Speakers are 12' apart against the long wall and I sit about 10' back

thanks for all the input - mike

Mike, I don't know what you settled with on the amp question but thought I would throw my two cents worth. I have the SC-III's with the Dunlavy DAL cables coming out of a NAD C-370 and they sound fantastic. I have the Sony DVP-S9000-ES SACD/DVD, along with a VPI TT, old cassette deck and reel to reel. The NAD C-370 has impressed many of my friends with much higher quality and priced systems, which also speaks well of the Dunlavy's. My room is 30' by 16' with the speakers about 15' apart and my sweet spot is about 13'from the III's. Sit back and enjoy the music, I know that I am.