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Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa

Category: Speakers

When I decided seven years ago to upgrade my audio system, I started by finding a speaker I loved. I searched for almost a year listening to every speaker available in the Minneapolis area. I found Magnepan and MartinLogan to be stunning but too dry and fatiguing for my taste. The midrange was not as deep and rich as I was looking for. Wilson had great sound but beyond the budget I was hoping to stay in. B&W sounded thick and boomy to me and Meridian was electronic and artificial. Thiel, Audio Physics and Dunlavy became the finalists. Being a late ‘60s early ‘70s guy, I came from Marantz and MaIntosh electronics and JBL and Altec Lansing speakers. The size and depth of the sound of Dunlavy along with the exceptional midrange were the final factors in my choosing Dunlavy IV as the speaker I wanted. The problem was I could only afford the Dunlavy III, exceptional midrange but not the ultimate bottom end of the IV.
It was about two years after buying the III's that I had the opportunity to upgrade to the IV's. It turned out that over those two years Dunlavy had improved the IV's and had a new model, IVa. They amazed me to find the IVa was even richer and deeper than the old IV model. The Dunlavy IVa speaker consists of two 10" woofers, two 5" mids and one 1" composite textile dome tweeter. Frequency response is 25Hz to 20 kHz, and Sensitivity is 91 dB with an Impedance of 5 ohms. Size is 72" high, 15" deep and 12" wide with a weigh of 190 lbs. each. $8495/pr
I believe Dunlavy speakers have no rivals within their price category. John Dunlavy is obsessed with designing the most accurate reproductions of sound. To meet this stringent standard Dunlavy has built one of the worlds best-equipped laboratories in order to test his designs. This has lead to some very harsh discussions between John Atkinson of Stereophile and John Dunlavy. It seems that JA does not like being out engineered by one of the great loudspeaker designers and the result was punishing JD by putting the once Stereophile "product of the year" Class A component into their B class after Dunlavy improved the speaker to JA's recommendation. Despite the politics of Stereophile Magazine, this speaker will hold its own with speakers two and three times its cost.
The highs are clear, grain less and extremely extended. JA spoke of them appearing a bit forward but I have never felt that was the case with this speaker, and can hardly believe a comment like that when compared with some of Stereophiles favorites MartinLogan and Meridian. Comments like these only strengthen my lack of trust for this Magazine. The midrange on all Dunlavy speakers is amazingly magical. I have not tried any other speaker that is as pure and life like with the female voice than Dunlavy. They display all the color and texture of the midrange with a crispness and transparency. Bass has long been the contention point of the IV series. The fact that they rate them at 25Hz meaning that it cuts off one organ pedal is hardly an issue for me. On the double bass, even the lowest note is crisply defined with no bloating or smear. The famous subway as heard on Water Lilly Acoustics "Natures Realm" with the Philadelphia Orchestra is deep under my floor forward and to the right. On Cowboy Junkies "Trinity Sessions" the foot pounding on the stage is as if he were in my livingroom pounding on my floor. I have no lack for bass from my speakers, in fact any more might be too much. Sound stage is wide and very deep. Excellent transient speeds, superb impact yet with an effortless smoothness. I truly believe these are the best speakers I can afford and is very much at home in my system. They have never left me lacking or longing for something better. That says a lot for a guy who is always looking for more, but never from my speakers. These are simply great speakers, and their service is exceptional as I found out with my III's, I twice had drivers replaced although it turned out the speakers had nothing to do with the problems I was having.


Associated gear
Sony SCD-1 SACD player
Placette active pre-amp
Plinius SA-102 amps
Nordost Valhalla speaker cable
Nordost Valhalla and NBS Statement interconnects
NBS Statement power cords
Hydra power conditioner

Similar products
Thiel CS7 series
Audio Physic Virgo
Wilson Watt/puppy
128x128jadem6
njp
44 posts
 
I can't comment on the Dunlavy SC-IVa's since I've only heard them in the show room, but I can certainly comment on the Alethas, which I own and have lived with for a couple of years and known intimately.

I have never heard the "midrange coloration" you mention - it has one of the clearest and pursest midranges that I have ever heard, and I listened to a lot of speakers over the years. The truth of timbre and purity of the midrange allows voices and instruments to sound amazingly real. Several friends that have listened to my system have had similar reactions i.e., this is spooky real.

In terms of imaging the speakers just dissappear in a deep and wide soundstage - the width far exceeds the boundaries of the speaker in my room. But I do currently have a dedicated room for them that I may not have the luxury of in the near future.

I'm not in the least denying what you heard - I just wanted to present another side to this picture. I've heard all three of the other speakers you mention and all are excellent. However, none of them had me remotely wanting to rush out and upgrade my Dunlavy Alethas. Now on the other hand the Avantgarde Duo's I recently heard, did have a very profound effect on me, but unfortunately the size of these things makes them non-feasible for me.
atjandra888
18 posts
 
Hi Njp,
How do you think the alethas compare to those newer speakers? There a lot of newer speakers (cheaper and more expensive) that have came out since dunlavy out of business. They use more sophiscated parts and have more sophiscated designs!! Some of them even have a very reasonable price tag and received good/ great review by stereophile mags.
Most of my hi-end friends, they talk about Revels, B&Ws, Totems, Triangles, VR, etc...
I own the Alethas, but had no luxurious to audition any other speakers (only some, but just the low-ends, as in my city in Indoensia, the dealers usually don't have those expensive speakers in stock). So, I am not very sure whether the Alethas are for the keep or I should upgrade/ change.
Thanks

Regards
Tjandra
njp
44 posts
 
Hi Tjandra,

The Alethas are superb speakers - enjoy them. They need to be setup and partnered carefully, but if you do so, sonically they pay off big time - they are incredibly natural and coherent, dynamic with an amazing soundfield.

Of the numerous speakers I've heard since, the ones that I thought were outstanding were the Avantgarde Duo's - incredibly coherent, dynamic and natural. If you can, I'd highly recommend an audition. I'd love to own these but their sheer size and visual impact (which I love) are not condusive to my family harmony :(.

I will likely be forced to sell my Alethas in the not so distant future since I won't have the luxury of a dedicated room for them (which is currently my living room). Throwing them in the corners up against the wall kills the wonderful soundfield and makes the bass too prominent. So, I will likely be looking for a monitor or something small in their place.

All the best,
Neville
piezo
304 posts
 
Neville, i truely feel bad for you. Parting with the athenas is gonna hurt

Tjandra, when i went on a speaker hunt i traveled three states and listened to vandersteens, thiel, aerial, martin logans, revel, hales B&W (801n's couldn't even get in the game though i always allow for the possiblility of a really sucky audition room) Dunlavy IIIs, and a number of others i can't recall right now. The first time i heard the athenas (in a killer room at Audio Vidio Logic in Des Moines Iowa)i said these are the ones. Two more days of travel and listening did nothing other than confirm my original conclusion. I'm so satisfied that i don't even consider replacing them. I have recently heard the Wilson Sophias..wasn't impressed at all, and the Wilson Maxes...which totally blew me away. However the max system was carrying a retail price exceeding $150 k plus the room. Mine is closer to $25k.

Set up on the long wall and paired with VTL tubes in a less than perfect room my athenas totally dissappear. the soundstage can extend beyond the speakers though it is recording dependant. There is good depth to the sound stage and a natural sence of height. within that soundstage the imagining is very defined and stable. In comparison, the wilson sophias for example, sounded like small boxes setting on the floor.

Bass is tight and accurate and capable of getting quite deep when the recording calls for it, the highs are smooth and open with an airyness approaching planers and the mids are warm and natural with no honkiness (and i'm fully aware of how nasty a honky midrange can sound...just aint there on the athenas though i have heard complaints about the IVs and even the Vs from time to time). The highs were extremely sensitive to cables and tweaking. At one point my system had a horrible top end glare with a set of Pro Silway II cables in the CDP position. that problem ended up being cured by vibration control under the CDP. I also spent a lot of time setting up the speakers, not a plug and play arangement.

I've been a part time working musician for over 25 yrs and i go to a lot of live shows. The dunlavies do a great job on lifelike presentation of most instruments and reproduction of the feal of the performance within the limitations of my room and system. the only failings over live shows may be that they are a tad more laid back than the real deal. That may be a result of my system configuration as i prefer laid back for relaxation as opposed to an in-your-face EV sound system type of sound with huge subs pounding my brains out. I'm also fueling them with 185 wts/side which will barely power a monitor for a live system.

With small group Jazz acoustic, roots rock/folk or blues recordings and my amps in triod mode the reproduction of the instruments is extremely accurate. get into rock recordings of lesser quality things can take a harsh turn but that doesn't happen much.

in summary tjandra, for what you'll get out of your alethas if you sell them you will never touch a small fraction of what you have. They were about impossible to beat at full retail.

system:

VTL MB 185 monos on polychrystal stands
VTL 5.5 preamp
ACR CD-2
CJ Walker table with a Linn Basik arm
old B&o reciever for tuner and phono pre (even with this low budget approach to analog the old records still sound great)
Harmonic tech Pro Silway II between pre and CDP, truthlinks between amp and pre and between the B&O and pre
BMI eels on the pre and CDP, stock power cords on every thing else
jadem6's avatar
jadem6 OP
1,074 posts
 
Dave b
If I read this right you have owned B&W 801N's, Wilson Watt/Puppy 6's, ML Prodigy's, Totem Forests and Winds since owning the Dunlavy’s for years. Something sounds funny here. Then you tell me you used a Krell to mate with the Dunlavy and Audio Research pre-amp. If that is true it must have been one hideous sounding system. I can not imagine a poorer match (Krell and AR), well given that you preferred the Wilson’s and B&W’s, I guess I understand. The final proof I needed to understand what your issues are, was your comment, “. Imaging was the biggest problem with the massive point source Dunlavy's...nothing beyond the sides and the comb filter effect of their own boxes limited the holography found in most of the other speakers I've owned.”. This is proof positive you have either never owned Dunlavy or you had them set up improperly. Either way I do not really care, I now understand where your comments come from, and I wish you luck finding what ever it is you’re looking for.
Daytrader, I didn’t expect you had anything else to offer.
J.D.
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