Tube amp suggestions-Dunlavy IVA

Dodd Audio 120's, nuff said, save the $$$$, buy his pre-amp too, and still save. JMHO

I think my Joule Electra VZN100 manuals mention that the Dunlavy Princesses were used during the amp's development so I'd imagine they have some synergy. I'm sure Jud Barber could advise you on it.

Try the Cary SLI-80. Plenty of juice to drive them,and great sound. Look for the signatire model, it has ssome great mods, and makes a great amp better. Gool Luck! Gerry

I agree with all of Raquel's suggestions, particularly the Lamms, which I own and find to be exceptional amplifiers and able to drive virtually anything out there. One more possibility is VTL, their amps, while not as smooth and refined as the ones mentioned, do well with the Dunlavy's, particularly in the bass (though I would opt for their 225 watt versions). ARC VT amps also work well with Dunlavys, though I find them to sound just a little lean compared to the others mentioned. While all of the amps mentioned here are somewhat pricey, your speakers are good enough to let you hear what you paid for.

I use a Wavestream Kinetics Stereo V8 to drive my SC-IVA's. The V8 has four GE6550A's per channel to produce about 125wpc. It drives the IVA's to concert levels in my 17 foot by 30 foot listening room.

The VAC Renaissance 70/70 was lovely on my old SC-III's, having more than enough power and all the finesse you could want. Extremely well-built and simple to use, too, because the tubes are self-biasing and the amp has a tube failure circuit that shuts down any tube that starts to die. As for whether it will give you the power and headroom of a 300 watt solid-state amp, perhaps yes -- the amp is totally dual mono, all the way down to separate power cords and on/off switches, and has very high quality output transformers and power supplies -- it sounds much more powerful than its wattage rating. It replaced a Bryston 4B-ST (290 watts/channel) in my system with no perceptable loss in horsepower and big improvements everywhere else. The 70/70's are now going for +/- $4,500-$6,000 used (they are still in production and list for $14,000). It uses 300-B output tubes, which last many thousands of hours longer than pentodes (6550's, KT-88's, EL-34's). I run the monoblock version of the amps, the Renaissance 140/140's, in my main system.

I can recommend three other amps.

The CAT JL-2 stereo amp is transparent, sophisticated and enormously powerful (it uses a 55 lb. output transformer), making most 300 watt solid-state amps sound neutered. Incredibly well-built (weighs 177 lbs.). $12k new and $6-$8k used.

Lamm's 90 watt/channel monoblocks are powerful, transparent and extremely well-built. $22k new and +/-$9k-$12k used.

The Tenor 75 watt monos are great, but the company is evidently out of business.

All of these amps will challenge your Dunlavys.

Good luck.