Alternatives to Dunlavy speakers?

Piega 10's are more tranparent and revealing than the IV,IVA,and the V's which I've had in my system for 5 years plus. The Dunlavy's have a bigger soundstage and must be played at higher levels. The music got to be fatigueing after long periods of play. The difference that appealed to me was in the bass. The Dunlavy's had a huge but boomy bass while the piega's was tight fast and deep. If you have the space you may want to hear the Soundlabs also.

i need to cast my vote both with Brauser and with Karl. I used to be a Vandy guy until i found the Dunlavy's the Athenas were so much more open sounding than the sig 3s. I thought the thiels were a bit bright. that said i also thought the dunlavy III to be bright. the wrong cables (i.e. silver) or nasty recordings can make my athenas down right evil. With tubes and some nice copper cables they can be amazing though a harsh cd will still tear your ears out...LPs on the other hand are always nice.

Dunlavy was on my short list but I bought Green Mountain Audio Continuum 2. They are very well engineered (first order crossover with very expensive components and fully adjustable for any listrening room) and constructed speakers. The upgrade to C2i has made them an excellent speaker: very dynamic, soundstage imaging like mini-moniotrs with substantial bass response and easy to drive (91dB).

I am not a Dunlavy fan, I will admit that up front. Dynaudio lost my business when they introduced the new Confidence and Temptation with two tweeters and two mid/woofers design. I have never heard a speaker with very good and precise imaging when multiple tweeters or midranges are employed. I used to own Dynaudio Confidence 5 which has one tweeter and one midrange dome, sitting at 6' away from the speakers I was able to create pin point imaging. Listening to Dunlavy or Temptation require at least 10' from the speakers for the sound to emerge and sound focus. Even then, it is still not perfect.

Tannoy and Lowther build their markets on one point, literally one point, point source is the only way to create precise imaging. Yes, the new Confidence and Temptation are more advance than your typical MTM design in the crossover by varying the output and crossover point on every single driver. So no two drivers have identical output or crossover frequency in the new C2/4 or Temptation. But end result still requires a larger than normal domestic living room to create precise imaging.

Some designers stick with this theory and will never go above one tweeter or midrange driver per channel. Look at Verity Audio, Sonus Faber, Aerial, or Revel, they will rather sacrifice a little power handling than building a giant speaker to create giant sound. Go listen to Pipe Dream, see if you can tell the height of the performer.

Just my 2 cents.

Snook2

The boomy bass you had was not the fault of the Dunlavy's---it was the way they interacted in YOUR room. Very few really good high end speakers that I can think of (and I won't name the ones I can) have "boomy" bass if carefully placed in the room with the listening position also carefully place. The bass may not be to your liking but it should not be boomy. None of the Dunlavy's have boomy bass (that still does not mean you will like them, of course)