AudiogoN Reviews: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa

Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa

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

by Jadem6 on 08-01-02

Follow ups

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

08-01-02 Jadem6, i totall agree with your review. i had the 4 th ... Genesis168

08-02-02 I have the cantata's the smaller brother to the 4a. i h ... Khaki8

08-02-02 Khaki8, thank-you for bringing this topic to my review. ... Jadem6

08-02-02 I just got off the phone with john dunlavy. of course b ... Jadem6

08-02-02 All this stuff about dunlavy saying the parts are great ... Khaki8

08-02-02 Khaki8, maybe it would be helpful to have you describe ... Jadem6

08-04-02 The sound was so dramatically better. the first thing w ... Khaki8

08-16-02 Just wanted to add a comment re: the mod i did for mr. ... blackie@

08-16-02 Thank-you blackie, it helps to hear your thoughts. can ... Jadem6

08-16-02 There are a lot of things the dunlavys do well, but the ... blackie@

09-03-02 Jadem, the mod was done because i really liked the ... Khaki8

09-03-02 Great review, jd. thank you. am i correct that ... Drubin

09-03-02 The sc111-a is the cantata in a different box. Khaki8

09-04-02 The sc-iiia is a great looking speaker. is the sound th ... Jadem6

09-04-02 So it is, thanks. still a lot bigger than my proac 2.5 ... Drubin

10-13-02 Thanks jadem6! that is truly a great review. everyone i ... Bulldogger

11-03-02 The first time i heard the the dunlavy iv it was the be ... Snook2

11-03-02 Tell us what they are, snook! Drubin

11-04-02 Snook2 is right, they do take a big effort to get place ... Jadem6

11-04-02 Interesting & well-documented post j-d (may i add, &quo ... Gregm

11-09-02 Drubin, i now have the piega 10's. i hesitated to menti ... Snook2

11-10-02 I have had the dunlavy sc-iv in my listening room after ... Radman

11-17-03 I found the dunlavy's (powered by the high dollar theta ... Hockey

03-20-04 John dunlavy please come back! i had to purchase inste ... Stevecham

05-14-04 Anybody got any thoughts about the impedence of the dun ... lisavalentin@

04-29-05 I have a pair of dunlavy cantatas that i bought after a ... Jack43

05-11-05 Thenthing about dunlavy's is eventually you notice your ... Dave_b

05-12-05 I owned 4a's for 5+ yrs and couldn't agree more. to wh ... Daytrader

05-13-05 Dave b and daytrader; i’ve heard these same comments be ... Jadem6

05-18-05 Sure, sorry for the delay...busy! everything i've had ... Dave_b

05-19-05 I can't comment on the dunlavy sc-iva's since i've only ... Njp

05-20-05 Hi njp, how do you think the alethas compare to thos ... Atjandra888

05-20-05 Hi tjandra, the alethas are superb speakers - en ... Njp

05-20-05 Neville, i truely feel bad for you. parting with the ... Piezo

05-21-05 Dave b if i read this right you have owned b&w 801n' ... Jadem6

05-23-05 I'm not sure what your problem is daytrader, but i have ... Dave_b

08-09-05 "honky midrange coloration?" i dont know abou ... Cmpromo

08-12-05 I've been testing different geese on the top of my spea ... Jadem6

08-15-05 Try stacking several geese in a d'appageeso array...sma ... Dave_b

08-15-05 Jadem6, when i had mine i found that sleeping on ... Daytrader

08-15-05 Precisely! i've had so many speakers i have no connect ... Dave_b

08-17-05 Glad you guys could see the humor in that. one phrase t ... Cmpromo

08-19-05 All kidding aside, i owned the 5's for 4 years. as mon ... Dave_b

08-19-05 I thank both dave b and daytrader for getting us past w ... Jadem6

08-19-05 ...you're all(jadem6,dave_b and cmpromo) invited over m ... Daytrader

08-19-05 I'll bring the bass ale!! Dave_b

08-19-05 I will chime in here, having met jd on several occasion ... Artg

08-20-05 Well, in that case i'll bring the grease paint and my b ... Dave_b

08-22-05 Artg... you're going to have to do better than that ... Daytrader

08-22-05 Anybody hear the new b&w802d's...pretty sweet and tasty ... Dave_b

08-29-05 I seem to remember a test done with a pair of john dunl ... Cmpromo

08-29-05 Like i said before, i loved my dunlavy's for almost 4 y ... Dave_b

08-29-05 If you change the sand cast 10 cent resistors for non i ... Theaudiotweak

08-30-05 I think ive discussed this with you briefly once before ... Cmpromo

08-30-05 Yes we did talk about crossover upgrades by changing pa ... Theaudiotweak

09-05-05 Hi tom, do you have a list of components and values for ... Jadem6

09-06-05 Jd,yes i have a list of component values for my sc4's a ... Theaudiotweak

10-16-05 I have a pair of duntech marquis that dunlavy designed ... ohio43952@

10-16-05 I almost bought a pair of duntech. they are a bit wider ... Jadem6

10-17-05 Is there anyone out there that mods speaker crossovers, ... Rja

06-18-06 Hello everybody, i'am from belgium, in europe. we ... jeanfrancois.vandin@

09-06-06 Agree. i've changed just about every other component a ... Aoliviero

09-07-06 I have not quite completed my latest project of replaci ... Jadem6

09-07-06 Jade when i replaced components in my sc4's the resist ... Theaudiotweak

09-07-06 I concur with that tom. the resistors were the only cha ... Jadem6

09-08-06 Just a minor note for those using new capacitors in a s ... Gregm

09-08-06 Oooops -- just saw that sean mentions this on another t ... Gregm

09-08-06 i've ordered new cardas binding posts for my ivas b ... Rja

09-08-06 I have thought about that myself and decided not to jus ... Jadem6

Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa
Update on new binding posts.
I purchased the Cardas CCGG long posts, direct gold plate over copper. The rings that are soldered to the ends of the cross-over wires appears to be brass. These rings were bolted to the original binding posts. I am going to get the brass out of the signal path by soldering the cross-over wires directly to the new Cardas binding posts. The brass rings has to degrade the sound. Hopefully the new binding posts and the elimination of the brass in the signal path will improve the sound. Any thoughts on this from other Dunlavy owners?
Rja 09-18-06

Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa
Tweeter upgrades?
Jadem6, not sure how much this answers your question but I spoke with Alan Hulsebus of Orca Design concerning Dynaudio tweeters, such as I have in my Duntech Princess speakers. He believes the D-28 and D-28-2 sound identical. As for the more expensive Esotar, the only difference he hears is about 1 dB gain in efficiency, otherwise, "same frequency response, same waterfall, same impedance, same distortion, same power handling, same soundstage."

Since I don't know which tweeter Dunlavy used in your SC-IVa, this may or may not be of interest. I will say that I've listened to a friend's system with the mid-sized Raven ribbon tweeter and find it to be somewhat more airy and detailed than my speakers. Also, I had the opportunity to listen to some JM Labs with their new beryllium tweeter in my system and, yes, it too may be marginally better. However, given the complexity of driver matching and crossover design that John Dunlavy put into my system and yours, what are our chances of making a change that "improves" our high ends?
Pryso 10-28-06

Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa
The speaker binding post replacement and elimination of the brass in the signal path have made a noticeable improvement in my IVAs. I would suggest this mod to IVA owners. Cost should be well under $200 with perhaps 2-3 hours of labor. Well worth the effort IMO.
Rja 10-29-06

Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa
Did you replace all the steel mounting screws that hold the crossover in place? How about those around the tweeter dome and its plate mounting screws securing it to the cabinet with non-ferrous brass? Tom
Theaudiotweak 10-30-06

Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa
I replaced all the screws holding the speakers with stainless steel screws. Didn't replace the crossover screws.
Rja 10-30-06

Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa
I did the screw change. Changed all the screws on the drivers and the crossover plate. I did not do anything inside the speakers. Wnet to a hardware store like Tom said and got brass screws.

All said and done. It did make a difference. There was much less grain and the highs were smoother. This is a tweak for C-H-E-A-P. Makes good audible difference. Go for it guys!

Now since the cold bitter Canadian winter is approching, I will see what others think/ suggest for mods to the speaker.

Cheers,

genesis168
Genesis168 11-12-06

Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IVa
The wonders of brass strkes again.Superior sonic material plus its non-ferrous so it does not disturb the flow of those precious electrons bouncing from place to place. Tom
Theaudiotweak 11-12-06