Dunlavy SC IVa or B&W 802

This one's easy...there is no question about it, Dunlavy's are accurate in time and phase and reproduce accurately the signal fed them by the partnering amplifier.

This is an exceptional, albeit out of production, speaker.

Check out the step response of B&W. Why would anyone want a speaker that inverts part of the harmonic content of the signal fed to it?

Warnerwh, I know and I have studied and compared this through extensive listening with friends' systems and at shows for years. I have also owned KEF, Dynaudio and Paradigm, while good products, are unacceptable to me compared to Thiel, Vandersteen, Dunlavy and Meadowlark. I can hear the difference these designs make. From a purely common sense standpoint, it confounds me that more designers don't spend the time and effort to achieve this level of harmonic accuracy. And I realize that the VAST majority of speakers manufactured are simply inaccurate in this regard. I'm not a disciple of Richard Hardesty, though I do think he raises some excellent points, for me it's simply a matter of what I can hear. For me, accuracy of timbre, even if it makes a crummy recording sound as crummy as it really is, is most important.