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Review: Dunlavy Audio Labs SC-IV Speaker

Category: Speakers

Dunlavy speakers are used in a lot of hi-end mastering studios. I first demo'd the Dunlavy SC-IV in a dealer showroom with an Audio Research CD player and preamp thru a Krell FPB amplifier. I was also seriously considering the Thiel CS6's until I heard the Dunlavy's.
The Dunlavy's sounded to me like real music in real space instead of sounding like a speaker. They have a wide deep soundstage and offer pinpoint imaging.
The SC-IV's can be driven by amps or receivers with as little as 50w per channel but really come to life when driven by a great amplifier (Bryston/Classe/Krell/PassLabs etc). I have heard them with all of these amps and have yet to be disappointed.
They fall just a little short in the bass department and start to roll off in my room below 35hz. I have filled in the bottom end with a REL Stadium III with great results.


Associated gear
cd:Classe CDP-.3
Muse Model 5 transport
pre/processors:
Citation 7.0
Lexicon MC-1
amps:
Classe CA-200
Anthem MCA-20
receiver:
Outlaw 1050
subwoofer:
REL Stadium III

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misc speakers from Tannoy,JM Labs,Totem,
Vandersteen,Definitive Tech,MartinLogan,
etc...
stereonuts
4 responses Add your response
bulldogger
262 posts
 
This the SC-IV and not the SC-IVa? The a version is supposed to have pretty good bass.
snook2's avatar
snook2
616 posts
 
I ve had the IV,IVa and the V's and these are one hard speaker to set up. I always had trouble getting the bass right. I ve had the best tubes and solid state to drive these and the biggest problem was room placement. These were to big of a speaker to place anywhere in a living space. I believe an extremely damped room is the only way to achieve the best results
musicluvr
17 posts
 
Simply the most satisfying speaker I ever heard for under $10k. I owned a pair for 7 years. I still miss them alot after a move to a smaller room forced the sale.Heigt, width and depth of soundstage, purity of tone is capivating, makes other speakers in comparison sound like toys. Only wished they had the gut wrenching bass of some other large speakers. Then again all tis for $5k is cheap by todays standards.
rja's avatar
rja
2,356 posts
 
I've owned the SCIV and now own a pair of SCIVAs. IMO: The IVAs are dramatically better in every respect. I feel the overall integration of the drivers and subsequent coherence is the most marked improvement of the IVA over the IV. This is probably due to a new design in the IVA crossover. The bass is also improved. Of course, the IVA price is double the IV. So the natural question is whether the price difference is warranted by sound quality improvement. In my case, I got a great trade-in on the IVs because my dealer had a waiting customer for them. With the IVs for about 2 years and the IVAs now for about 2 years, I couldn't go back.
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