Dunlavy SC IV Speaker- Any Good???

Thank you all for the valuable input. The speakers I recently sold after 3 years

were 10+ years  older than these so age is not an issue to me if I

am rewarded with an SQ that exceeds an investment of x 10 in newer gear.

If they need refoaming, some people still do that well.

If the XO tests poorly I'll have them rebuilt as I did the previous ones.

If my dog puts a paw through the driver then I may have an issue.

Plan to audition them Saturday. Very curious how they will sound.

JPY- I bought the Fritz speakers and had a 30 day trial. 

Once burned in the high end sound was frick-in amazing.

Good Enough to allow me to sell the Tannoys which went

in 2 days locally.

But.... I missed the visceral air movement and midrange magic those old 15s dual concentric provided. So I sadly returned them on Tuesday. Wish I could have kept them for a second setup. I think I will need to stay with a larger floor stander.

Now I am looking for Nirvanna under $5k.

The Curve is out of state so that requires travel.

Will likely be traveling soon to audition more good stuff!!

Trying to be patient but as OCD as I am its not working!

@chorus I did not own these but heard them once.  I stopped in to a local shop on a Saturday morning and these speakers had a substantial audience.  We were all just amazed at what we heard.  Consensus in the room was that this was by far the best speaker any of us had heard.  But that was then, and speakers have come a long way since the early 90's. 

They are old.  If I were you, I'd try to find out what the crossover design looked like and get an estimate on a rebuild before buying.  Plan on rebuilding, regardless of how the speakers audition.  Crossovers that old are not going to be functioning in spec.  They just aren't.  

200 lb speakers are a pain to move and a pain to sell.  You better be sure you can live with them before you buy.

I've been down the nostalgia road.  I had fun reworking a pair of A/D/S 1290's from the mid 80's.  It was lots of fun and I enjoyed the work and learned a lot, but I probably won't go down that road again.  

Keep us informed.  I love to follow stuff like this.

If your room is big enough buy them. They are big and sound big- a great speaker.

@chorus - I’m right there with you.

I’ve owned my pair of SC-III.As since 2006, and the only speakers I’m looking to upgrade to (but doesn’t make financial sense, with two kids coming out of private school and headed to college) are WATT/Puppy’s. Their dynamics, spectral balance, and immediacy are characteristics I can’t find anywhere else. In fact, I’d say the immediacy of the Dunlavys best the Wilsons, but the latter does everything else a little better than the former.

A friend and I were sitting in a high-end audio shop just chatting, after perusing the eye candy in the room. One of the salesmen (the same one who allowed me to bring home Aragon and McCormick electronics for overnight auditioning on just a photocopy of my DL) wordlessly walked in and got a CD spinning of the Eagles. The first developed riffs of Hotel California immediately shut us both up - we had never heard anything that close to a live performance (for reference, it was a CAL transport/DAC through Threshold amplification - forgot the preamp, unfortunately).

My cousin has a pair of the SC-IV.As and loves them the same. We both have rather largish listening rooms, but the SC-IV.As seem to over power his. He hasn’t treated his room yet, much to my chagrin. He’s still trying to tame a large bass suck out - mainly due to the top/bottom extreme placement of the woofers on the SC-IV.A.

It appears the overarching concern is the condition of the speakers due to age. I believe John primarily used Vifa drivers, which should be pretty durable. I’d go over the condition of the speakers with a fine tooth comb, but wouldn’t think twice about buying them, given good condition and a good price. I also would hold off on the IV.As if you can, but that’s not a must. As good as the IV.As are, if the straight IVs are even just 75% as good, they’ll still be a treat to listen to.

Good luck!

I have the SC-IVs and just about every other speaker Dunlavy ever made.  Been to lots of audio shows. Been to a lot of dealer demos. If you're looking for the most integrated sound specific to a sweet spot, I have never heard anything better.