Dunlavy SC IV Speaker- Any Good???

More good info. I saw the SkyHi Audio VI ad. 500 lbs each at $20k- Nope.

They did offer to cover shipping. All in the amazing MU% they operate on.

The SC IV pair I will be listening to is owned by a sound engineer

who uses them in his home so they have not been in a garage for

20 years otherwise I would pass.

The Duntechs are likely fantastic but not in my wheelhouse price-wise.

What does anyone think is the minimal WPC required to operate

these? I listen at a max of 75db. Vocals and acoustic music mostly.

Do the Duntechs do well at lower volumes???

Best,

I owned the big Duntechs (forerunners of the Dunlavys) back in the 80"s & they were substantially better in just about every way than anything else available at that time other than maybe the Infinity IRS & the bigger Apogees.  The had no spikes & even as big & heavy as they were, they benefitted from my silly looking but highly effective retrofit. I lived in a rented, cool converted  carriage house on an estate & my system was in a large living room (20' x 30') w/ a hard oak paneled ceiling. I put a piece of felt on top of the speakers,  then a small piece of plywood w/ a 2x 6 going up to the ceiling capped by another small piece of plywood. This was wedged in tightly to put reasonable downward pressure on the speakers. It made a substantial improvement in clarity & dynamics. Along w/ my Conrad Johnson Premier One power amp  & the original Basis turntable, lots of good times & good music!

If you can get those speakers for reasonable $, & an they sound good, go for it! Very little better options today for anything less than about $20,000. 

The veneer on the SCIV's I had started delaminating. I wasn't impressed with that. This was at least 10 years ago. Joe

As to your question about power, I think Dunlavy suggested 100 watts per channel.  My recollection is that the Dunlavys were about 90db efficient, and a nominal 4 ohm load.  For my Duntech Princesses, a similar load, I used a Krell KSA 80 (100 watts pure class A), ARC M300 (300 watts pentode) and then Classic 150 monoblocks (130 watts triode) and Jadis JA80 monoblocks (60 watts), and also used a Sonogy Black Knight (200 watts per channel) and Concept 60 (60 watts per channel) solid state amps  The JA80s were weak in the deep bass but a wonderful midrange and easily drove the speakers; the higher powered amps did a better job controlling the bass and were a little more dynamic, though at the volumes I listened there wasn't that much of a difference.  I heard the SC-IVs with, among others, VTL amps (about 120 Watts) and a VAC Renaissance 30-30, and the VACs were surprisingly good, again a little weaker in the deep bass.  I think I saw you have a lower-powered Pass amp, but if it's Class A it might be able to do the job. 

My recollection is that the speakers did well at lower volumes, but I'd say they did open up a bit at higher volume levels.  Perhaps our current owners can address that question.

I have a pair of SC V's as the front speakers on my surround system. At 7'4" tall and 340 lbs. they make my 74" tv look small. I wish I could post a pic.

John Dunlavy was an actual rocket scientist. He was responsible for the communications for NASA during the race to the moon. Started designing speakers on the side and formed companies later in his life. Man was a genius.