Yeah those are some very impressive speakers. Massive would be an understatement. I would also consider a used pair or a set of the 5s, the only thing is what do you do if you have a problem? I thought that the drivers where very carefully matched by Dunlavy and just putting an off the shelf set back in if you were to say blow a tweeter would not be the same thing. |
one of the alltime great loudspeakers bar none. |
Since the SCIVs do everything why would you consider mods? Look up Dunlavy SCIV on you tube.
I have a manual I can copy for you and I would be happy to share my knowledge of the SCIVs with you. |
There is room for modifications. I would not imagine the drivers need any modification in that John used premium cones throughout that model. The crossover components are indeed suspect. Cheap resistors is where I would start. Capacitors will clear up some background haze and premium inductors would finish the project.
I wrote a review here about my IVa modifications for your reference.
The final places to look at is the interior wiring can be upgraded and improved. I have not done this yet, simply because of money, but no doubt will in the future. Some have sealer the interiors of their Dunlavy speakers and reported gains in sonic quality as well.
Other than these minor modifications, these remain state of the art. If you have any problems with your drivers, they are still available off the shelf. This was John's idea, was to be sure they were serviceable with off the shelf products.
As for matching of drivers, yes John was big on that, and if one was to replace tweeters one might consider this. I replaced my tweeters with a premium pair on my IVa's and did not match them, yet they measured nearly identical anyway. I think this was more marketing hype than an issue, but in your case the subject is mute in that I see no need to replace any of your drivers.
I just wish I could have such large speakers, as they are spectacular... |
I owned a pair of scIII's and drove them with cary slam 100 monoblocks;the sound was fantastic.They did everything a audiophile would ever want so I can only think the VI's are even better.
As far as mods I did none;my only problem was a driver went bad and since they were out of business Bill Legall of Millersound resolved the driver issue;I highly recommend him for any issue you may have.He may even do mods on the crossovers if you want to go that route but I can't think of any reasons for modding these great speakers. |
Thank you for all the great responses!
It's good to know that there are options and alternatives for speaker drivers, crossovers, etc...
This was a minor concern in the begining, but I have gotten much relief from these and other responses.
You would think I'd have more concerns with having a pair of 1950's Klipschorns! But fortunately with aftermarket replacement parts, there are terrific options!
The Dunlavy's themselves are totally funtional and delivering sound beyond my expectations, so there is no immediate issue. My biggest obsticle is placement. Because of room configuration, I'm sure the sound could be improved.
If anyone has any suggestions, I'm totally open.
There are pictures on Audiogon, but I'm not sure they show the obsticles I face in correct speaker placement. If anyone has suggestions, it would be appreciated!
Thanks again, and happy listening!!!
Jim |
what is the room size? The equipment wall is how long? and the width? |
02-24-10: Jadem6
what is the room size? The equipment wall is how long? and the width?
Jadem6
My room is approx. 17' wide by 26' long. The back half of the room has a pool table and dry bar. And the front half contains my music system and home theater. The pictures posted probably don't convey the overall issue. My left speaker is on a wall with large perminent windows. Just to the right is a protruding fireplace. My right speaker is in the corner with a short wall(about 4'). I wish I could draw a picture with measurements! |
My mistake, I thought you have SC IVs. |
Jim, from what I know of the DAL speakers, the VI, V and IV are very similar except for bass response. Therefore I'll suggest doing a search with all three to add to your information base.
Good luck and have fun. |
The traditional Dunlavy placement is along the long wall, but that may not be possible for you. |
In theory the perfect placement would be along the long wall with the tweeter 1/3rd into the room and you 1/3rd into the room. This sounds impossible, so next best is 1/5th into the room
Third best is along the short wall, 1/3rd into the room but this too is not manageable so 1/3rd might be possible. This puts the tweeter 5-2 into the room from the window wall; meaning the speakers are in from of your equipment. The rule of thumb is 1/3rd difference between side wall and front wall, meaning the sidewall should be 36 from the tweeter. This leaves 10-0 between speakers. Because the speaker is deep into the side corner the bass will be an issue (too boomy) but its a start point. The couch on the sidewall would remain and a listening chair would be moved to back up to the pool table when listening. This should give you a good presentation.
The further away from the side wall the less boomy, but at some point the distance between side and front wall will become too close to each other and cause other issues in imaging, so you should move away from the front wall equally which at some point will be too far into the room for your use.
Dunlavy speakers are very, very sensitive to placement, and my guess is you have no idea yet how good these can sound. The soundstage should be amazing one you get it right.
I hope this helps some. The key is to get these speakers out of your corners as much as possible. Imaging, separation, bass definition and special clues will all improve. |
I always felt Mr. Dunlavy recommended long wall placement to keep the speakers as far from sidewalls as possible in an average living room. Also, he apparently didn't mind the bass loading of having the listener's head so close to a wall as most set ups with this layout would require.
I had a discussion on another post regarding the dispersion characteristics of the Dunlavy designs but my position is based on in-room observations. I've been in six different homes with Duntech/DAL speakers and the wider rooms always produced better clarity and soundstaging. But I never heard a system that sounded good when my head was adjacent to the rear wall. My conclusion is therefore that wider rectangular rooms which still allow adequate distance from sidewalls will work better with any Dunlavy speaker that long, narrow rooms which may force long wall placement. One person's opinion.
I will also echo Jadem6's comments that Dunlavy speakers are very placement sensitive but the rewards of careful set up be worthwhile. |
Dear Jimateo, Yr speakers must sound fabulous. I have SC IVAs and these mods helped them go from excellent to superbly musical and captivating. In no particular order they were: 1) soldered the internal speaker wire connection to each speaker rather than retaining the cheapish tabs that connect the speaker wire to each speaker element. Result was noticeable smoothing out of roughness in mids and highs. 2) Use non ferrous screws to hold speakers (bass, mids and highs) to speaker cabinet. Improved smoothness again. 3) Putting spikes under the bases of the speakers lifting them off the ground. I used Walker spikes in this case. Opened up the sound and improved the base. 4) Then I added Symposium platforms under the speaker bases and put the spikes under the platforms. Major improvement in bass and detail and openness. 5) Then I spread the speakers out two feet further apart than I have ever had any speakers, and a major improvement in detail and clarity. 6) Added subwoofers crossover at the lowest point and at very very low volume. (Two Sunfire IVs.) Midrange opened up nicely with a slightly better bass (not by much). Those are the major changes I made all of which were suggested on Audiogon except for the subs addition. These may or may not apply to the VIs you have. On the IVAs they brought the speaker up to a magical sound. Hope this helps. Jonathan |
Jonathan,
I also have my IVa's on points. In my case I uses BDR pucks and cones. Same result. In order to keep the tweeter at its original height I removed the Dunlavy base completely (do not do this with kids or pets) which might have clarified the sound stage and opened the presentation more than any change except cross over mod's. The cross over is without a question the biggest improvement. See my review of that project at http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rspkr&1164387495 |
I see you know more about speaker design than John Dunlavy. Maybe you should have spread the speakers farther apart before you made all of the changes. |
What a mean thing to say. I spoke to John many times, and admittedly he cut cost on the crossover and internal wiring. He helped talk me through what I might do... |
Jimateo,
How are you? Long time since we last spoke.
I have a new room (take a look at the pictures of my system, even though not updated...).
I found that placing absorption/difusion pannels in the sideways hep a lot, so I had a couple of them custom made. Depending on their positioning I can increase or reduce their effect.
The front wall absorption and diffusion is also very important, since I could have the back of my SC-VI only three feet from the wall.
I will now order a 6feetx4feet rpg like diffusion panel for the ceiling first reflection and perhaps another 6feet(tall)x2feet(w) movable diffusion panel to put in front of the TV.
I can tell you that upgrading to the Playback Designs MPD-5 and to the Krell FPB 750mcx made a BIG improvement in the sound of the Dunlavy SC-VI. It is VERY realistic, so I look forward to my preamp upgrade.
Did you actually do any SC-VI crossover mod? Or know of anyone who did a SC-VI crossover mod?
Cheers,
Vicente |
Hello Jimateo,
I have now done many mods to my SC-VIs, they are so much better now!
The best mods in terms of high impact and low cost were to change the tweeters and to change the crossover resitors to Duelund CAST, please check the detail in my system tread.
Cheers,
VPN |
