Dunlavy SC4 Speakers

Many years ago, I heard a pair set up in the middle of a hi-fi shop. It was a large room and the speakers were a long distance from any boundaries. The sound absolutely blew me away, with amazing clarity and detail. Most impressive was how the sound just hung in space; there was simply no sense at all that the sound was coming from speakers. It was one of those "oh my god, I want that sound in my house, but I'll never be able to afford it" moments I have experienced a few times in stores (usually it's just the opposite).

I was not really into high-end gear back then, so I have no idea what the ancillary equipment was. Nor can I really speak to how they might sound in your room. In that context, though, they sounded very very good.

They sounded brittle (bright) with less than expected bass performance (using tube electronics). Honestly, they were horrible on certain recordings. After owning these, I had some Coincident Total Eclipse's.....night & day better. I would take the original Legacy Focus over the SCIV's. I heard them sound good in another person's home..on long wall...they imaged very well. I do not like bright speakers.

One very important distinction has not been made clear. Are these the first series with the Morel Woofers and Vifa 26 tweeters? If so, then the bass will roll off in most rooms around 45 hz. That seems to be "weak" but the good news is the bass the will produce is articulate, detailed and has timbral shading like real music.
If they are the "improved" version with the Vifa woofers and Vifa 27 tweeters, they will make bass well into the mid 30s in a normal room.
I run an pair of SC-IV improved with bass supplemented by a pair of Velodyne HGS 15s. Sealed box subs fed via speaker level inputs to allow the Dunlavys to see full range signal and keep the phase angle of the amp/speakers the same as the phase angle of the amp/subs. Do I "need" 2 15" woofers in the rig to make me happy? No. My wife does! Her nickname is the "Bass Queen". I could be very happy with no subs at all but will admit that they do open the soundstage and that tracks like Man Machine from the live Kraftwerk album are more fun when you can shake the foundation!
I would not part with my Dunlavys for less than $2500, but then again mine are not for sale.

Meadow man I belive these are the first series with the Morel Woofers and Vifa tweeters. I would much rather have accurate and articulate bass than boomy sloppy bass. I do have a set of pretty decent subs that I could run with the Dunlavys if need be.Sounds like the going prive for the improved SCIV's and SCIVA's is around $2,000 to $2,500 is it safe to say that $1,500 for a set of orginal SCIV's is a good deal?

Jeffga, Sounds like you and a few others agree that these need to be set up on the long wall to get better imaging?