Dunlavy SCIV - What amp are you using?

Hi Pubul57,

That is good to know about the Spelts autoformers. I did not think of that. Thank you.

I ran a pair of Dunlavy SCIII's with a cary slam 100 monoblocks (90 watts triode mine was the first gen no ultralinear) with great success.

No_regrets, you make a VERY important point concerning room matching.

As I've mentioned before, I owned a pair of Duntech Princess (older sibling to the SC-IV and IVa) for 19 years. During that time I heard the Sovereigns maybe half a dozen times, at the CES, at dealers, and in private residences. I always preferred the overall presentation of the Princess because it seemed the Sovereigns required a larger space. Several factors are at play here.

First is the appropriate listening distance to allow the drivers to integrate. The manual for my Princess stated that all measurements were taken at 3.5 meters. That told me John Dunlavy believed this was the minimal distance for full integration. The DAL SC-V and VI and the Duntech Sovereign are all taller so may require even greater distances to optimize.

Second is the distance out from the front wall. After measuring for smoothest bass response I ended up out roughly four feet. I suspect the Sovereign and SC-V and VI require more distance because of their additional bass drivers.

Third is the distance from sidewalls. My room configuration only allowed about two feet from the wall for the right channel (much more for the left). I had four friends who owned Princesses and they all had greater sidewall distances. Their soundstage and imaging were all better than mine. I've always believed this is why Dunlavy often recommended long wall placement - to allow greater distance from sidewalls, thus providing longer delays in sidewall reflections and therefore better resolution.

Now there will always be someone who says, "my SC-IVs are in my den/bedroom/other limited space and they sound great". I would not say they don't. But I believe they would be BETTER in a larger room.

So whenever someone considers Duntech or DAL speakers, cost will not be the only factor, appropriate speaker to room size should be accounted for as well.

I used Pass Aleph 2 mono with the SC IVa. It was a very good match. I heard that Dunlavy had those amps in house and that they liked the match.

Interesting to see the number of people using tubes, but maybe not as I recall the IVa to be a "easy" load even if it is lowish for tubes at a nominal 4 ohms.

My HT center channel uses an ARC VS 55 driving a Dunlavy SM1 in a vertical biamp setup - works great.

TD

i have SCIV's and bi-amp them. bought the Dunlavy's new in 1995. have EAR 509 monoblocks for mids and treble, a Carver Sunfire amp for woofers. it sounds great. they are very easy to drive, very stable load, 91db efficiency.....