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Help with Dunlavy SC-IV signature

Hello to all. I friend recently gave me a pair of SC-IV as they were too big for his room and he did not like their sound. The speakers sounded very bright to me but I attributed that to the cheap surround sound receiver he was using. I expected them to sound way better on my gear. No such luck. I tried them with a Moon P5 and Ayre v3 and they made my ears bleed, same with aMusical Fidelity M6PRX and Pre. I finally put then on a Nakamichi CA7 and PA7 with the tone controls all the way back and they started to sound way better. My current speakers are Martin Logan Expression 13A and Von Schweikert VR4 Get III. I added a Behringer DEQ2496 and turned the mids and highs down 7db and now they sounded very good. I have had Vanderstein 5A, Magnepan 3.7i and Utopias among others and I have never encountered something this bad. It's as if an equalizer was turned all the way up in the mids and highs. I removed one of the crossovers and to the eye they look ok I would have to remove them and measure everything to know for sure. Has anyone run into this before ? should I rebuild the crossover to see if it will improve ? What other measurements should I take ? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

cerberus79
carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,379 posts
 

Wonder if someone changed out some drivers resulting in a large imbalance between upper and lower frequencies.  you can look for signs that screw holes have moved.

Jerry

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,694 posts
 

That does seem strange. In all the years since they came out, I've never heard anyone describe them as bright or unbalanced.

petg60
1,486 posts
 

I’ve never heard anyone describe them as bright or unbalanced.

Especially unbalanced unless somebody messed up before.

Check that tweeters are the originals and nothing is changed on the crossovers.

Searching on internet and Agon you can find useful info about their crossovers and how they should look.

Tone controls all the way back is not a good sign.

m-db's avatar
m-db
934 posts
 

Your have experienced ears. 

The recording engineer who nudged me into this hobby had modified Duntech Sovereign's and me with little practical experience. He passed and years later I heard that general presentation again at a small shop with Dunlavy IV's. It wasn't about the scale of the big Sovereign's, I was told the time and phase is what I was glomming onto. Vandersteen's and Avalons get this.

IMO these are well worth investigating. Sounds like monkeys under the hood or aged out components. I know nothing but this might be a good place to get some direction. Good luck with it.   

http://duntech.com/products/sovereign.html

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