Suggested speakers to take the place of Dunlavy


Hi,

Much as I hate to do this, it is time to give up on the dream of getting into some Dunlavy speakers. I've tried buyi8ng a couple pairs now, and the shippers have wrecked both. I have decided that I need to get a speaker from a manufacturer that's still in business.

I am looking for something with a similar sound to the dunlavy line--my big interests for a speaker are as follows--very detailed above all else, but with good tonal balance. I like a very quick bass and smooth highs. The best speaker I ever heard to my taiste was the Dunlavy SC-V driven with a Pass labs x350. Suggestions?

Thanks,
Roland
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In Richard Hardesty's "Audioperfectionist Journal" he reviewed the Dunlavy, Vandersteen and Thiel speakers. He ultimately chose the Vandersteen 3A Signatures with a pair of 2Wq subs. He also gave reasons why. All of the above are time aligned and phase coherent designs.
Hardesty felt the Dunlavy had a little too much box envolved in the reproduction. Personally, I thought the large baffle around the tweeter and mid was responsible creating a little boxey sound.
He talked of how well Theil's were built and the all out design that went into them.
After going through more speakers than I care to talk about, I too, settled on the Vandersteen's with the subs. I found these speakers to be very revealing but more important, true to the music. The only caveat is you need excellent amplification, upline components and it is extremely important for the setup to be right.
Two free issues are downloadable @ www.audioperfectionist.com
I really think the man is a straight shooter and he is certainly not at the service of the industry. He also has years and years of experience both retail and as a reviever.
You may ultimately not like Vandersteen's (which is absolutely ok with me) but at least he gives reasons (which I do agree with) for his decisions based on facts and sound, educated judgements. If nothing else, it is material to help you make a "Sound" decision. We need all of that we can get!
I think the speakers that sound most like Dunlavy's in order from top to bottom are: Thiel, Meadowlark and Vandersteen. I have not heard the Green Moutains, but, would guess that they too share some of the same qualities.
Bigtee's comments are interesting because I was thinking along the same lines when I read Roland's post. You might also consider Piega. The usual caveats apply since revealing speakers are always sensitive to components and cabling. Some of the vandersteen models have tighter bass than others so listen carefully. All of the speakers mentioned will require powerful amplification.