Price Paid:  $16500.00 from Stereo Unlimited

Summary:
Unbelieveable speakers!!! Let me start first with my system so far:

Dunlavy Millenniums
Sony ES777 SACD/CD player
Spectron Musician II Amplifier (600W/channel at 4 ohms)
Adcom GFP-750 Passive Preamp
Dunlavy ULC interconnects (Ultra Low Capacitance)
Various speaker cables

I spent several months searching the web trying to find some speakers that were noticably better than my Paradigm Studio 100's for a music only stereo system.

My first stop was the Ariel 10T's. They were noticably better, but were quite expensive. I decided to continue my quest. I read the Meadowlark paper on time coherence. It really made sense to me. It could only help if the speakers were able to provide transient waveforms identical to the input signals. (Dunlavy's step waveforms are far better than Meadowlarks) The Meadowlarks just didn't seem to be state of the art while the Thiels seemed to have some treble problems and were a bit weak on bass.

I then found dunlavyaudio.com. I was strongly attracted to the Millenniums due to their incredible specs, 20-20K +/- 1dB and -2dB at 17Hz. Also they have very good waterfall plots, better than the SC V and VI's. So these Millenniums have incredible specs, but what about their size and cost? No Dunlavy dealer carries these so I decided to fly to the manufacturer in Colorado Springs so I could compare the Millenniums and the other models. who would pay that kind of money for a speaker without listening to it first?

I was blown away as John Dunlavy himself met me there and personally gave my audiophile friend and myself a tour of the factory and let us audition the speaker systems. They were with us for about six hours! I was able to do direct comparisons of the Millennium and the SCIVA and Cantata's. The Millenniums were better, they seemed to have a certain openness and cleanness of sound that is hard to describe but apparent immediately as the music started. The sound I heard from those speakers is the cleanest I have ever heard!

After having them a couple months in my house I am just as impressed as ever. Their most outstanding feature is their INCREDIBLE BASS! I have a very large listening room, about 25 by 45 feet with 11-12 foot ceilings. These speakers fill it with outstanding sound. The bass is so clean and detailed you hardly even recognize the songs. It's like the bass and drums are right there in the room with you. I just love to listen to songs that have a lot of lows in them and just wow over the cleaness and tightness of it, unbeleavable. There are probably several reasons for the great bass. One is the uncomparable bass extension, -2dB at 17Hz (beats about all subs out there!). It is just coasting passing 30Hz bass notes! Also that attractive hourglass shape gives the woofer drivers plenty of room to breath, which they need since this speaker isn't ported. Also critical is the non rectangular shape which kills internal resonances. Of course having walls up to an inch thick MDF helps.

The highs are also incredible. When you pop on an SACD disk and listen to the cymbols, there is a mettalic sheen that you just don't hear unless it's live. I've noted the Spectron Amp also helps in this department. It allows the highs to be SOOO crisp and clean. The "Silver Springs" track from Fleetwood Mac's latest CD, "The Dance" was my reference for cleanliness of treble. I was listening for the clarity of the chimes in that track. Midfi gives you a simple clinking sound. Hifi systems gives you a nice clear bell tone, but my system goes a step further with a metallic shimmer behind the clear bell tone I havent heard before on this track. The reason for this great treble? Perhaps the single pole crossovers resulting in clean impulse response coupled with the shape of the speaker, the hourglass shape helps with the horizontal sound dispersion of the speaker. What it results in is the cleanest sound I have ever heard.

The midrange is very clean too. Perhaps the best test I know of is Celine Dion's voice. Normaly her voice is a bit much and at loud volume your ears start to hurt. Not with these babies. Her voice is clean and beautiful, all harmonics in proper phase and amplitude for a pleasing experiance. Despite the six dB per octive crossovers, you don't sense any strain or distortion from loud bass notes or drum beats disturbing the mids or tweeters.

At very loud volumes the bass is clean, the vocals are clean and undisturbed as are the delicate treble notes. Surely this is the perfect speaker. And its looks grow on you. I must admit I was frightened by their size and unusual looks. Seeing them in person for the first time at the Dunlavy factory I immediately liked them. After ordering them in the nice Kevazinga wood fininsh they look stunning sitting there in my home. All the men that come to my house really like them. A few women like their looks, most don't. My wife about flipped when she first saw them, hated their looks. After a few weeks she admited she no longer cringed each time she walked by them. Now I think she secretly likes their looks. She always lets me know what our friends and visitors think of their looks the first time they see them.

As for the soundstage and imaging. What is amazing is people who have never heard a stereo costing over $500 listen to my setup and make comments like, "wow, you can hear where each instrument is coming from". Others say the music emotionally touches them. Oddly enough, on some of Madonna's older stuff (bass heavy too) has incredible soundstage. The music comes from just about a full 180 degrees. The speakers are absolutely dead as far as vibrations or buzzes are concerned. If all the music is in the middle or between the speakers, the speakers themselves are absolutely quiet. No noise betrays their presence.

I have noticed a good amount of soundstage sensitivity to the environment (of course). When we got a new love seat in the living room that covered a bare wall to the right of the right speaker I noticed greatly improved imaging. This is the one problem I have with these babies. I want to put them in certain positions and move the furnature for best possible sound. My wife wants the best possible looks and balance in the furnature arrangement. It's quite amusing to notice some chairs and tables moving a few inches back from where I secretely placed them. My wife "secretely moved them back".

I believe the Dunlavy speaker line is truly extraordinary. How does the Millenium compare to the rest of their line? First the Cantata, Aletha, and SCIV-A, though they sound amazing, just don't compare. Just a word between friends, if you want the best sound for your buck, RUN to your local dealer and order up a pair of the Cantata's. They have a very special sound that isn't much below that of the Millennium and on par with the SC IV-A's. The combination of the one inch dome fabric tweeter and it's 6.5 inch dual midrange drivers gives it an unique sound for midrange, very full. Though the Millennium has better highs, lows, and clarity, my audiophile friend thought the Cantata's had a very slight edge in protraying the female voice. Perhaps the lower frequency crossover for the large midranges did this. I could bearly tell any difference in female voices but was boweled over with the inproved highs and lows and had to go with the Millenniums. As for the "big boys", the SC-V and SC -VI, well I liked the Millennium better. Celine Dion's voice seemed just a bit nasaly with the SC-V's. Perhaps this is due to the SC-V's 3 inch upper mid range drivers just couldn't deliver her voice fully. And the SC-VI suffered the same malady as the rest of the large Dunlavy's, just a hint of bass boom or bluriness. I think this is evidenced in the waterfall plots of the speakers. You can see that the Millennium has the lowest amount of trailing sound after the souce is off of any other of their speakers. Sure, the SC-VI can pump enough bass to slay a cat with those two 15 inch drivers, but the Millennium's have better bass extension and it's cleaner to boot. Now don't get me wrong, the bass of the Dunlavy line is world class, but the Millennium beats them.

As for the two other reviews, no K W Lam, the SC-5 doesn't sound better. Be proud of owning the true flagship speaker of the flagship speaker manufacturer Dunlavy! And as for jian X Wong, I think he was trying to get at the theories of John Dunlavy where he tries to get absolute accuracy in the time as well amplitude domains plus going for clean dispersion of the sound waves into the room symmetricly over frequency. Read the web site, dunlavyaudio.com and see their theory and measured specs. Dunlavy showed me the measurements of some other non-Dunlavy expensive speakers, laughable. I'll put my two bits here that the sound of the planer speakers stinks to high heaven! Why sacrifice all other characteristics just for good performance in a few others. Dunlavys give you everything. All parameters are world class.

As for ratings, you know this is a five star performance product. Even though it is quite expensive, it gets five stars for value since it sounds better than other speakers costing three(!) times more.

One last word. If you are able to spend over 10K for a speaker, don't settle for any compromise in performance. The off axis and bass response of planer speakers is horrific. Ported speakers have boominess and room related bass effects. Non full range speakers steal some of that beautiful bass sound from your listening pleasure. Believe me the bass is so clean and detailed, you think you are listening to another instrument, but the fact you can feel it, you know it's deep, deep, deep.

Yet another later word, I've read some critizism of Dunlavy speakers in that they arn't as "musical" as other speakers. What the great strength of the Millennium is is that it is absolutely transparent and accurate. What you put in it, comes out of it. I must admit that due to my own particular hearing there may (though I don't think so) be a speaker out there that would sound better or more musical to me due to its colorations cancelling my own hearing abnormallities (what all have). I think you want an accurate speaker above all. A large part of my enjoyment is inviting friends over to enjoy music. If the speakers are tuned to my own hearing, others will say the sound is bright, boomy, dark etc. With an accurate speaker on the average all will enjoy the music to the fullest extent.

Strengths:
Incredible bass, crisp highs, fantastic looks, overall CLEAN sound.

Weaknesses:
Price places it out of the reach of most. It's large size makes it a tuff sell to the wife

Similar Products Used:
Ariel 10T, Dunlavy IVA, SCVI, Cantata, Paradigm Studio 100, Wilsons, various other 5K to 15K speakers.

Summary:
Need I say more. Plesae direct any questions or inquiries to the following home address,or electronic mail address:
JIAN X. Huang

39 Parlin st. Apt.#502
Everett, Ma 02149
Please feel obligated to call me if any one of you stubborn non-believers is not satisfied with my comments, or wishes to reject my statements, at 1-617-387-3707.


jianwong@msn.com

Strengths:
The absolute best of all time. If one has any doubts to this statement,he should feel obligated to obtain a complete set of performance specifications and measurments from DAL, then try to intepret the measurments and the implications of the various design criteria with respect to music theory,sound propagation in the medium through which one perceives sound--air,and one's listening room boundaries and their effect on sound waves traveling within such confines; when the aforementioned objective inquiry is copmleted, one will have a profund understanding of not only the paradigmatic design parameters which encompass the DAL Millenium, but also truth,at least parts of the Ultimate Truth which defines the very essence of one's existence in the universe. However, if any one , be he a professor, scientist,physicist, eletronics expert, or an engineer, after carefully,critically,comprehensively analyzing the data and its implications and significance in faithfully reproducing a recorded sound wave through any form of electromechanical apparatus("alright,"As I'm writing this passage,I could almost hear some of our enthsiastic but cynical readers satiring some of my wordings and phrasings:"enough of this farce and pretentious Victorian euphemism". Okay, Okay, let not our playful spirit be in the way of accurate and concise writing! So let's just call it "loudpeakers"), still has doubts,resrevations,criticisms regarding my statement, or if any person does not accept and wants to nullify my findings, or does not quite understand my predication, he should seek higher education(read:HIGH Education,as opposed to more education). Just for informative pruposes, and in goodwill,anyone wishing to comprehensively understand the design philosophy of the DAL Millenium must pursue higher courses in Calculus,Physics,especially those relating to sound theory,sound propagation in air,acoustic theory,thermodynamics,Psychology,Psychoacoustics,Electronics,Electrical Engineering,Musicology, Music theory; then he should take a few courses in Philosophy,such as PH 101, and most importantly, PH 270--Philosophy of Science. Ultimately, integrating ideas and knowledge learned from these courses will enable one to really appreciate the geniuses of Mr.John Dunlavy, thus bringing one closer to the Truth( Please note that the word "integrating" I used in this sentence needs to be defined not only in its literal
sense, but also in its meaning and implications in Calculus:that is to say, to integrate is not merely combining and incorporating vastly and inherently different knowledges, but also ascending to a higher understanding of all things around us). Words are not enough to describe how profund thoughts may effect epiphany and enlightnment,but learning experiences do. so if YOU beg to differ, I beesch thee--go back to school. Suppose one is still not enlightened after studying all the courses I recommended, he definitely needs a psychiatric evaluation, and possibly has to be institutionalized in a lunatics asylum.

Weaknesses:
If any one can nullify my statement with complete,provable,credible,and well-documented objective and subjective data satisfying necessary and sufficient conditions of causal relationships, then I will be more than gracious enough to accept any such new findings; for the true spirit of any and all scientific inquiry is that one has to be open to challenges and accept new, proven hypothesis, and is willing to throw out old theories that have once been prevalent and thought to be true. Infallacy is the greatest obstacle which a sucessful scientific inquiry must overcome--lest any "great minds" or well-established scientists might forget the underlining theme of Science.

Similar Products Used:
Almost every other comparable loudspeakers in this world. The only other loudspeakers whose performance is nearly as good as the DAL loudspeakers is the top model from the new loudspeaker company Talon.

Summary:
I own a pair of Millennium for 5 months, they are one of the best. I haven't heard the SC-V and SC-VI, but the Millennium is far better than
anything I've heard, that includes Wilson X-1, Watt/Puppy, Avalon Radian,
ProAc 4, Thiel CS-7. Someone told me that the SC-V is even better; anyway the
Millennium is clearly worth 5 stars plus.