Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Visceral would be the best word to describe the Dunlavys. Amazing bass and reproduction of music that makes my Martin Logan Requests sound colored. I compared these to the Prodigys in an all Krell cast system, and in my own home with more modest electronics, these sounded better.Best speakers I've ever heard and I don't have a desire to keep on looking.

Strengths:
Amazing bass,Awesome sound stage,and truly lifelike reproduction of music.

Weaknesses:
Big and heavy. They require a large room and a very understanding spouse.

Similar Products Used:
Martin Logan, Definitive, Proac, B&W

Summary:
These speakers are the most amazing speakers I have ever heard. The only two speakers that may have been equal to the SC-IVa's were the Meadowlark Nightingales and the JM Lab Utopia's but these speakers were $20K and $30K respectively. Due to the size of the speakers, positioning them took a while to "get it right"...but it was soooo worth the effort. The speakers are so detailed that you can virtually hear every breath from vocalists...and if you close your eyes, you would swear that the person is in the room singing to you!!! The focus and imaging is so incredibly sharp and the bass goes way deep.

I have friends who prefer a more layed back sound, but I believe that so much detail is lost with a layed back sound. I believe there is no speaker system currently on the market that rivals the SC-IVa's in the price range.

I must also add that finding a good dealer is tremendously important in purchasing audio equipment. I have worked with some dealers who didn't want to spend time with me if they didn't think that I was going to buy something right there and then. Others didn't care about what I wanted to buy, but more over what they wanted to sell me. It was a pleasure to work with Avalon Audio and I also got an incredible deal!!!

Associated equipment:
- Resolution Audio CD-55
- Plinius SA250 Power Amp
- Cardas Golden Reference Interconnect
- Cardas Neutral Reference Speaker Cables

Strengths:
Imaging, transperancy, sweet mids, deep bass, detail.

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Ariel 10T, B&W N901 & 902, Alon, Meadowlark Nightingales, Tannoy, Talon, JM Lab Utopia, Legacy Focus, and many others.

Summary:
A really great improvement over my old Wilson set especially in digital sources.

I highly recommend these speakers to anyone who has a room that is large enought, has quality components to go with these speakers and really value a speakers that are as neutral as these are !

Strengths:
Transparent, great bass, lack of coloration, no harshness in hights, works also very well in hometheather

Weaknesses:
These speakers need a fairly large room and good quality componets to sound really best, Company´s customer service leave a lot to hope for...

Similar Products Used:
Oracle Helicon, Wilson Watt3/puppy2

Price Paid:  $8000.00 from audio video logic

Summary:
Neutral, life sized presentation, and easy to drive with a wide variety of electronics. Great value for money. I don't know of a better speaker for the money and I've been in the hobby for almost 30 years.

Strengths:
Almost complete absence of frequency response or ringing related resonances leaving only the room, your electronics, and recordings to alter the tonal balance from musically correct. Most people are not used to hearing bass instruments played back at the correct relative volume level and without the smearing and overhang of ported designs, as this sealed box alignment provides. A focused huge sound stage that correctly changes perspective with the recording production confirms its honesty. One of the very few speakers to offer correct perceived height rendition of vocalists and instruments. Most other speakers portray vocalists subjectively singing from on their knees instead of standing up. I measure flat response to 20hz in my room with an audio control analyzer confirming their claimed very wide bandwith. High sensitivity with a linear 4 ohm impedance curve makes driving these easy even with small tube amps. Outstanding speaker for the money.

Weaknesses:
The staggered top and bottom woofers require careful room placement to avoid "cavity resonance" frequency response errors. This results when you have the same measured distance from a side wall to a woofer as you do from the back wall to a woofer. The only thing preventing this speaker from assaulting state of the art speakers at $20,000pr plus, is it's understandable cost controlling use of mdf/wood products for the cabinet, instead of ultra expensive composite or machined metal cabinets.

Similar Products Used:
Thiel cs6, Proac response 3.8, martin logan prodigy

Price Paid:  $6900.00 from Audio Video Logic

Summary:
I've been looking for something to replace by beloved ADS L1530's for the past three years but nothing satisfied for the money. The 1530's got me used to deep, clean bass and frankly, most speakers (even some really expensive ones) are totally lacking in this area. They either produce nothing or mud below 35Hz. It appears that it is much easier to build speakers with good mids and highs and then try to convince customers that the bottom octave is not necessary for satisfying sound. Well, I could not disagree more. Enter John Dunlavy. John has designed what I believe (and he can prove) is the most accurate transducer available in the SC4A. This speaker is absolutely linear throught the entire audible range and beyond. They do require a large room but if you can afford them, you probably have one. They do have a limited sweet spot but that is where you should sit anyway if you paid for them. Let others buy their own if they desire the absolute experience. In fairness, I've noticed they sound pretty damn good as I walk about the room too. The SC4A's will definitely tell you exactly what happened when you change an upstream component. If the result does not please you, don't blame the SC4A (remember "don't shoot the messenger"). In the end, you must judge speakers by how badly you want to spend time in front of them. I've been spending a lot of time in front of the SC4A's the past 3 months. If you own a pair, you know why.

Associated components are:
Krell KRC-3
Bryston 7B
Mark Levinson no.36
PS Audio Lambda
Audio Truth Emerald and Forest

Good Listening!

Strengths:
imaging, coherence, lack of coloration, linearity at different volume levels, great bass extension, sweet mids, detailed highs without a trace of harshness.

Weaknesses:
size (the price for great bass), limited sweet spot (the price for low coloration and maximum linearity), needs a large room, needs quality upstream components (duh!)

Similar Products Used:
owned ADS L1530 for 10 years (for sale), heard B&W Nautilus 802 and Thiel CS6