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

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

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.

Similar Products Used:

Martin Logan, Definitive, Proac, B&W

transparent,big soundstage,fast,dynamic,airy,easy load,neutral

nothing

this speaker is very neutral, bass go low and is very accurate,i recommend speakers very wide, i use tweeters to tweeters 4,6 m and tweeters to ears 4,5 m.dunlavy works fine even creek 5250 integrated amps but if you want best this speakers use audio research,gamut,krell,spectron, of coarse others amps work too,but i like these amps.i recommend too velodyne hgs subs if you want system what is world glass.it is interesting that many dipole speakers owners like dunlavys,it;s so airy.if you want accurate,neutral speaker dunlavy is one of the best.

Similar Products Used:

avalon,wilson

Coherence

Boomy bass, lack absolute details in upper midrange, narrow sweet spot

I had a chance to hear the SC-IV A for an hour in a dealer. The dealer was apparently convinced SC-IV A are better than anything else they carry (among Revel, Sonus Faber, Acoustic Energy, and others) and would not let me hear anything else. So I sat down and listen for an hour and found I was craving for more. More details, more sizzles, tighter bass, and better focus. I pointed the fault to SC-IV A because Wadia was driving Spectral with MIT cables and all are top notch stuffs. When I expressed my opinion, he said my ten year experience in high-end audio was wasted and I should quit this hobby because I could not tell what is true from false. He argued Dunlavy reproduces the most "accurate" sound on earth, period. What about B&W, Dynaudio, or Wilson (I have owned all of the above before and currently own Dynaudio Confidence 5)? Are all other manufactures gone deaf or stupid? SC-IV A is above average in all area, but at $8k, I think Dunlavy does have to compromise some where without losing money on them.

Similar Products Used:

Too many to list

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

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...

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 !

Similar Products Used:

Oracle Helicon, Wilson Watt3/puppy2

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

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!)

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!

Similar Products Used:

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

These are the most accurate speakers I have ever heard. They reproduce, exactly, what is recorded on the CD, DVD, DAT, etc...

None that come to mind other than needing a larger than average room to accomodate their size.

These speakers are, without a doubt, the finest I have ever heard (not including the SC-V and SC-VI). I have been following John Dunlavy since the mid 70's, when he had a speaker company in Corpus Christi, Texas. I even own two pair of his original DL-15's. I would be willing to put these speakers (SC-IV/a) up against any other speaker at any other price. If you're ever in Houston, please email me for an audition. I would be happy to have you over to hear for yourself. You will see what I'm talking about...

Joan & John - Thanks for all of the wonderful years of listening pleasure.

-mark

Similar Products Used:

too many to list

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

None

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

Similar Products Used:

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

These speakers require a good sized room.You really have to mess with placement to get good sound,plus room treatments.Good build quality,well balanced sound.

I listened to these speakers and well I liked them. They were verry reveling ,the system was ,audio research vt200 arc cd ,ref 2 preamp wich by the way is better than my audiblie 3a not as dark. great. To make a long story short they used siltek wire i could tell it was stranded silver ,bright I hated the wire. Im familiar with the a.r.corp stuff .The speakers were coherent lively clear dynamic and seemed reveling to the point I couild here the wire . The only thing that would stop me from buying them is the toe in they require .it 's right in your face no room to breathin the sound stage none the less 5 stars.

I had the Mk IV for about 3 years and recently traded them on a pair of Mk IVA. Most of the things that bothered me about the IV ( slight lack of deeper base, aggravating upper-mids to lower treble energy, sometimes to the extreme on some CDs ) have been eliminated in the IVA. Now has a much more coherent sound top to bottom, with solid base underlying everything. Sounds excellent! Nothing's perfect and everyone hears things differently, but these IVAs are definitely worth a listen. You might enjoy them as much as I do. I would rate them a 4.5 but the rating system here doesn't allow that.