Legacy Whisper Dunlavy SC V opinions - Page 9

Yeah, bummer for both of us!! I was really looking forward to the whole thing, including driving up to visit a fellow "Dunlavy" fan, and driving back with the baby brothers, but I understand how that goes. WAF is more than just about looks when it involves household money going out the door!

Does anyone else on this forum want them before I repost them on Audiogon?

I hear ya bud, I was looking forward to it as well - there's not a whole lot of us ardent Dunlavy followers out there. But I do appreciate you being so understanding...speaking of which I wish my wife understood the significance of 27Hz-20kHz @ +/- 1.5 dB!!!

awwwwwwwwww.............

For all the hardcore enthusiasts out there................

I came across something pretty cool. The pair of speakers pictured here are the original prototype DAL speakers. They were recovered from the basement of one of the venture capitalist for Dunlavy Audio Labs.

The short story is that this guy traveled to Utah to meet with John while he was still with Duntech USA. The VC was interested in the Black Knights but John took the occasion to show him this pair of monitors. John had recently acquired the (now common) MLSSA measurement system. This tool allowed him to actually put into practice long held theories he had regarding speaker technology but had, up to this point, not been able to verify.
According to the VC, these monitors smoked the Black Knights for their given frequency range. This experience set into motion the process of John leaving Duntech for good and setting up shop in Colorado Springs as Dunlavy Audio Labs.
And the rest, as they say, is history.

At first glance this pair obviously resembles the SC-1. Yet it is shorter by 2 1/4 inches and both narrower and more shallow by ~ 1/4inch. The cabinet uses the same 3/4 inch panels, however, all but the baffle are real hardwood rather than MDF. The midrange drivers are the same Vifas that we are all well acquainted with. But the tweeter is a much better and certainly more robust Morel.

And the sound..... Well, distinctly Dunlavy but with what I would consider a more delicate and spacious top end. A fortunate find to be sure!!

Wow, way cool find indeed! Thanks for sharing the info and the pics

Awesome! This is that same guy who has all of Dunlavy's research/startup papers, etc. stored in his office?? Get him to preserve that stuff!! We need to revive the company!!

LOL!
I know! I've been working on him for years. It took me two years of prodding just to get him to actually dig out these prototype speakers! I fear it may take even longer to get him to dig through his files. :/

Hey Audioguy,

I saw that you're selling your SC-IV/A's and your HRCC center channel!!

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....iv-a-Black-Oak

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....ter-channel---

Man, I do hope you're selling because you stumbled upon some V's or VI's, and not like me who had to sell due to financial hardship! That would totally suck!

I wish you the best!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????? ?????????????

Ok...seriously guys...you are all making me feel like I'm the only one left in the club here. Like, we're all members, but I'm the only practicing member!!

Still hanging with my IV-A's and HRCC. Reintroduced the IV-A's to vinyl playback recently!

I check it at least twice a week!!??

I do have a question though. Anyone here ever hear the Green Mountain Audio speakers? Roy Johnson is the only guy I've heard of that I would consider on the same level technically as Dunlavy was. And his website does a better job of explaining the importance of time coherency than any other place I've read. But I've never actually heard his stuff.
Just curious if anyone else has.........

I would love to upgrade to VI's but none are available and when one did come up, I was familiar with it's history and it had been driven WAY too hard (used by a recording engineer who went through tweeters like I go through Cheerios. No telling what he did to the other components).

If the guy I sold my VI's to would resell them to me I would figure out a way to buy them in a heart beat. I would not upgrade to V's. I've owned them all and the difference between the IV and V to me is not worth making the change (in my current room).

It's a long story but there are some fairly significant restrictions in my audio spending and in order to get the system to where it needs to be for the long haul, I need to reallocate some money to other parts of the system. While I would not call it "financial hardship", it does involve a bit of a reality check on the financial side of this hobby.

There is lots of good used stuff out there and while it may not be at the level of Dunlavy, I will still be able to get musical (and home theater) enjoyment from it.

Nope. I'm still here with my SC-IV/a's. I'd have V's if they would fit in the room.

I've heard the Vs on a different system, but never the two side by side. That's interesting. So the IV/a is that good, eh?

Did you re-list your III.a's? I thought you'd sold those...then I saw them on eBay! I thought some lucky guy had walked off with them already...

I saw the IV.a's and HRCC too, but as before just can't swing it! If I bought them, they'd replace my IV's and IIa.cc, but it would still be a costly trade up! Always too much gear and too little money

I had them on Audiogon for $2500, but since I didn't have the original boxes I had to post really high shipping prices to cover for the unknown!

But since then, I found a local packing company with some nice, heavy duty boxes, and so I put them on eBay with a flat rate $250 shipping!

If anybody on this forum wants them and we do it outside of eBay before anyone else puts a bid on them, I'll sell them outright for $2,700 delivered!

And HogPilot, hopefully you can vouch for me on how I refunded your PayPal payment when you had to back out because of the wife...

Audioguy, I'm considering your HRCC. I use the SM1s for center and surround (and SC-IV/A for mains) and although the SM1 is fine for the surround, at times I wish the center had a bit more punch.

What are the physical dimensions so I can check to see if they can fit into the cutout in the cabinet I use to house the screen, electronics and center?

I'm in Australia so shipping is probably going to be expensive.....

Regards,
Dean

I refer you to click on the second thumbnail of entry #178 of this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0#post18049880) and the first thumbnail at entry #182 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...4#post18050904) for size, weight or performance info on the HRCC center channel.

As far as I know, that review is the only one to ever include an actual HRCC, even though it also included several other models (SC-V's all around!, a pair of TSW-V's, and an SM-1 as a height (or it might have been a presence?) channel. If anyone wants the actual original full resolution/size PDF's from entries #178 through #187, send me your email address to benny1963@comcast.net. Make sure to let me know if you want the whole 15 page review or just certain models, since the files are so large.

I also have other models that I never posted, but since back then nobody asked for more I kind of stopped with the uploading stuff...

As for the shipping to Australia, Audioguy, if you don't still have your original boxes shoot me your phone number and I'll tell you what I ended up doing for crates when I sold my HRCC-1 to an Executive at Sony Music in Texas.

The HRCC is worth every penny. I was using an SC-I at first, then some guy in Montreal sold me his HRCC-I. Wow. All I can say is...wow! There's a lot going on in the center channel that I don't think ANY other center speaker touches. Plus, it's great for 1.0 mono films. Full range center...I'm not complaining!

Wow, the HRCC would qualify as the world's largest center speaker. Unfortunately my custom made cabinetry is 6" too short for it to fit, so I'll have to pass

I can indeed vouch for Shocked One, he was very prompt in his communication and very helpful. $2700 delivered on these is a pretty sweet deal, considering normal freight shipping alone would cost somewhere in the vicinity of at least $400-$500 (unless you were lucky and could save on having them shipped to a business).

Man, if you can afford it I hope you don't let 6" get in your way! Might I suggest you consider modifying your cabinetry, if at all possible?

Keep in mind you're talking about one of the most incredible center channels ever made. The only other competitor out there is the Wilson Polaris, but it costs $28,000, weighs 294 lbs, and isn't timbre matched to your SC-IV/A's like the HRCC!! http://www.wilsonaudio.com/product_h...is_center.html

Here's what mine looked like stuffed under a 65" TV:

First pic: grill off, mated to a pair of (Aussie-made!) Duntech Sovereign 2001's. (Notice the blue racquetballs under the front corners to angle it upward)

Second pic: grill on, mated to Dunlavy SC-V's.

That's what she said

WTH?? My students say that all of the time! Drives me nuts... where does this come from??

I remember using that back in HS, which was in the 90's...first I saw it was in Wayne's World. I've seen it most often on The Office, it's one of Michael's favorite jokes.

Regarding the HRCC/IV.a's, there's Dunlavy fan in me that wants to offer $6K shipped for audioguy's whole lot, and then there's the rational part in me that knows what my wife will do to when she would find out

I'm pretty sure that is the origin. At least that's what I've heard.
I say it WAY too often.

BTW, I've got a friend who I talked into getting Dunlavy's a couple years ago. The first he was able to get ahold of was the SC1. Now he has the SC3.
Now he's really jones'n for the SC5. I've told him that for his room the 4 or 4A would be sufficient. Honestly, the 5s would be overkill but I have a hard time convincing him of that because he know's I've owned the 5s and have repeatedly told him that I think they are the best ever. (which I actually do believe, bar none) But I think I've created a monster! lol

Anyone want to take a stab at how to convince this guy to pick up these speakers? (btw, we're in central Illinois)

I know the discussion is not jokes and I've enjoyed your entire thread, so I apologize for continuing the off topic comment but if I read it's from "The Office" or it's from "Wayne's World" one more time I fear it may become a stone cold fact. (I know bfd)

From http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/T...he_said#Origin
Origin
"While we may never know the exact origin of the phrase, one of the earliest, if not first, occurrences of "That's what she said" in popular culture can be traced back to 1975, uttered by Chevy Chase during Weekend Update on the first season of the popular sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live"."

I bothered to look it up because personally I believe it may belong to Groucho Marx but I can't prove it.
Wayne's World....Ha! You kids

How did I know someone was going to take the bait on that and run with it, even as I was typing it???

I can specifically remember being in the 8th grade lunch period back in 1977 at I.S. 61 in Queens, NY "capping" or "ranking" on each others Mamma's! It was used as a "counter-punch" and had many variations.

That's what your Mamma said last night!
That's not what your girlfriend said!
That's what she said!
That's not what she said last night!

So I know that's definitely been around way before Wayne's World or the Office.

Here's a ton of them: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...s+wha&gs_rfai=

Nice setup! Those Duntech's are getting pretty rare now, Dunlavy made them in his Australian company in Adelaide, South Australia. Actually with all this talk about in recent pages of this thread about resurrecting the Dunlavy design, maybe you folks Stateside don't realise, but one of Duntech's main designers, Philip Vafiadis, still builds speakers here in Australia that are fairly popular using the same design techniques as Dunlavy uses. His company can be found at www.vaf.com.au and they have some pretty nice kit. Philip believed in using better quality drivers & crossovers than John did, and also put more emphasis on the marketing (as the VAF web site shows). I have been to the VAF showroom and recall that the VAF speakers sounded a little sweeter in the treble than my Dunlavys IV/A but did not have the same presence, especially in the bass. There are also a number of Duntech speakers still rattling around the used audiophile market here in Australia.

Regarding the HRCC's I have a dedicated theater room with a lot of custom cabinetry in the front of the room which encases the screen (140"), the audio equipment and cupboards. Adjusting the custom cabinetry will cost quite a bit more than the HRCC unfortunately. When I designed the theater 10 years ago I was not aware that the HRCC existed, and although having matching 5.1 Dunlavy speakers makes for a great audio experience (my theater is heavily sound treated), the SM1's I use in the center could do with a little more presence. A party trick I like doing with my setup when friends are over is put on 2 channel music and ask if the music is 2 channel or 5.1, and as the imaging is so good with the IV/A the answer is always 5.1 . So to a certain extent the imaging from the IV/A helps the SM1's I use for centers, but with some movie mixes it could still benefit from a larger center. Another option is to bleed a little of the center channel to mains (using mixing software as I use a HTPC).

I stand corrected. And good to know as my personal history only goes back as far as Waynes World.

Thanks to deanbob for the link and info on VAF. That was some interesting reading. I will have to state, however, that I find it hard to believe they are necessarily any better or even equal to Dunlavy's. (despite their claims of being the most accurate!) I say this because of what I've learned about the man.
Most notably, John wouldnt have been caught dead using metal cone drivers and certainly not a metal dome tweeter! They ring like a bell and create all sorts of timing problems when trying to account for this ringing in the crossover.
I also note that I couldnt find a single mention on the website regarding the slope of the crossovers used. I have a very strong suspicion (given the specs) that they are not using first order. I could be wrong. But I doubt it given the other deviations. So even though they have stepped baffles they would not be time coherent, which was at the heart of all of Dunlavy's designs.

Most people dont know that John Dunlavy was designing speakers in Texas BEFORE he moved to Australia and worked with Duntech. Also, that later there was a Duntech USA manufacturing facility in Salt Lake. (Yep, just a stones throw from Wilson Audio in Provo)
Those VAFs are certainly Dunlavy knock-offs. But my guess would be that they sound more like a Wilson (time aligned drivers but not time coherent) than they do a Dunlavy.

Sure would be curious to here a pair tho!