Date: 1999/03/14
Forum: rec.audio.opinion Eugene:
Here are some comments from one of our customers, Erwin Claus - and he
has compared several of the JM Labs speakers to some Dunlavys and b&w's
and other topnotch speakers. You might find his comments of interest.
I'm sure he'd welcome email if you need to ask him more.
Cheers
Zip
Dunlavy Audio Labs, Inc.
The Athena Speakers
by Irwin Claus
Hi Steve,
I just couldn't wait to send you my (first) review of the new Dunlavy
Athena. If you put it on your website, please correct the typing errors.
Associated equipment: Sony CDP-XA50 ES CD player, Audio Synthesis
Passion passive preamp, Pass Aleph 3 power amp, Siltech FTM3
interconnects and Dunlavy DAL Z6 speaker cable. The kind of music I
listen to includes Rebecca Pidgeon, Enya, Jennifer Warnes, Badi Assad,
Joan Armatrading, Sara K.
My room is about 14x28x10. The speakers are placed along the long wall
about 8 foot apart and listening position is about 10 foot away from the
speakers. The speakers are not toed in and are less than 1 foot from the
back wall. All my previous speakers were also placed like this due to
room restrictions.
In the last 5 years, I’ve owned 3 pair of speakers. The first
"audiophile" speakers I ever bought were the B&W 802/III speakers. Main
shortcomings IMO were lack of detail, bright treble and the forward
midrange. An overall good speaker, but in the meantime I heard better.
After 1 year, I replaced these with the Audio Physic Virgo. These are
IMO better than the 802/III. They have more detail, less forward sound
and are not too bright. Shortcomings: not very extended and sometimes
slow bass, the speakers do not completely disappear. Perhaps this is due
to the speaker placement in my room. After about 1.5 years I sold them
because in the meantime my daughter was born and I thought the Virgo had
a very low Child Acceptance Factor (due to the fact that the Virgos are
not covered with a grille cloth).
I replaced the Virgos with a pair of robust Dunlavy SC-IV speakers (low
WAF, but high CAF) after hearing them several times at several
locations. These speakers are IMO far better than the previous speakers
I had. Although they are VERY big, the SC-IV completely disappears. I
found no shortcomings till now. Their strong points are: very good
soundstage, extended and controlled bass, very good detail, very
coherent sounding. These are the most natural sounding speakers I ever
heard. They are better then the Virgos in every way IMO. BTW, I do not
understand why the Virgo are so highly regarded in the US. In Europe
this is not the case. Here they are considered good speakers, but not in
the top class. In Europe they cost only one third of the price of a
Dunlavy SC-IV.
Due to plans of moving to a house with lower ceilings, I planned to buy
a pair of smaller Dunlavy because of the new room restrictions.
Fortunately DAL came out with his new speaker, the Dunlavy Athena. This
speaker is much smaller and also has a higher WAF and CAF than the
SC-IV. These speakers arrived three days ago. And how is the sound? I
was not prepared to hear this level of improvement over the SC-IV (my
SC-IV were the latest model). In almost every song, I hear new detail.
The Athena speakers have slightly more air in the upper frequencies.
Soundstage is slightly better than with the SC-IV. The off-axis sound is
also better than with the SC-IV. The sweet spot is a bit larger and the
bass is VERY and I mean VERY fast and even more extended than with the
SC-IV. The -3dB point of the Athena is at 25Hz whereas the -3dB of the
SC-IV is at 33hz. The bass is incredible, not boomy but very fast,
extended and controlled. I never heard bass like this before. In short,
they are IMO the most natural, most coherent sounding speakers I ever
heard.
Even after only three days I find the Athena in every area to be better
than the SC-IV and I think the sound will only get better when the
speakers are fully broken in.
Other speakers I considered buying as replacement for my SC-IV were: JM
Lab Mini Utopia and B&W Nautilus 802/803. The mini Utopia has very good
detail, but sounded a bit too much like a speaker IMO. Bass is not very
extended. The speakers did not completely disappear in the room I heard
them. B&W Nautilus 803 has very little bass (complete bass lines
disappear) and is still a bit bright IMO. The B&W Nautilus 802 is a very
good speaker also, but the bass is not as extended and quick as the
Dunlavy Athena. The 802 is also not as natural sounding as the Athena
IMO. In Europe the Dunlavy Athena and B&W Nautilus 802 cost about the
same price.
I am glad that I bought the Athenas. They satisfy all my audio needs.
Furthermore, the support I get from DAL (Andrew Rigby) is more than
excellent. Thank you.
Kind regards,
Erwin Claus
Reply-To:
From: "Erwin Claus"
To: "Steve Zipser (Sunshine Stereo, inc.)"
Cc: "Erwin Claus"
Subject: Review of the Dunlavy Athena
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 12:19:26 +0100
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