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QuoteAfter many months of research I went with these speakers for the following reasons.
Extreme tonal accuracy, +/- 1dB from 20Hz to 20KHz.
Non-ported enclosure for clean bass.
Fabric dome tweeter for smooth treble.
Phase/time aligned for accurate transient reproduction.
Non-parallel cabinet walls to minimize internal standing waves.
Quick signal drop off in waterfall plots.
Clean pulse and step response.
Auditioned them and enjoyed the best sound I have ever heard!
It is hard to describe these speakers for I believe they are pretty much fully accurate and transparent. They totally disappear when playing despite their 76 inch height and 300 lbs. each weight. When you slip in a SACD/CD the wall dissapears and becomes a music stage for the musicians. Others have noticed this too and are quite dissapointed when they get home only to find their speakers don't do the disappering act, you can hear where each speaker is. Dunlavy's are matched to withen 0.5dB of each other to ensure this.
These speakers have a certain cleanness and accuracy that is very hard to describe. When I was at the factory in Colorado springs and did A/B comparisons with other Dunalvy speakers these just sounded more open. It was like the band was in the open, on a hill outside or something. With the other speakers, though they sounded great, the music was slightly veiled. I believe this is born out by the waterfall plots of the Millenniums, very clean and quick decay.
The soundstage of these is excellent. With some source material you can hear sounds coming from beyond the left and right of the speakers. Instruments are accurately placed across the area between, and beyond, the speakers. The speakers totally disappear, when the singer and drums are between the speakers, that is where the sound is, you don't hear any sound from the speakers themselves. The sweet spot is only wide enough for one though. However, anywhere in the room the sound is tonally balanced and enjoyable, you just don't get that nice balanced imaging you do in the middle. This is what totally turned me off of planer speakers, their horrible off axis tonal balance, and their laughable bass for that matter.
Perhaps the most noteable aspect of the Millenniums is there stupendous bass. It is so clean you sometimes think its lacking. There is absolutely no boom, overhang, thump, or distortion, even at high levels. I must admit I am used to hearing the 100Hz hump on most cheaper speakers that simulate a good bass response. I notice songs sound different. The bass is very clean and deep too. You can feel deep bass that you couldn't with lesser speakers. Lest you think these speakers are lacking in bass, if you play a song that truely has bass, these will reproduce it in spades. It is just amazing to listen to songs and for the first time hear and feel the bass/drum line of the song very cleanly. There is lots more detail and nuances to be found in the deeper few octives of music than I was aware of before.
The mids are flawless too. Voices are clean and undistorted. Dianna Krall sounds fabulous. Here music with the bass and piano sounds simply stunning. Celine Dion sounds excellent too. The harshness and forwardness of her voice is subdued to some extent, more enjoyable. Though with some of her songs, let's face it, she's really hollering. Men's voices also are nice, never nasally or boomy, always clean.
The treble is so clean and accurate, it captures the metalic sheen of cymbols and other metalic instruments but you need SACD to really enjoy this. There is no brightness, exageration, or harshness to be found, unless it is in the recording. When I compare the treble of these to that of my Paradigm Studio 100's in the home theater room, there is no comparison. Fabric dome tweeters are some much cleaner than metal domes, more natural and enjoyable.
The speakers themselves are a joy to look at. Their looks really grow on you. You start to appreciate their unique hourglass shape. It is so gracefull. My wife, who about flipped when she first say them, way too big and ugly as sin. Now she likes their looks. When we have visitors the women are usually amazed my wife allows me to have them. All the guys drool. You can tell there is some prime sound able to be produced by these massive transducers. The speakers are actually larger than I am, I'm 6-3 and 250 lbs. The speakers have an inch and 50 lbs on me. My son calls them the speaker gods.
About the only thing I can say bad about them is how they reveal poor recordings. Imagine my dismay when two of favorite groups as a teenager have some bad recordings, Fleetwood Mac and Abba. I love listening to SACD music with these. Horns and violins are richer and not strident as they can be with normal CD's. Cymbols are more metalic. The soundstage is enhanced.
Is this the perfect speaker? Probably not, but I am very happy with it. To me it sounded even better than Dunlavy's top of the line SC-V and SC-VI's. For someone with some money to burn, fly out to Colorado and listen to them for yourself. I don't think any dealer carries these for demos.
Read up on the manufacturer's website for the theory behind these speakers. The time alignment of the drivers, the hourglass shape etc. It is www.dunlavyaudio.com. Good reading.
QuoteI have a pair of Cantatas & they are magnificent in my 25x40 ft room. They were a gift to me from John Dunlavy's daughter here in Colorado Springs. They were the ones he took home when he sold the company & retired. They will always be special to me since I have been a John Dunlavy admirer since he started the company here. He was likely the most talented scientist & engineer who has ever designed speakers! Truly! 30 years later, they can hold their own against ANY other speaker for accuracy & realism. I'm a blessed man!