Dunlavy SC IVA X-over resistor values

Here is what I did to my SC IVAs that didn't work, from subtle to bad. 1. I put short cones under my SC IVA bases. It made almost no difference. If forced to decide, I'd leave them there but either way I don't hear a big or even small difference. I think the bass is slightly tighter with the feet. They are some generic cone and not high quality. As a note I have a very thick solid concrete floor with an indoor outdoor carpet over it. Basement studio. 2. Two Audiogon members said to remove the bases of the SC IVAs and it would make a noticeable improvement. I did this and the magic I had gained from my other improvements completely disappeared. This was not subtle. My system was worse by about 10%. I have no idea why but it was bad. I put the bases back on and voila. The great presence I had achieved was back. Without the basses the sound was recessed with loss of solidity and presence. Frankly this makes no sense to me why this would be so much worse, but it was. These are the only changes I made that either made little difference or were worse. Jonathan

Dear All Who Helped me,

As a final note I chickened out on any other changes to my SC IVAs after taking the bases off made such a negative change. My system sounds great since re-attaching the bases so I'll leave it at that. If anyone finds any other changes that really help I hope they will post it for our mutual benefit. But for now no more major changes for me. Thanks again. Jonathan

DAL's have narrow dispersion. You need to pay precise attention to exactly where you position your head when listening and making A/B comparisons. A few inches may change what you hear when listening critically. Typically it is recommended to place them far apart and toed in - this means if you lean forward then the sound may change considerably too.

Respectfully to Shadorne, if DALs have a narrow dispersion then why is distance and angle from the sidewalls so critical, as well as the reflectivity of these walls?

My experience with DAL and Duntech speakers suggests two conditions. The speakers are of such quality that listening outside the "sweet spot" can still be very pleasurable. But I will admit that to optimize critical listening, where you sit will be important. And this relates to vertical position of your ears as well as horizontal position. This is because of the D'Apolito array of drivers -- think of them as a stereo pair turned 90 degrees and it should be obvious why placing your ears at tweeter level is important.

Back to Jonathan, for your DALs I would do everything that is practical for placement and room treatments before worrying about future tweaks to the speakers themselves. Just as with any quality speaker system, you should start with the environment where they are ask to perform.

if DALs have a narrow dispersion then why is distance and angle from the sidewalls so critical, as well as the reflectivity of these walls?

Precisely because they have narrow dispersion!

Narrow dispersion speakers, when listening far-field, are typically very finicky about position. Think about an ordinary light bulb versus a flood light - what you see is a combination of direct and reflected light. It is the same with hearing.

To continue the analogy, the lighting in the room will be most even with the omnidirectional light bulb (more reflected light). The light bulb is clearly less sensitive to location/direction. The flood light will be much more sensitive to placement/direction...only with careful positioning can one get the desired reflected light to evenly illuminate the sweetspot. It is the same with speakers - wide dispersion makes placement very easy.