Proof that solid engineering practices can yield amazingly good sound.

They're no longer made :(

At CES I swung by the Dunlavy room, where they were demo'ing a 5.1 channel system based around the new SCIIIA speaker. It looks very much like a Cantata. There was also a prototype subwoofer. The presentation was excellent as one would expect, with a most impressive bottom end.

Apparently Dunlavy is under new management, and they are trimming the line. The Cantata and Aletha and SCIII are out of production and will have a single replacement, the SCIIIA. Looks like the Aletha just became an instant classic!

As a followup from my previous post, I have settled in with these speakers and feel confident they will be in my two channel system for many years to come. I just can't find anything to fault with them. I recently added a Marantz SA-14 SACD player. Whoah, just when you thought it couldn't get better, it does. This player is a sleeper; too bad nobody is reviewing it. Just wait and see, it will get discovered.

I've also used the Alethas as near field monitors, which of course defeats the time-coherent properties of the speaker, but they do remarkably well off-axis and up close (5 feet away). Try it sometime.

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Lots of great demos heard at CES2002 from Nearfield Acoustics, Gershman Acoustics, mbl, Burmester, Joseph Audio, and Verity Audio

cohesiveness, liquidity, accuracy, non fatiguing, ease of presentaion

none

I've had these sweet sounding babies for 4 months now and ,if my lifestyle permitted, would listen to them 24/7.As it is my music listening has increased dramatically while my other endeavors have suffered.
These are the best speakers I've heard...period. Totally musical and non fatiguing in every respect. Dunlavys are known to be pretty accurate speakers, maybe that is the key. They are well balanced and very cohesive... not like listening to separate drivers. They don't have the "sizzle factor"....just a relaxed , ease of presentation that is totally involving with any type of music. They don't draw attention to themselves , just the music that is being played.
I could go into detail and talk about the down firing woofer, the attactive hexagonal shape, the impressive measurements, etc. but that would take away from my listening time. Besides , I'm not a real detail guy...I just enjoy listening, listening and listening........ah..heaven.

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B&W, Pro-Ac, Vandersteen, Avalon

almost impeccable linearity in the amplitude domain, the phase and time domain; extremely fast settling of siganal and very rapid decay of any residual energy thereby created signal excitation; very low amplitude distortion(harmonic) and intermodulation distortion; sound wave radiation pattern mimicking that of the agrregate average of some of the most important and common live instruments; point source propagation property that couples to the air very well, like the Doppler Effect caused by resonances propagating through water.

It's maximum Spl may not be as high as some professional studio monitors(but who listens to his stereo at Spls above 100dB in a domestic setting)?

The best loudspeakers I've ever heard,by far,no doubt about it. And I think that the only other loudpakers in the world that can sound better than the Alethas are the higher models from Dunlavy Audio Labs.

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I used the paragon regent,the wilson watt2/puppy3,the paradigm studio 60,the dunlavy sc-iii, and listened to the B&W Nautilus series, the Revel Salon, the thiel cs6 and cs2.3 and cs7, the dynaudio evidance,the audio physics spark, the Kharma ceramique series(1.0,2.0),magnepan mg3.3, martin-logan sl3,the wilson cubb,the Infinity Kappa series.

Tight, extended bass. Seamless driver integration. Remarkable inner detail, with uncanny transient reproduction. Probably the best-built Dunlavy speaker.

There is a speed limit to the dynamic range; but in a medium-sized room, they will play plenty loud.

Ok, I've only had them two days, so I'm sure I'll have to come back and add to the review. All I can say is, 'DAMN!'. At first listen, these speakers are so natural, so neutral that it's almost disappointing at first. Then you start to hear things never before revealed, even through electrostats (I've owned ML SL3s for 5 years). A friend who came over to listen commented, " You're so used to hearing colorations and one-note bass that it's remarkable to hear those artifacts stripped away". So far I've tried world music, pop, electronica, organ; the Aletha does it all with poise and precision.

Perhaps the biggest surprise came with the level of bass extension. Organ music comes through with grace and aplomb. Kick drum and electronic Bjorkian bass come through so solidly. The Alethas are not only get a great pair of speakers, they are a great pair of subs, without the integration problems.

I can't recommend this speaker more highly. After touring T.H.E. SHOW at CES2001, there were few speakers that impressed me as much (or more) than the Aletha: the MBL 101 'Radialstrahler', the Nearfield Pipedreams, the Verity Parsifal, and the Avantegardes are all very special speakers that deserve a serious listen. Considering the price that some of these go for, I'd say the Alethas are in pretty good company...

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Dunlavy SM-1, Martin Logan SL3, B&W Nautilus 803, various Swans, other anecdotal listenings from T.H.E. SHOW

These speakers are incredible. Accurate, soft, and prefectly symmetrical with any music thrown at them. These are really a must listen. These are simply gems from one of the most creative sound laboratory around. I cannot even level a complaint but the accolades are as follows. Deep wide sound stage -- accurate depiction of each music instrument -- great seperation of instruments -- great weight on brass instruments -- wonderful vocals. Dunlavy has outdone itself with this speaker.

This is the best speaker of my audiophile life ! I confirm the review hereabove. I drive the Athena with a french amp Jadis and they match perfectly together.

Well just I've spent my first week-end with my new Athenas.I took a big chance and bought them 'unheard' (call me crazy) based on price/performance level-and from my experience auditioning other DAL products.

DAL set the bench mark last Fall.
Over a six month period I auditioned numerous makes and models but when I listened to the DAL (SCIII) again it was simply a no-brainer. Dunlavy just sounded wonderfully dynamic with huge, open sound stage.
No other speaker I listened to (by design) could do this 'big sound' of Dunlavy.

Other speakers tested-
Electrostatic: Martin Logan, Final
Dynamic with ribbon: Oskar (obscure Swiss design)
Dynamic-bass reflex(2 way and 3 way): Hales, Sonus Faber, Audio Physic, Cabasse

The SCIII for me was the winner here-I was spoiled. Although the SCIII had the 'largest' sound-there were some speakers tested designed to go lower-(although the SCIII was no 'slouch' in that department).

Thus the lure of the new Athena.

My then dilemma-a) go for the SCIII (I could have happily lived with) or b) take a chance on the new Athena (not available for demo within my time frame) based on what I already knew and with the promise of more low-end extension. I even ran my little dilemma by DAL (Andrew Rigby)-it was said the Athena would not only add low-end weight but probably widen to the sound stage as well.

I made the leap.
And to put it simply-I'm blown away.

Right out of the box-they are the finest loudspeaker I've ever heard (I have heard speakers I couldn't afford too). They may need to break in still-but that is of little concern-they already sound mind boggling.
My listening room is flooded with sound. Low end information is astounding-not just the 'womp' of good bass-drum but also more ambient sounds too. Some piece's now have this ominous underlying presence of weight and air (which is a good thing) simply not apparent before.
The sound stage is still tall-but very wide as well. Instrument placement is precise. Voices are pristine. I also find that my listening position can be surprisingly generalized-as long as I'm somewhere in front of the speakers I get wonderful sound. These were the first Athena's to Montreal-needless to say my dealer (he installed them) was blown away too. He thinks the Athena's may be still more transparent than the SCIII as well. Who knows - he may be forced into upgrading his own speakers now.

Did I forget to mention how good they looked?-lovely hunks of wood-with the regular oak finish.

Congratulations DAL - I don't see why the Athena can't be a best seller.

Associated equipment used for listening to the Athena during the past few months: Sony CDP-XA50 ES CD player together with Audio Synthesis Passion passive preamp and Pass Aleph 3 power amp OR Pioneer DVD 717 used as transport together with Sony TA-E9000ES(1.10c) and Spectron Musician 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. Some of these are CDs, other are DVDs (24 bit/96 kHz)
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 slightly toed in and are 1 foot from the back wall. All my previous speakers were also placed like this due to room restrictions. During "serious" listening sessions, the speakers were moved to a better location in my room.

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 IMHO were lack of detail, bright treble and the rather forward midrange. An overall good speaker, but in the meantime i heard better. After 1 year, i replaced these with the Audio Physic Virgo II. These are IMHO better than the 802/III. They are more detailed, less forward and are not as bright. Shortcomings: not very extended bass, bass also not very tight, the speakers did not completely disappear in my room. Perhaps this is due to the speaker placement in my room.

After about 1.5 years i replaced the Virgos with a pair of Dunlavy SC-IV speakers. These speakers are IMHO far better than the Virgo. Although they are VERY big, the SC-IV completely disappears in my room. I found no shortcomings except for their size. Their strong points are: wide and deep soundstage, stable imaging, much more extended and tighter bass, more detailed, very natural sounding.

After i had the SC-IV for about 1 year DAL came out with a new speaker, the Dunlavy Athena. This speaker is smaller than the SC-IV (BTW, my SC-IV were the latest model) and uses a downward firing woofer. The Athena is even more detailed than the SC-IV. It is a bit warmer than the SC-IV and has slightly more air. Soundstage is better and the off-axis sound is also better. The sweet spot is a bit larger and the bass is VERY tight 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. I never heard bass sounding like this before. In short, they are IMHO the most natural, most coherent sounding speakers I ever heard.

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 is also very detailed, but sounded a bit too much like a speaker IMHO. 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 IMHO. The B&W Nautilus 802 is a very good speaker too, but the bass is not as tight as the Dunlavy Athena and the 802 is also not as natural sounding as the Athena IMHO.

5 Stars !!!!

I am in audio heaven.
Over the past decade, I have spend far too much time worrying about the audio hardware and not enough time enjoying the music. That is... until I received my pair of Dunlavy Athena's.

I have purchased many speakers over the past years... Martin Logan ReQuest & SL3's, B&W 802S3, every Magnepan except the MG-20, and countless others. All of them had me thinking too much about what was 'missing'. It was wither better base, better vocals, or a larger soundstage.

Hat's off to Jim Dunlavy for designing a speaker that has me finally enjoying the MUSIC. After waiting three weeks for my speakers they finally arrived (they are packed like a Tank!).

The base, midrange, highs, soundstage, realism, and looks are all outstanding.
I am only running them with an Audio Research 100.2 and LS15.

I will make this review short because I have to get back to my music.

Tonally correct, Soundstage, Tight bass, details, you name it

Expensive in the Netherlands $11.000 for a cherry pair.

I've had these for about 5 weeks now and I love them. I've been looking for 3/4 of a year for new speakers. My store in the Netherlands sells them, but I did not listen longer than 5 minutes because they cost $11.000 over here! Fortunately I met Erwin Claus on the net, he's switching to 5.1 audio and was selling his Athena's (only to buy new Dunlavy's in the future). So I loaded up my amp/cd player and went to Belgium. I own a fairly simple Densen Beat 100 amplifier and a Myryad MC100 cd. And even with this "cheap" amp the Athena's impress the heck out of me. I can't wait to get home each day and listen to some more music. Never ever instruments and voices sounded so real to me. E.g. normally, you hear a sound that resembles a piano and your brain recognises it and compensates the flaws and tells you it's a piano. The athena's make every instrument/voice sound like they are supposed to. Ergo you never get tired listening. This is what impresses me most. Of course the brilliantly tight base and the incredeble detail + soundstaging are equally impressive. Now all I need is a new amp to really make these babies sing!
Of course a 5 star overall rating, but also a 5 star value rating because most listeners/buyers will be in the states and a cherry pair is olny !! $6500 over there (a black or oak finish = $6000).

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Listened to B&W nautilus 803, DAl SC-II, Wilson Benesch Act one, Von Schweikert VR4 genII (own myself, don't laugh: Marantz SS99 :-))