Duntech Speakers Owners & Discussion Thread

[Fridgeme]

Hello all! I've recently been enjoying a pair of Duntech PCL-10s I bought. Incredible detail and high end extension. I was advised to be wary of the PCL-15 because apparently replacement drivers are impossible to find now. Can anyone confirm this? I'm thinking about adding the PCL-15s as additional monitors in the studio and keeping the 10s at home. 

Thanks!

[kelossus]

15 minutes ago, Fridgeme said:

Hello all! I've recently been enjoying a pair of Duntech PCL-10s I bought. Incredible detail and high end extension. I was advised to be wary of the PCL-15 because apparently replacement drivers are impossible to find now. Can anyone confirm this? I'm thinking about adding the PCL-15s as additional monitors in the studio and keeping the 10s at home. 

Thanks!

 

The D28 tweeter is attainable but the 17W75EXT woofers would be hard to find. Especially the 6 ohm version which the PCL15 use, you never see them.

Edited August 12, 2022 by kelossus

[Fridgeme]

2 minutes ago, kelossus said:

 

The D28 tweeter is attainable but the 17W75XL woofers would be hard to find. Especially the 6 ohm version which the PCL15 use, you never see them.

Thanks! Sounds like unless I can afford to get a backup pair I might be better to wait for some PCL-25s to come up for sale. 

[Sub Sonic]

@Fridgeme I reckon I may have a spare woofer for the PCL10 if you ever need one. Possibly a tweeter too but I’d have to have a look.

 

SS

 

Edit: found the spare woofer but no tweeters.

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Sub Sonic

[Sub Sonic]

I also found a couple of Dynaudio 17W75EXT drivers, 6 ohm impedance - which bass drivers did the PCL20 have @kelossus?

 

 

 

 

 

[kelossus]

Just now, Sub Sonic said:

I also found a couple of Dynaudio 17W75EXT drivers, 6 ohm impedance - which bass drivers did the PCL20 have @kelossus?

 

 

 

If you wanted to sell those Dyn's let me know, I would love a pair of spares for my PCL15s. I'm not familiar with the PCL20, did you mean the PCL25? I believe they PCL25 uses the Morel MW166's.

[Sub Sonic]

2 minutes ago, kelossus said:

 

If you wanted to sell those Dyn's let me know, I would love a pair of spares for my PCL15s. I'm not familiar with the PCL20, did you mean the PCL25? I believe they PCL25 uses the Morel MW166's.

Aah, right you are, I meant the PCL15.

 

I may have a Morel 166 floating around too, again, would have to check. The PCL25 did use the MW166.

[Sub Sonic]

I did find a few Morel 6” drivers in various states of repair.

 

All appear to be in working order. The first couple have dents in the dust covers. They have Duntech labels but no Morel model number, but I’m not aware of Duntech using anything other than the MW166.

 

The third driver has a number of scratches on the cone.

 

The last driver is also an MW166 but perhaps a different manufacturing batch. Cone looks good on this one.

 

We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel now as far as Duntech drivers are concerned

 

SS

 

 

 

 

 

[kelossus]

@Sub Sonic

 

Excellent spares to have mate. If you did want to move on the 17W75s, let me know.

[Thelastjedi]

Is there anyone here that owns dunlavys? Be keen to see if there is any other owners in Australia. 

[dtximages]

HELP!  I just got a pair of Duntech Black Knights.  Two things of note:

 

1. The woofers were refoamed and do not have the magnet filter in the back.  I took a look because in the car, I noticed the woofer "bouncing" as I hit bumps.  When you tap the woofer, it definitely feels loose and bouncy compared to all other speakers I've owned.  So, how important is this foam insert in the magnet "hole"?  I was told to use an A/C filter off amazon if I want to DIY it which I probably will.

 

2. I took off the binding post plate in the rear and noticed the wires are held together with WIRE NUTS!  I'm certain that Duntech did NOT do this.  These are bi-ampable so that makes the wiring more complicated but does anyone know an expert around Dallas that is worthy to take a look at these?

 

FYI, thus far, I'm loving them even if they're not up to par yet.  I can tell this is a serious speaker and already sounds phenomenal just like my beloved Crown Prince.  I've gotten rid of so many speakers only to keep these (sold my KEF reference, Tektons, Wilsons, Thiels etc..)  Nothing touches the Duntechs.

 

Thanks for any assistance you can offer.

[Sub Sonic]

Don’t worry too much about the foam on the back, it is just a filter to stop anything dropping in there, it is not designed to be a “functioning” part of the driver.

 

Re the wire nuts, can you post some photos?

 

Cheers,

 

SS

[Silver Audiophile]

Super excited, recently received back from Kiat Low my Duntech 'Signature' upgrades. Looks amazing! Internal speaker cabinet wiring with Cables For Music- Songbird series (Cables FM) and external wiring to crossover box with same, crossovers with upgraded Deulund caps and Deulund Silver Graphite resistors, new larger crossover boxes to fit all the new upgrades, Cardas Audio binding posts, and retested and re-calibrated with appropriate resistor values. The net result- the Senators sound far more involving! The bass is fuller and deeper, the mids has a lush fullness and emotion, and the highs remain precise and balanced. Even prior to the upgrade, my Senators (together with the bigger new Duntech Princess) remains amongst the finest loud speaker at any price I have heard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Silver Audiophile

[Andythiing]

11 hours ago, Silver Audiophile said:

Super excited, recently received back from Kiat Low my Duntech 'Signature' upgrades. Looks amazing! Cables FM Songbird internal cabinet wiring and external wiring to crossover box, cross overs with upgraded Deulund caps and Deulund Silver Graphite resistors, new crossover boxes to fit all the new upgrades, Cardas Audio binding posts, and retested and re-calibrated with appropriate resistor values. The net result- the Senators sound far more involving! The bass is fuller and deeper, the mids has a lush fullness and emotion, and the highs remain precise and balanced. Even prior to the upgrade, my Senators (together with the bigger new Duntech Princess) remains amongst the finest loud speaker at any price I have heard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous 

[kelossus]

Just thought I would provide an update on my Sovereigns and the recent issues I have had. Over the last year or so I have felt like they have slowly been sounding worse with each rotation into my system. The Crown Princes, 1400 Arrays and the 4355s have been getting far more play time and I was convinced something was wrong with them.

 

I had Nigel from Speakerbug come over as I trust his ears and his ruthless opinion when asked. We played the Crown Princes which sounded great, they always have. Then we rotated the Sovereigns in, they showed signs off brilliance but overall something didn't sound right and I couldnt figure out what it was. Nigel mentioned the mid-bass drivers sounded down in output and if I had to guess previously what was wrong, I would have said the bass so I wasn't far off. The soundstage was no where near as large as it had been and the dynamics had suffered greatly.

 

Nigel has the capabilities to test the drivers so I removed all the mid-bass drivers and gave them to him. He replied back later that night saying everything measured perfectly, no issues at all. I was hoping this would be the case and the crossovers became the next target. I removed the networks and took them to Nigel for measuring and to provide a schematic to the Duntech community as there isn't one available. Upon initial tests everything seemed to measure perfect, every component was well within tolerance so I was a little dumbfounded and apprehensive to take it further. Anyway I gave the green light the to replace all the resistors with 1% MOX resistors doing away with the sand casts while keeping exact values. Also every capacitor would be replaced keeping the tolerances within 2% using exact values and paralelling multiple values just as Dunlavy did. For whatever reason I didn't want to replace the woofer caps for example with a single 120uf cap, I want to use 2x50 and a 20 just as Dunlavy did. I assume he did it for a reason, maybe not but for my peace of mind I wanted to keep it exactly as original.

 

Getting a little too in depth here but long story short once the boards were stripped the ESR of the caps was measured and the Solen caps showed some really high ESR's, some as high as 8 ohms and plenty ranging from 0.5 - 1 ohm. Also between the two networks different brand caps were used. My crossovers consisted of Solens and Rifa caps which had been removed from their plastic case and wrapped. One speaker had the rifa's in the mid-bass and the other had Solens. Unsure if that would make an audible difference but it was weird.

 

Still waiting for parts to come in stock but the capacitors being used are a mix between the Jantzen Standard Z Caps and Superiors. Will provide and update once they are up and running and a schematic once I have it.

[Jakeyb77_Redux]

1 hour ago, kelossus said:

Just thought I would provide an update on my Sovereigns and the recent issues I have had. Over the last year or so I have felt like they have slowly been sounding worse with each rotation into my system. The Crown Princes, 1400 Arrays and the 4355s have been getting far more play time and I was convinced something was wrong with them.

 

I had Nigel from Speakerbug come over as I trust his ears and his ruthless opinion when asked. We played the Crown Princes which sounded great, they always have. Then we rotated the Sovereigns in, they showed signs off brilliance but overall something didn't sound right and I couldnt figure out what it was. Nigel mentioned the mid-bass drivers sounded down in output and if I had to guess previously what was wrong, I would have said the bass so I wasn't far off. The soundstage was no where near as large as it had been and the dynamics had suffered greatly.

 

Nigel has the capabilities to test the drivers so I removed all the mid-bass drivers and gave them to him. He replied back later that night saying everything measured perfectly, no issues at all. I was hoping this would be the case and the crossovers became the next target. I removed the networks and took them to Nigel for measuring and to provide a schematic to the Duntech community as there isn't one available. Upon initial tests everything seemed to measure perfect, every component was well within tolerance so I was a little dumbfounded and apprehensive to take it further. Anyway I gave the green light the to replace all the resistors with 1% MOX resistors doing away with the sand casts while keeping exact values. Also every capacitor would be replaced keeping the tolerances within 2% using exact values and paralelling multiple values just as Dunlavy did. For whatever reason I didn't want to replace the woofer caps for example with a single 120uf cap, I want to use 2x50 and a 20 just as Dunlavy did. I assume he did it for a reason, maybe not but for my peace of mind I wanted to keep it exactly as original.

 

Getting a little too in depth here but long story short once the boards were stripped the ESR of the caps was measured and the Solen caps showed some really high ESR's, some as high as 8 ohms and plenty ranging from 0.5 - 1 ohm. Also between the two networks different brand caps were used. My crossovers consisted of Solens and Rifa caps which had been removed from their plastic case and wrapped. One speaker had the rifa's in the mid-bass and the other had Solens. Unsure if that would make an audible difference but it was weird.

 

Still waiting for parts to come in stock but the capacitors being used are a mix between the Jantzen Standard Z Caps and Superiors. Will provide and update once they are up and running and a schematic once I have it.

hope it goes well Chris! Looking forward to hearing a happy outcome 

[Sounding]

On 28/10/2022 at 5:43 PM, Silver Audiophile said:

Super excited, recently received back from Kiat Low my Duntech 'Signature' upgrades. Looks amazing!

I heard you had them back, pleased for you.

Edited November 14, 2022 by Sounding
Format corrected.

[Sounding]

I just spotted these for sale, in the US.

Damn…

 

[Silver Audiophile]

Breaking news folks- Duntech Audio Senator loudspeakers has been awarded the SoundStage Australia 'Aesthetics & Sound Quality' Award 2022.

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Silver Audiophile

[Silver Audiophile]

Link to SoundStage article below:

 

 

https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/features/725-the-soundstage-australia-products-of-the-year-awards-2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Silver Audiophile

[Andythiing]

Congratulations to @Kiat and team

[Chemout2]

A warm congratulations Kiat and the team at Duntech Audio on winning the Sound Stage Product of the Year Award!

 

I couldn’t be happier with my Senator loudspeakers. In my opinion, they represent a true work of art which excels in science, technology and design innovation.

 

The Senators are an exceptional product and a deserving winner of this significant and prestigious award.

 

You should be very proud of your achievement Kiat and Co.

 

I hope this award helps Duntech achieve the local and international acclaim it deserves.

 

 

[Silver Audiophile]

44 minutes ago, Chemout2 said:

A warm congratulations Kiat and the team at Duntech Audio on winning the Sound Stage Product of the Year Award!

 

I couldn’t be happier with my Senator loudspeakers. In my opinion, they represent a true work of art which excels in science, technology and design innovation.

 

The Senators are an exceptional product and a deserving winner of this significant and prestigious award.

 

You should be very proud of your achievement Kiat and Co.

 

I hope this award helps Duntech achieve the local and international acclaim it deserves.

 

Show us some new Senator porn pics

 

 

 

[kelossus]

Just a follow up on the Sovereign network rebuild. I copied the below from DIY Audio where Nigel from Speakerbug posted about the build.

 

Some were upset by my last Repair / Rebuild.
So all I will say is this.
They sounded like rubbish before.
No treble, and one side had almost no mid-range.
I investigated, found many issues, and it was decided to do a full rebuild.
These are factory original. Matching serial numbers. Never touched before now.
Did you notice one side using different parts ? From the factory.
After the rebuild using far superior parts, everything is now working as it should.
Plus some.

To head off all the old worn out arguments.
A lot of the capacitors are in parallel banks. The capacitance of each bank was matched to the original.
The old inductors were measured, and the new inductors were selected for correct inductance AND dcr.

If the owner wishes to comment further (they are a member here) then that is up to them.

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by kelossus

[Jakeyb77_Redux]

1 hour ago, kelossus said:

Just a follow up on the Sovereign network rebuild. I copied the below from DIY Audio where Nigel from Speakerbug posted about the build.

 

Some were upset by my last Repair / Rebuild.
So all I will say is this.
They sounded like rubbish before.
No treble, and one side had almost no mid-range.
I investigated, found many issues, and it was decided to do a full rebuild.
These are factory original. Matching serial numbers. Never touched before now.
Did you notice one side using different parts ? From the factory.
After the rebuild using far superior parts, everything is now working as it should.
Plus some.

To head off all the old worn out arguments.
A lot of the capacitors are in parallel banks. The capacitance of each bank was matched to the original.
The old inductors were measured, and the new inductors were selected for correct inductance AND dcr.

If the owner wishes to comment further (they are a member here) then that is up to them.

 

lovely work from Nigel as always.

But, what do you think now Chris?