hunter@nlm.nih.gov (Larry Hunter) (06/26/91)
Hi-enders -
I'm coming perilously close to buying a pair of Duntech Black Knights,
which I can get for $3650. They are demos at a high end store that I
have sent a lot of business to. My major comparison point are the B&W
801/Series IIs, which I can get for about $4500. In the contexts I
have heard them, the Duntechs are not quite as spectacular at imaging
as the B&W's, but even deeper and more dynamic, which, given my
musical inclinations, is more important. I even have space for the
monsterous things in my listening room.
My questions to all you strongly opinionated types (and the rest of
you, too):
1. Sound. My ears tell me the Black Knights are spectacular, but
the audiophile press (e.g. Stereophile, TAS) ignores them. Why?
Anybody else out there own them/love them/hate them? Any
net.advice?
2. Price. Anybody ever priced these anywhere else? What does your
local high end store get for Black Knights? Now that Duntech has
a domestic manufacturing arrangement, I thought the price would
go down, but it seems to have gone up in the last 6 months or so.
What gives?
3. Demos. Any reason not to buy demo speakers from a reputable,
fairly trustworthy high end dealer? They come with full
warranty.
4. Setup and room acoustics. Anybody in the DC area have a MLSSA I
can rent or borrow for a few days??
The front end: NAD 1300 preamp, NAD 2600A amp (handles the fairly easy
to drive Duntechs just fine), Denon TT w/Denon 301 cart, Rotel 855 CD
player, thousands of records, hundreds of CDs, primarily Rock, Jazz,
Blues, Reggae, African Drumming, Female vocals, etc. etc. Room is
large and L-shaped; with carpet, curtains and lots of books against
the walls (pretty good acoustics, I think).
Larry
Lawrence Hunter, PhD.
National Library of Medicine
Bldg. 38A, MS-54
Bethesda. MD 20894
(301) 496-9300
(301) 496-0673 (fax)
hunter@nlm.nih.gov (internet)francis@heruka.adelaide.edu.au (Francis Vaughan) (06/27/91)
In article <13452@uwm.edu>, hunter@nlm.nih.gov (Larry Hunter) writes: |> |> Hi-enders - |> |> I'm coming perilously close to buying a pair of Duntech Black Knights, |> which I can get for $3650. They are demos at a high end store that I |> have sent a lot of business to. My major comparison point are the B&W |> 801/Series IIs, which I can get for about $4500. In the contexts I |> have heard them, the Duntechs are not quite as spectacular at imaging |> as the B&W's, but even deeper and more dynamic, which, given my |> musical inclinations, is more important. I even have space for the |> monsterous things in my listening room. Holy shit!! Buy Buy Buy!!! |> My questions to all you strongly opinionated types (and the rest of |> you, too): |> |> 1. Sound. My ears tell me the Black Knights are spectacular, but |> the audiophile press (e.g. Stereophile, TAS) ignores them. Why? |> Anybody else out there own them/love them/hate them? Any |> net.advice? Well I adore them, and would love to find a place for them (I too have the room and at that price could easily find the money). I think some tweakophiles don't like John Dunlevy since he is a very straight forward engineer. Every design decision he makes is done for what he considers very sound physics. There is no room for the black magic voodoo hi-fi of some top end adherents. He must be one of the very few to cheerfully give you test results for his products. He belives in +/- 1db right across the pass band of his speakers, and has the graphs to prove it. Such an attitude seems to alienate some. |> 2. Price. Anybody ever priced these anywhere else? What does your |> local high end store get for Black Knights? Now that Duntech has |> a domestic manufacturing arrangement, I thought the price would |> go down, but it seems to have gone up in the last 6 months or so. |> What gives? Over here where they are made (in a factory about 20 minutes drive from where I sit) they cost about $7k. Thats OZ dollars, which are selling for about 76 cents US last time I looked. The US manufacturing arm of Duntech is not building the high end speakers. I know for certain that they don't build the Sovereigns, and would suspect that the Black Knights are in this category too. Duntech can sell as many Duchesses and Marquis's as they can make and I think that mostly what is being concentrated on in the US. I have heard that there may be a fairly steep price hike before the year is out, because the Black Knight is skewing their marketing profile. This will probably be accompanied by a Mk II version to partly justify the hike, but in general it is felt that they are too good for the money. |> 3. Demos. Any reason not to buy demo speakers from a reputable, |> fairly trustworthy high end dealer? They come with full |> warranty. Should be no problem at all. The build quality and individual testing of Duntechs is easily among the best there is. Unless your dealer is in the habit of attaching them to a mains power outlet they should be absolutly fine. The Black Knight uses all Dynaudio drivers which are renowned for ruggedness. |> |> The front end: NAD 1300 preamp, NAD 2600A amp (handles the fairly easy |> to drive Duntechs just fine) I think you will find that the Black Knights continue to improve dramaticly with quality of power amp. I am not familiar with the NAD but know for certain that the Black Knights can sound stunning with really good source. Discalimer, I am a Duntech fan, having had conversations with John Dunlevy and knowing others that work for him, I have only the highest regard for his ideas and attitudes. I feel that his speakers display some very rare qualities in hifi. They sound too good to be true. Francis Vaughan.