My first pair of "high-end" speakers. Power hungry critters but what I would give for an updated pair. I powered these with a Peavey CS-400 and a Maccomack Deluxe Line drive passive preamp!! Those were the days! Young and dumb I suppose?
I had a pair of DQ10s from '84 until about 4 years ago. Once I heard the DQ10s at a friend's house in '82 or so, I fell madly in love and just had to have them. And that love affair lasted for almost 30 years through many electronics and other system upgrades.
Regnar refurbished them sometime along the way and I did a few simple tweaks (like replacing the fiberglass inside the speaker cabinet with modern acoustic fiber, which helped the bass as it turns out).
What I loved about the DQ10s is that they just disappeared and nailed the human voice, whether signing or spoken. Listening to a radio talk show from outside the room...I'd swear those folks were sitting in the room just having a conversation.
What I didn't like was the tizzy tweeter, how fussy they were about placement, lack of dynamics, cabinet size/width, and lack of low bass. A great, high-powered, high-current amp helped the sound quality a lot, but still...
I still think fondly of the DQ10s...we had many good years together. I gave them to a friend who's into acoustic music when I got my new speakers. While the new ones are awesome (Wilson Sophia 3s), there is still one thing that the DQ10s did better: that spooky, real voice in the room.
I have a pair of DQ 10s recently upgraded by Regnar. I was using an APT Holman amp and pre-amp to drive them but those trusty machines are failing. Without going to great expense, what would be an apt, and readily available, replacement for the APTs? I live in Manhattan. Many thanks in advance for guidance, esp to 'mofimadness" if this post connects.
Dalhquist factory was about 10 minute walk from my home.I drove them crazy with my visits and questions .Although I loved the speakers I couldn't afford a quality amp needed to drive them. If I recall correctly I purchased AR 9"s instead (big mistake)
dd44, I replaced my Apt Holman with a Counterpoint 5.1. That was my venture into the land of tubes.
Springreen,I remember Jerry(very nice guy) and listening to the original Linn table at Hi Fi Haven.
Yes, I also remember Hi-Fi Haven. I purchased my DQ-10's there and Acoustats X's as well. Jerry was a wonderful salesman. Anyone remember the "Great" Jim Foley and his Infinity Servo-Static 1A's????
After KLH and Bozak 301 I moved up to a used pair of DQ-10s circa 1977, mirror imaged, factory tweaked x-over and a M&K sub. Technics DD turntable, Grace 707, Shure V15 yada yada. The acoustics in the living room were good too. Every scratch, every speck of dust, or static drove me nuts. That piezo electric tweeter made me give up on HI-Fi for a number of years. I sold the whole thing and found temporary happiness with pedestrian Infinity RSBs, Thorens and Stanton 681.
Hi. I used to live in Pittsburgh and visited Opus One frequently. At that point, I just couldn't afford what I wanted and then they ended up going out of business. From what I remember, Tasso powered DQ-10s with a Kenwood L-07M and a Kenwood L-07CII. However, I can't remember what subwoofer he used. Was it an Acousat?
I certainly do. I had bought Magnaplanar MGIIB's and was so smitten with them. I went over a friend's house (Donald) who had Dahlquists DQ10's and it was the first time I heard them in someone's house instead of the showroom floor. I always loved the somewhat similar physical resemblance to the original Quad electrostatic speaker. Neither speaker had dynamic slam but imaged well and had great soundstaging when set up properly.
@emailists it's possible we bumped into each other from time to time. I knew the fellas at Eardrum fairly well back in the day, and we often kidded the owner (Artie) that his radio ads sounded like they were done by Tom Carvel.
I still own a pair of DQ10's with walnut sides that were refoamed, recapped and mirrored by Regnar. I've retired them now in favor of my recently acquired Martin Logan reQuests, but they still do their magic.
If anyone is in the Northeastern PA area (zip 18337) I might be persuaded to drag 'em out, if you bring the beer.
I remember the DQ-10. I was a salesman in the 1980's in a mid to hi-end audio dealer,. Good speakers; but, somewhat awkward to set up, and the their stands were crap and did not support the speakers very well.
By way of suggestion, don't get caught up romanticizing a speaker whose design is close to 40 years old. Occasionally , . you will see ads on AG for updated versions of the DQ-10's, or even the so-called DQ-20 ( or DQ 30?) which was more or less a flop.
Use that 2K to 3K money looking for a used pair of Vandersteen 3A's or Acoustic Zen Adagios, or one of the lower tier Dyanudio Contour speakers, a (used) pair of the newer Quads speakers, or Martin Logan models "Aerius",, "Ascent" or "Vantage" They should provide superior sound quality and much better tonal accuracy than an updated version of the DQ-10's
@martykl Was Absolute Sound the store in Ann Arbor with the DQ10s? They had up to four locations but slowly began closing them before ultimately going out of business. Used to deal with Jerry at the Royal Oak location for years.
I had DQ10's in the seventies, I cannot remember where I bought them or what electronics I drove them with. They were wonderful, and I do remember I had them modified at New York audio labs in Croton. Harvey Rosenberg had a pair set up there with tube electronics, they were sublime! I gave them to my cousin when I bought Acoustat 2+2's. He still has them.
In the '70's I attended an audio show at a hotel across from Madison Square Garden in NYC, several floors of audio manufacturers showing off their latest and greatest equipment. At the time, I was shopping for a new pair of speakers and had done exhaustive research. I had narrowed down the field to a pair of Polks (I believe it was the 10's). As I wandered from room to room, I kept noticing these speakers I had never seen before, it seemed many of the manufacturers had chosen these speakers to demo their equipment with. A few weeks later I went to my local high end audio store to demo the Polks. After less than a minute, I told the salesman to turn them off, I was crushed! The speakers I was so sure would be heaven sounded terrible...all that time wasted, I was so disappointed and started to leave when I spotted these speakers, the ones I had seen at the show (I had forgotten all about them). I thought to myself, if these speakers were being used by all those manufacturers maybe I should give them a listen...I was back in heaven. They were a lot more money than the Polks but the sound! After several more trips to the store to audition these speakers with my turntable and albums I was completely familiar with, I was sold. I still have my DQ-10s today, they are a mirrored pair, sequential serial #'s. I've had the woofers re-foamed by Regnar, the tweeters have been replaced and the crossovers upgraded with the newer caps and resistors. Originally they were powered by a Phase Linear 500 amp, today the are powered by a Parasound amp, Emotiva sub and Paradigm rear speakers. I'm thinking about upgrading to some mono blocks. After all these years, I am still amazed at the sound coming from these speakers, I will never sell them!
I presently own a pair of DQ-10's - mirror imaged, redone woofers, upgraded crossovers, custom stands and new grill cloth. Sound quality comparable to today's multi-kilobuck speakers! I first heard them in 1976 at Audiocom in Old Greenwich, CT. Amplifier in use was a GAS Ampzilla. Preamp was an Apt Holman and signal source was a Denon TT and Denon 103 mc cartridge with a custom-made head amp copy of a Levinson JC-1AC. To this day it remains in my memory as one of the best sounding systems!
I'm currently driving them with a Parasound 2250 amp, 250W/side. These suckers have always been power hungry and I'm thinking about replacing the amp with a pair of Emotiva XPA-1 600W mono blocks.
When it comes to power hungry speakers, what is needed is an amp with high current capability for those ohm swings. That Parasound has some good current, at 45 amps peak per channel. It's at the low end of Parasound's line up, however. Their A21 does 60 amps per channel, which is pretty good. I owned this amp, and it really has great detail and control and always sounds effortless. It's worth a listen, anyway.
Something Emotiva doesn't do is publish the current output of their amps, they really should get with it. Slew rate, current and output at 2 ohms are all important specs that Emotiva ignores for the XPA-1. Oh wait, they state that the XPA-1 has a minimum 4 ohm load requirement. For a mono block, that's embarrassing. I'd stay away. It also only goes down to 10 Hz, all of Parasound's Halo amps go down to 5 Hz within rated frequency response.
mr_g, If you lived nearby me in Florida I would lend you some of my vintage amps to try out with your DQ-10's. I have several that might work well: Acoustat TNT, Perreaux 1250B, SpectroAcoustics 500, Bedini 150/150, Sumo Andromeda, BEL 1001, GAS Son of Ampzilla. All of these have sufficient power to drive DQ-10's. It's just a matter of what sonic flavor you'd prefer! I myself recommend matching vintage components with similar vintage gear. Present day new gear is not attractive to me!
DQ10s. The first speakers I ever heard that disappeared while playing and the standard I have set for audio speakers ever since. That was in the mid 70s at Myer Emco in the DC area. I have lusted after them but have never been able to afford the level of amplification they deserve.
A piece of old trivia. I'm Phil Schwartz's daughter who was the US importer of Fidelity Research phono cartridges.
Jon, Saul and John Bedini used to exhibit with us at the Jockey Club in Las Vegas in the 70s. John Bedini used to do hi-end amplifiers.
One time we were getting feedback/noise, and Saul just grabbed a piece of aluminum foil and placed it on the wires to kill the noise. Such a low tech fix.
The other part of it was that Jon used to say that his speakers couldn't be blown. John cranked up Funky Town by Lipps Inc. and cranked it up. Pop. We all giggled and popped it back into place.
These stories have brought back wonderful memories of when I was "first bitten" with obtaining better sound reproduction at home. I owned Magneplanar MGIIB speakers and my friend had the DQ10’s. Some of the best care free times I have had!
It’s been more than 40 years but I remember it like I just walked out of the shop. It was a small shop called Stereo Mart in Garden Grove, California. The place was crammed with high-end stereo gear. The salesman must have taken a liking to us (remembering through the fog, it was more likely, as the store was empty, he had nothing else to do). The man appeased us by spending a couple hours comparing all the speakers. A switching system wired into what I believe was a phase linear, powered all the speakers. The one exception were these unusual looking, new to my eyes, Dahlquist DQ-10’s (I was unfamiliar with Quads as of yet)powered off of the switching system by a Crown DC-300. (perhaps an unfair advantage) One by one, Saras, JBL, Tannoy, infinity, Acoustic Designs, all fell by the wayside to the DQ’s. It was as if any other speaker was in another room. The clarity when listening to orchestral works, was what I heard when I listened to the orchestra from my seat as a trumpet player. Over the next couple of years a few similar scenarios were repeated. One was at a large audio store called The Federated Group, I swear they had everything. At this store were the venerated Infinity Servo-Statics at $40,000.00 a set. At $800.00 the pair the DQ’s again won the day. Because of my then meager means, I could not get them. To this day I look out for a lucky find. Sorry to be so long but I never really got to express the excitement I felt when I had this experience.
I have DQ-10s (early model without fuse in back) and DQ-20s. Currently running the DQ-20s with the Apt pre-amp and amp mentioned above. I have two amps as mono-blocks, so 200 Wpc. But sound OK with one amp running both speakers (100 Wpc). I also have a Kinergetics KBA-75 which is fine with both DQs also, but that is 60 pounds of class A all the time
My first pair of high end speakers was the Fried Beta speakers with the matching subwoofer but all that changed when I heard the original Alon l speakers. Real soundstage with articulate bass and it beat the ML Aries I had at the time.
Just to share, I worked in the Audio industry at one time and was at the CES when the DQ-10 was introduced. Two of my best friends still use them.
No hyperbole, just my experience...I have owned the Maggie 1.6, 3.6 and 20, and various higher end Martin Logan, Vandersteen and some others. All that said, I remember the DQ-10 as one of my all time favorites. Their ability to image was part of my audiophile "awakening".
Had them when they came out. Fried them...more like smoked them! Our Bozak B313’s were always the more dynamic and natural sounding speakers throughout the decades. Their bones still lay in the old family basement, awaiting a resurrection.
The DQ-10 were one of the top two eye/ear opening experiences of my youth at the Chicago CES show. The second one was watching a tape of Blazing Saddles on the first Advent Videobeam at ....I believe the Drake Hotel, but it could have been the Palmer House. A good time was had by all. It was a room with many from Advent but not Mr. Kloss. Henry was a very private person....I was lucky enough to meet him, a very interesting man....with his Checker Taxi Cab car.
I found a nice pair with the original manuals and warranty card and the then I was at Goodwill and found the DQ-1W and the DQ-MX1 for $25.00 it's soo funny but out here in California you will see a lot of vintage speaker at tag sales and swap meets for pennys on the dollar and sometimes the homes are being sold by the grand children, and they are not into this old time junk, which is what they call it, kids out here are into ipads and skate boards and app's. I found a pair of Bozak 301 tempo's that a young lady was selling because they did not MATCH her IKEA living room set, $10.00 for the set and she asked me " is that too much to ask for them" we have a HAM FEST that starts up at times and you can find things from engineer's that designed audio gear for major corporations like the ALTEC'S and JBL and a lot of various amp builders then you will find Boutique audio products that are new in the box, that people find OUT DATED because they have the NEW BOSE SYSTEM installed and the wife just loves them off the floor. so I'm just waiting for the COVID to go away and will be on the hunt for some more AUDIO JUNK that the kiddies and new style (IKEA) people are given away!!!!
I used to sell them in store in Milwaukee (the 70s) then became the Dahlquist rep! So I knew Jon and he was a character! I remember in the 70s there where people STACKING DQ10s- crazy. Yes, you guys are right, DCM Time Windows an the demo room, with Magna Planars and .big KEF 105s.
I still own DQM 909s (that need new drivers) in boxes from the early 80s.
Saw and heard these in the late '70s. Sounded very interesting and nice. If I recall, there were five drivers in each one, and a complex crossover too.
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