Budget amp for Dahlquist DQ-10's

Threshold SA3 (50w, pure class A...it is a beast that sounds very good..about 800 used)

nice for me to read your experience. two weeks ago went for cleaning and sub reafoaming. until six hours of medium level volume functioning sounded as warm as before...

fsfb

Update.
Well, the Bryston 4B Pro came in, and since it only had balanced inputs, I had to promptly cut the RCAs off one end of my cheapo Radio Shack Fusion interconnects and solder on a pair of XLRs. I fired up the 4b, Marantz 63 and the Superphon and I was ready to rock. Well the speakers weren't so ready. I promptly (within about 5 minutes) ate up the aging foam surrounds on the woofers. No problem, a quick call to Simply Speakers and one evening covering myself and the cones with rubber cement and I was ready to try out my bad ass beer budget stereo. The first results. Ugh! It had been over twenty years since I'd heard a pair of DQ-10's and at the time I thought they were the greatest thing since beer in cans. What had happened? My first thought was that six years of college had fried too many brain cells along with my memory.
Well I tried bypassing the pre, a little better but no imaging, went back to the pre, finally stopped using the CD inputs and tried the aux jacks, a small improvement. Spent the afternoon running through a series of CD's that sounded like crap. After about five hours of this torture (aided by a little port)I put in a John Prine cd and it was then that something started to happen. The vocals began to open up and the music for the first time became tolerable. Slowly over the next few hours the midrange started to fill in followed finally by the base. Wow, these things are finally starting to sound nice. What happened? I've heard of breaking in new components but all my stuff was used. There was nothing subtle about this change, it was like night and day. Is this normal? Thanks again for the advice and patience with all these newbie questions. BTW was it the John Prine? I somehow doubt that In-Sync would have had the same effect.

Was curious to know if anyone out there was in the market to purchase a pair of dq10's with the dq-1w subwoofer and dq-mx1 crossover? I doubt I could ever replace the sound quality on my tight budget.

Any thoughts?

You may be fine with the old Bryston, I don't remember my DQ-10's as ever being a bright sounding speaker. It's been a lot of years..don't the DQ-10's have Mid/Treb. controls on them that allow some adjustment? I may be thinking of another pair of speakers I used to own. Anyway, let us know when you get the Bryston hooked-up. The speakers may need some break-in if they have not been in use for a long time also.

Dave

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Although, I would have liked a used DNA 2,Threshold, or a Classe CA300 ect.. economics reared it's ugly head and I've got a late model Bryston 4B pro on the way. I've heard that the highs on these amps are a little much so I'm hoping that my cheapo Superphon Revelation II pre works out OK. It's ugly as hell but supposedly isn't a complete POS (but then again I may be wrong). If not, any suggestions for a low cost tube or ss pre that might mellow things out a bit? Thanks again.

typo on above sorry..

the lower price pse studio IV and muse 100 are very good amps( $1k range new ) but lack the last bit of sonic refinment when compared to their more $$ counter parts. the muse 160 mk ii was a $2k amp and the pse studio V are a $2500 pair amps

DQ-10's have a really wild impedance characteristic and dip as low as 2 ohms at one point. This makes them amp hogs. You don't really need a super high wattage large amp, but you do need one with a very high peak amerage capability. Or an amp that doesn't get broken up when it sees that load that it can't put out enough amps for.

I drive my DQ-10's with a GAS Son Of Ampzilla with GAS Works mods. I've also heard amps with twice the power rating sound terrible trying to drive the DQ-10s. I would think that NADs might be a good choice for a read ecomomy speaker for the load.

In a small room I've heard DQ-10s not sound too bad driven by a Dynaco Stereo 70. It couldn't put out many amps, but it didn't get all broken up and put out lots of hash due to it's tubes and transformers.

Hafler

i have a pair of the alon II's. a cousin to the dq10's ( they are pigs when it comes to power requirement- to say they like current is a understatment)

i would not go any less than 200 wpc with a high quality design.the aragon should do fine but alot will depend on how much you want to spend.

they can get buy on a quality 100 wpc but really they really open up and breath with 200 wpc. the sound is very effortless and organic.

here are some options:

muse 160 stereo mk II($600- $625 used) and add another( the muse has a very nice top end that is a good match for the dq10's)and that would put you at $1200-$1300 for 2 near state of the art amps.

or

2 muse stereo amps- $375 each or 2 pse studio IV stereo amps($325 each) - $ 700 - $750 for 2 stereo amps

or

4 pse studio v mono blocks - $500 - $600 pair - $1000 - $1100 for $5000 (retail) of very quality amps (this is the route i went). the pse's studio V monos are very hard to come by.

the lower price pse studio V and muse 100 are very good amps( $1k range new ) but lack the last bit of sonic refinment when compared to their more $$ counter parts. the muse 160 mk ii was a $2k amp and the pse studio V are a $2500 pair amps

you do have some choices - the speakers will sound very good if you have a tube pre in the system.

hope that helps,

mike

When I had DQ-10s, I drove them with a Threshold 400A which is 100 watts/channel with plenty of current. It was more than enough power. The McCormack will probably be fine.

Thanks guys/gals for the support and suggestions. I guess one of my worries is that the McCormack DNA-1 with 180 wpc might not be enough. I've heard these things like 200 wpc as a minimum. I know I should be worried about current output but am I going to regret not buying something bigger? I guess I can always buy another and run as monoblocks when I get more cash.

These are very good speakers with an airy midrange. They're only "dated" in their need for lots of power (mainly to move bass driver). So, I second and third the comments above

I used to own a pair, you are on the right track. Wimp amps need not apply with those speakers.

Dave

These speakers are not as dated as you may think. They are still better than most of today's speakers and need plenty of power. You are on the right track with the amps you mentioned. My daughter powers her DQ-10s with a Hafler 9505, which is not really a Hafler but an Acoustat amp. It is a great combination.