How do Dahlquist DQ10 stack up against current speakers?

I ponder this same type of question a lot when scrolling thru my local Marketplace. I come across DQ's, old Thiels, Snell's, etc. Speakers I either couldn't afford in the late 80's-90's or didn't have the room for. I imagine the "good ones" are still very good by nature but I personally feel like it's speakers that have come a long way & have been greatly advanced in terms of drivers & passive components. 

I also feel like you may need to be prepared for a project depending on how great a shape they are in. Surrounds, tweeters, crossovers all need to be considered to bring these speakers back to their glory days. I do think that it's a wonderful thing when audiophiles continue collecting the special speakers of yesteryear & keeping them alive. The last time I listened to a pair of DQ-10's was in a garage system with lots of space some 20 years ago. I just remember thinking it was a pretty cool experience. Hard for me to say how they would stack up vs speakers of today. 

Many legit "audiophiles" still use & greatly enjoy their vintage speakers..I think that counts for something. 

I have worked on DQM9 and DQ10's.  Understand their limitations, with that, they are a fine speaker.  They are time aligned and image well. They are relatively in phase, but you need to get their height place correctly. At the correct ear height, the phasing is good.  Today's speakers do stay in phase better when your ears are a bit above or below tweeter level much better than the DQ 10's. The driver layout does accommodate time alignment quite well, but the driver layout can make tow a bit of a problem. Horizontal off axis will have more issues than a speaker with vertically stacked drivers.  What I am saying is:  Take your time getting them set up. Once you get them locked in, don't overthink it, certain small adjustments are not good for a DQ10.  Get em right and these are very enjoyable speakers regardless of age. I hope this helps,  Tim

To my ear, the DQ-10 is a bit weak in low midrange clarity but otherwise is a very good speaker—comparable to many contemporary speakers in the ~5k range. As previously noted, they really should be off the ground and near ear level; the imaging is particularly good this way. I found the horizontal imaging much wider and realistic than most other loudspeakers,