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Way OT-Dahlquist DQ-10s


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Guest Anonymous

I used to own them. they are POWER hungry, but I loved them. I ran them 1st with GAS Ampzilla/thedra combo, then biamped with son of ampzilla, finally triamped with 1 ampzilla and 2 son of ampzilla, I had mine mirror imaged ect, this was in the 70's before my love affair with klipsch. I miss them, sometimes. I love the look too2.gif

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Back in 1976 we were living out in Nevada and I was looking for a new pair of speakers for our living room. During my search I ran across a small shop in downtown Reno, Nevada that was named "The Tin Ear". They carried some really great gear including Dalquist and ADS. I absolutely fell in love with the (Dairy Queen) DQ-10 Phased-Array Loudspeakers they had on display. They bested the ADS speakers big time, but I had a meager salary back then so there was no way for me to even consider buying a pair. If memory serves me right, the DQ-10's sold for about $750/each (or $950/each) back then. I took home a pair of ADS L810's instead, which I was also very fond of, for $350/each. Believe it or not, I still have them, albeit, with a couple of blown drivers. But, to this day, I still remember those Dalquist's as some of the nicest-sounding speakers I have heard, especially back then. They sounded very clean and open and brought a lot of realism to the music played on them. I'd like to hear a pair today to see if their sound still holds up to my expectations. Sound is one of the hardest things for us humans to remember.

dq10.jpg

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Thanks for all the inputs. I have a web article on the DQ-10s but the page is being repaired right now, I will post it when it's ready for prime time.

I have not done a side-by-sde comparison between my CW IIs and the DQ-10s. I don't intend to, but I will note a few points:

Both speakers have clarity of what PWK called the 'inner voices' of the music. I am hearing things I have not heard before, and they are all part of the inner texture of the music, not just interesting effects and colorations.

With many speakers, it takes a lot of critical listening to parse out the colorations, strengths and weakneses. With the CW IIs and the DQ-10s, it does not take much time at all, because both can give the credible illusion of actual, un-reproduced music.

With the CW IIs, "They are here". With the DQ-10s "You are there". The DQ-10s are voiced to give a middle-row concert hall presentation; the Cornwalls, fifth row center.

The most obvious difference is that the DQ-10s just do not have the dynamic range of the Cornwalls. The piezo tweeter and the Advent woofer are the main culprits. Like I said, I use the DQ-10s in my study where volume level is never very high and my listening is while I am multitasking i.e. creative writing. The Cornwalls are the main channel of my HT set-up and are played loud to enjoy their dynamic range.

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I'm no expert on DQ10s but I have a pair that I got from a fella I work with who bought them new along with Dahlquist's "Passive Matrixing" crossover with their 13 inch 400 Watt passive sub.

They were new in their original boxes. I had to have the woofers refoamed, (professionally) and other than a slight marr on the wood of one of the DQ10's they are as new. I'm told Dahlquist recommended at least 165 watts for DQ10's so I used one of two Carver M400 "Cubes" I had sent up to Rita at Carver/Sunfire to be completely reworked and burnt in before she sent them back to me. Then someone told me one couldn't even begin to explore DQ10's unless you're running at least 200+ watts,....Sooooo, I bridged my two Carver M400 "Cubes" at it really woke them up!

I have a motive for borring you all to tears with my story,....Now that I have a pair of La Scalas, (about the same footprint at my DQ10's with the optional stands) I have no place for my beloved DQ10's! : (

I won't ship them but If anyone is interested in a coming to Portland, Oregon to pick up a BEAUTIFUL pair of DQ10's with the crossover and 400 watt pasive sub, (in MINT) condition I'll make you a heck of a deal on them. (You might even be able to talk me out of a better than new Carver "Cube" to drive them with)

My dos centavos,

Regards all.

Bill Woodward

aka 126Mhz

Portland, OR.

wjwoodie@aol.com (reference DQ10 under subject)

P.S. interesting trades?

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Hey Dean, since you're following this thread....

My email is screwed. I have my DQ-20 woofers sitting here, just been too dang busy to get em shipped. Hopefully I'll have em off to you by this Friday. I can recieve mail, but not send, let me know if you'll be around tmrw night and I'll call you.

Since I mentioned it, if anyone is familiar with Netscape Mail and wants to do their good deed for the day, send me a pm, I'll call you on my nickle to see if you can get this thing working, my ISP is lost without me bringing in the puter, and I'm not that worried about it. Yet. 14.gif

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Wow dean, mine have fuses to the tweeters on that can be viewed from the back through the screen, guess mine are the later serial numbers.

I never drove them very hard,....I used the light meters on the Carver cubes as a reference. Not a problem in the world. In fact a buddy and I were listening to them last week, (some informal classical recordings) and we could hear sheet music's pages being turned.

Lucky me...

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My S/Ns are very low (around 1000). The original woofers were replaced with factory units some time ago. The only tweaking I have done is to replace the series cap on the midrange with a Solen. I found a small but noticable improvement. Mine are not mirror-imaged. Just not a priority right now.

I put fast-acting fuses in line, I think they are 1.5 amp but maybe 2 amp (same as on my Cornwalls). I built sold stands for them which elevate the systems 7 and 1/2 inches above the floor and connect the woofer solidly with the ground plane. The factory feet/stands all hurt the bass by not maintaining a solid connection to the floor. (Ah done learned that from Pawl)

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