These speakers are, for this writer, the only masterpiece in audio. They represent a triumph of the human genius and physics science applied to the audio reproduction together with authentic honesty and love for the music. They do not belong to a specific era because science is forever, instead they are part of the music lover life as a Fender Stratocaster is for Jimi Hendrix or a Stradivari for Niccolò Paganini. Period.

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Are you kidding?

Imaging, Sound, Depth, Live with all the upgrades, mention you will get 40 hz kicking bass without sub.

A Little weak on Deep Bass, 25 Hz and below, with a sub No problems. FQ Range of the speaker is 30-27Khz

Well, let me say, I have listen to many many high speakers, some were excellent, some were bad, but the DQ10 is what hi-fi is all about. My Setup First: I called Regnar whom is the Dahlquist service center. got my woofers rebuilt got my wiring upgraded got my xcrossover upgraded while waiting for the parts to come in, I took out all the insulation matting, and sealed all corners and joints with clear sealant weather proofing. then sprayed with sound blocking, ( black) all inside the bass area, two coats. Put all new components back in, drill larger hole for 10 gauge wiring, and sealed with glue, glue gun. used only tin and silver solder. Eq: Pass Labs, X150 Pass Labs Pre-Amp Sony CD cable: Black Midnight Bi-Wire Dahlquist Active Crossover ( 45 Hz ) Sub Woofer: 45 - 16 hz ( 300 Watt Amp ) The Bass is Great, Very Tight, and Fast. High are very smooth, Get a Dido CD ( I am no Angel ) Listen to here voice.... ( nice )

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None

Soundstage, mids, highs

Moushy Bass unless placed placed ~2ft from both walls and be powered by a high current amp with a fast slew rate. Only then does the moush disapear and the kick start in.

Nothing can beat this soundstage! The DQ-10's put you there with the performers. No "speaker" sound. I've looked at atleast sixty expensive speakers. They all sound like "speakers". I can hear the cross-over point(s) in most of them. (Whoosyness). Believe me, I can't hear a single cross-over point in the DQ-10's. And there are four of them! Dahlquist and Marantz are both dead now but their design has stood the test of time for 30 yrs so far(much like Quads). For all the talk of "improvements" in the speaker industry, DQ-10's are untouchable. I don't know of anyone who'd give these up.

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Totems, Meadowlarks, Vandies, Van Swi's, JM Labs, Legacy's, Dunlavy's, ...

DQ-10s do have great soundstage, but lack the bass, that vandies have.

huge and bulky.

I used to own a pair of DQ-10s, i had them hooked to a onkyo dual mono block power amp rated at 250 watts per channel at 4 ohms---and i'll tell you something,-my vandersteen model 1Cs spanked them--i am very happy with my vandies---their my babies.

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vandies, infinity, magnaplanar, altec,klipch.

Wonderful spaciousness and soundstage Excellent smooth highs and mid-range Dedicated cult following and extensive knowledgebase. Upgrades and repairs still available. Requires lots of tweeking

Placement is critical Requires lots of tweeking

I listened to my first set of DQ-10s when I was still in school. I worked my way through college as a salesman at Pacific Stereo. One of the priviledges of working with PS was the ability to audition equipment at home. (Any equipment!) There were some items that were in circulation amongst the salespeople for audition that were not for sale in the Pacific Stereo showrooms. Nothing would prepare me for the experience I had while visiting a store manager's home. It was then that I heard my first set of Dahlquists. I even remember the music selection that was played to this day. How can I describe that experience and still avoid any of the subjective nonsense that is often associated when describing hi-fi? There was no denying a presense of soundstage and imaging that was truly 3-dimensional. There is nothing else that has equalled that experience for me to this day. So while browsing eBay one day, from curiosity I searched for "Dahlquist" and to my surprise I found that there were numerous examples for sale and for a wide range of prices and conditions. I finally set my targets on a set and won the auction fully expecting to nurse the 20 years old speakers back to life. I was not dissappointed. There were a few fuses to replace, some soldering joints to repair, and some drivers that were installed out of phase. Some of the refurbishments from prior owners was less than professional. But once I had those issues ironed out, I placed them in my makeshift listening space about eight feet apart and four feet from the nearest wall. Although I have an audiophile taste, I don't have an audiophile sized wallet.I connected them to my NAD 3020 (Used as a preamp) and two NAD 2155s run in monoblock configuration. These are claimed to be high current amplifiers and seem to do well with the DQ-10s. The imaging from the DQ-10s is very very close to my first experience. They were harsh and buzzy at first but soon settled down with the NAD amps. Soundtracks that I could not play on day 1 are now smooth and pleasing to the ear. A subwoofer is definitely a necessity. However, some signal sources produce some exceptionally low notes without them. The low end is not really tight like other modern air suspended boxes but not boomy either. I enjoy the soundstage created by these ancient speakers. And I paid a fraction of what I was intending to pay when I first set out on this endeavor. I can truly empathize with DMAN's assessment of these legendary speakers. They are excellent!

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GNPs Thiels Tannoys Martin Logan Magneplanar Paradigms

Imaging and depth portrayal. VERY lifelike sound and true high end performance for a great (and usually LOW) price!

As pointed out many times before, they ARE power and current hungry. If not properly driven, they will sound edgy and lack depth. Must be positioned well up from the front wall. No "real" (20 to 40hz) bass response- needs a good subwoofer! They also need very sturdy stands. The cheap wooden ones that some pairs come with are CRAP! Build new ones that are at least 16" high to get the mids to image properly! Very big!

This is a bit of a follow up review for my DQ-10s that I bought used just over two years ago. For the most part, I am done modifying/restoring them- for now. They now sport Solen caps in place of the old yellow mylar ones, Dale resistors, Kimber and Monster wiring and are now set up as Bi-ampable. I haven't replaced the inductors yet, but will probably rewind them, as they look totally messy (this should improve performance a bit too)! These babies still sing, and much better now that I've updated x-over components. I am currently running them with a Crown PL-3 (not a great amp, but lots of current and reserve power- 145 Watts/ channel), and they image so well in my room that late at night, vocals take on that close presence that actually makes you think someone is in the room with you. Depth portrayal (front to back) is staggering. While there are some new speakers out there that can run circles around the DQ-10 in this area, they are a LOT more expensive (ie: Magnepan, Martin Logan). Any sort of depth in the recording (reverb, layered instruments) make you think that the front wall of your listening room have vanished! Some audiophile friends of mine are under the impression that you don't need to give the speakers much room behind them in order to give good sound. Well, there is just as much info (sound) coming off that mid/bass cone's rear as there is on the front, making these speakers at least dipolar in the midband. I found that the farther out from the front wall, the better! Depth not only increases, but the frequency balance of the mid sounds much better. In short, these speakers give off an electrostatic or Planer like image, and behave in a similar manner (at least acoustically)! Incredible! Anyone who thinks that these speakers have real bass response needs to have their hearing checked though! The Dq-10s will only go down to the mid 40 hz with top quality modern amps driving them. There are one or two power amp exceptions (and I've heard them) that will actually push the Dq-10s down to the high 30 hz range, but they cost huge $$$! A subwoofer is a must if you require true full range response (see my review of the Dayton Audio titanic 1200, here on this site). Just last night, I was out hearing my friend's band (live off the floor at thier rehearsal hall- not through a PA system!). When I got home, the wife and I put on some tunes. Within a VERY short order, we realised just how good these speakers are with rock and jazz. The tonal balance (with a subwoofer) and image was uncanny! Also they are very near what a live band sounds like in terms of dynamic swings and presence! Over all, I will be keeping my DQ-10s for the long term! Although they aren't exactly cute (wife hates the look, but love the sound, and thats the only redeeming feature of them in my house), and can be dated sonically by much better (read: expensive) speakers, they still sound incredible for the price. If you have a chance to grab a pair in playing condition- DO IT!!!!

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As reference- Tangent RS-6, Definitive Technology BP-20s, Paradigm Phantoms. In system- Linn axis/Akito arm/Audio Technica OC-9 cartridge, Ortofon T-10 stepup transformer, Nakamichi LX-3 tape deck, D

Clarity beyond belief.

I can find none.

I bought my DQ-10's from a med student who didn't like them anymore. He was into 6 ft. column Infinity w/biamp. Anyway, I was interested in getting these things after spending many an hour in an audio store in Pittsburgh, PA trying to find a sound that captured my ear, the Dq's did the trick, Clarity beyond compare. I am not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, I just wanted a nice clean, crisp sound. I am running them off of a Scott system w/max output of 250wc and have been in love with them since 1978. Just recently my stepson decided to see what these babies would do and he fried the woofers. I was not at home when this happened, he did live to see another day. The coning has disintegrated and I am now trying to get them to Regnar for repair. My "kids" are sick and need to get well again so that my ears will hear great sound again. I will never, ever sell them. They are the best I have ever heard.

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Infinity

If you love your DQ10's, go to regnar.com and get kits to upgrade: internal wiring, capacitors. And get the woofers rebuilt as well. I've always loved these speakers for reasons I've stated in an earlier review...but with the upgrades, they come ALIVE with much better dynamic range, detail, imaging (hard to belive), and the silky midrange/treble smoothness is still there. Bass is still weak and they're still power hungry, but with the upgrades I think I'll just keep 'em for another decade or two (I bought them in 1984 orginally).

beautifull imaging soaring highs, sweet midrange close ur eyes and u are there with mozart listening to his string quartet no.9 in c major

just 1 bass u deffinetly need the dq-1 sub to go with it.. and of course these things need power i am running them right now with a rotel two channel putting out 250x2 and a 400x1 rotel for the sub and it sounds just beautifull any less then that then dont bother

ok i have only had these things in my basement for about a year and a half and everytime i listen to them my jaw DROPS soaring highs beautifull midrange incredible imaging, my dad had them for 27 years and he just got the paradigm studio 100's so i instantly took them downstairs i am only 15 and my ears have been spoiled for years and years to come i have litend to the paradigms and the only difference is the bass and the all around" smoothness" of the speaker other then that instead of trying to spend thousands of dollars on new technology try to find some dq-10's they deffinetly still rank with the best of them

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paridigm studio 100's

Everything is great !

Lack of dynamic range without the proper amp.

Fantastic speaker. The imagining is by far the best of any speaker I have listened to. Terrific high frequency definition. The music literally sounds like it is on stage in front of you rather than from a box. I agree with many previous reviews that this speaker is power hungry. However, it is not pure watts that are necessary. You must have a high quality HIGH CURRENT amplifier to make these speakers come alive. Very few amplifiers can actually do this. Start looking for an Aragon 8008 BB. Forget those digital magnetic field amplifiers,etc. Look for an amplifier that can double its power output in watts everytime you halve the impedence (ohms). For example, a 200W at 8 ohms should be able to produce 400W at 4 ohms, and 800 watts at 2 ohms. If your amplifier cannot do this then you will not see the true potential of the DQ-10 speaker.