WOW! Just got back my DQ-10's from Regnar / Dahlquist. Incredible!!! I sent them in for the five star service and that's just what I got - 5 star service and performance. They sound better than the first day I purchased them....By far. I guess the upgrade kits they installed jump started them. I also got the woofers and mid-bass speakers fully rebuilt as well. Bass response better as well. I can't say enough about the nice person named Joe who I spoke to. He knew so much about the 10's, which he educated me on. If anyone wants an amazing rebirth of the DQ-10's I highly recommend sending them to Regnar / Dahlquist. There phone number is (631) 289-6559.

I think I said everything in my strengths. Nothing comes better for the money - and 19 years later they still blow the doors off most speakers. I spent around $1,100 to get them refurbished by Regnar and worth every penny.

The best speakers I have ever heard
The Soundstage, Clarity and Midrange is awesome!

Little light on bass and harshness in treble but I can fix that.....

These are great but can be made better..... call Layne audio http://www.speakersupply.com/ in TN and speak with them about the upgrade of the tweeter to a 1 inch soft dome they offer for $35 each (a high end German unit) this is vast improvement over the 0riginal Phillips 3/4 in.dome from the original that peaked at 12,000khz or so and was a little harsh ....then take the Advent woofer off and replace whatever is in there for damping material....Dahlquist over stuffed the box with fiberglass,

(mine was tight packed fiberglass chunks) So I put in acoustic Polyfill stuffing and filled up the main compartment the top and then re-sealed the advent woofer. (with tackified weather stripping, or putty to get a tight seal). The old putty has hardened if original and has like mine cracked leaving air gaps that ruin the design... this will improve low end extension by 3db and give tighter lower bass for just about 5 bucks trust me.

They now sound better than new!

I also cleaned out the POTS ( when you take out the woofer in the inside clean the treble attenuater with radio shack tuner cleaner by spraying them, this will also help. One of the other things I did was by by-pass the tweeter fuse by re-soldering the wire directly to the tweeter this helps improve the high end dynamics and the speaker is already fused from the input anyways.....

Well I love these and hope that they keep pumping for a long time as I am sure they will!!!!! Please, just take my advice and do the little things that I have said and let me know what all of you proud DQ-10 owners think!

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none

Imagery, clarity and very pleasing to listen too

Power hungry

I was steered towards the DQ-10s by a friend on the vintage forum on this site. I bid on a pair on E Bay that hit $805. I bet the seller was happy !

Anyway, another friend told me about a set for sale that turned out being 5 miles from home. I went and took a look and they were rough. I made a deal at $240.oo.

I totally stripped, re dyed the vinyl, new woofer foam, new fabric, painted metal parts, stipped and refinished the wood,etc. They look great.

Although I loved the sound at first audition, I was somewhat disappointed when I A/B'd them against the Klipsch I owned. The DQ-10s are not very effecient and they were almost flat sounding when I switched over to them. Once I cranked the power up to match the level of the Klipsch they really won me over.

The Klipsch for lack of a better term sounded like a subwoofer with a tweeter attached compared to the DQ's. The Dahlquist had all these sounds dancing around in the middle. Sounded like I was listening to 20 speakers with individual frequencies.

I have heard complaints about lack of bass and I might agree with some types of music. But with a little tweaking you will find the base is firm and hard. Not boomy.

My biggest complaint is they take lots of power. I was using 125wpc of Marantz power and I was not happy. Not even close. First the "loudness" of these things are deceiving. They are so clean, the do not sound loud. Never the less I wanted more. So I bought a Phase Linear 400 watt amp and they said HELLO !! They like power. I have heard they will take up to 800 watts.

The Phase does a great job but I have found myself wanting more and clipped the amp which drops the 3 amp fuses in the DQ's right now. I will not say how many fuses I have popped :(


So, feed them with lots of power. Use good cable 14 guage in my opinion, and you will love them. They are the best speakers I have listened to at any price.

I am going for the crossover upgrades. I can't imagine improving on these things, but they say it will !

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Klipsch KG4's, Genesis 2+

separation,clarity,frequency range,ungodly soundstage,diversity

haven't found a consistant one yet in over 20n years

I've been amazing enthusiasts as well as audiophiles for years, but to understand these speakers and what it takes to truly get the best out of them is the trick. first a great amp,...ie: marantz 500 or 510, currently twin dh500's,a high quality pre-amp is vital, they require correct placement, probably more so than any other speakers i've owned. last but certainly not least, get the mylar cap upgrades and check the foam blocks if any low end crackling begins to occur. regnar has all the upgrade parts available and any local reputable audio upgrade or repair facility can do the upgrades and replacement services quite easily. the truly amazing aspect is how DQ-10's (20 years old) will still stand tall amongst practically anything available today. 5 stars AGAIN!!!!

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magnepan,acoustat,klipsch,ess

Accurate sound

Light on bass response

Mike: I owned DQ-10's for about 4-1/2 years. The bass was light, so I purchased a DQMX-1 passive crossover (any of you folks remember that one?) and their 13" subwoofer. I'm still using the crossover. This was one of the best pieces ever conceived. I was using a Threshold 400A @ the time. I heard that Nelson Pass, at that time, was using Dayton-Wright speakers as his reference and his amps were designed to work with the D-W's. So, I sold the DQ-10's and never looked back.
The DQ-10's are excellent speakers, but the XG-10's blow them away (especially taking advantage of the latest advances in material technology).

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The best dynamics of any speaker with the sound of electrostats

VERY large and power hungry

I bought my first pair in 1975 or 6 after just a short listen, and was convinced. I have always wanted a pair of large electrostats (KLH-9's or Accustats) The only drawback was dynamics. They were very transparent, but could not play at reasonable levels. My impression of the DQ-10s was a bipolar electrostat with attitude. I bought a second pair and stacked them on a custom frame of my own design. The top panel is mounted above and upside down. This solidified the image to the point that you could distinguish height information from a recording. I mounted amplifiers (Hafflers with beefed up power supplies) under each set and connected each panel to a single channel of the amp. Connected with welding cable to get cone control. I use an RH Labs sub with a 70 HZ crossover. This relieves the main amps from handling most of the low base energy, and really cleans up the mid-range at concert hall levels. I have had this setup for over twenty years, and still can't find any speaker that has the spine tingling clarity and dynamics of this speaker.

imaging midrange

none.......regnar put new poly caps coils rebuilt the woofers. not refoamed...REBUILT...cleaned. etcccc

well i sent the dq 10s to regnar january 4th recieved them back on jan 29.....they rebuilt the woofers completly...spiders coils cone....they cleaned them put new fabric, refinised the rails, bench tested them.....the new poly caps and coils make a world of difference....the dq 10s
now are better than ever!!!!the bass is so tight and punchy i was in shock...i cut my sub off and was impressed.

way to go regnar........worth the hassle of shipping them...and waiting.... 2 thumbs up
total bill with shipping was 755.94 for total overhaul!!!
there is not a speaker out there under 5000.00 that can touch these now !!!!

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maggies

These speakers are still THE Best for imaging and just over all OMG they are playing in living room type of sound

Somewhat of a weak bass but after the caps replaced it was no longer an issue, They show the limitations of crappy recordings

I bought both the Dq10s and 20s this past summer. I always had dreamed of owning them since the first time I had heard either one about 18 years ago ( and YES the 10s are a bit better than the 20s)Anyway my wife ( yeah some wives dig them too! Im not trading either the speakers or the wife hehehe) got the upgrade caps and crossovers from Regnar for me at Christmas. And...... after about 20 hours of break-in..... HEAVEN!!!!!!!! They speakers were ahem... NEW they had been stored in a warehouse here in Bend Oregon.They had only been used as Demos ! Since we have a dry climate there no rot on the woofers either. Please anyone who is lucky enough to have these gems .. go to regnar.com and get the new caps for the 10s and new caps and coils for the 20s.

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DQ20, Maggies,

I am glad to see some reviews of the Dahlquist DQ-10 finally appear on this page. My first experience with the DQ-10 came in the late 70's while I was a sales rep for a mid-high end audio store. Back then, most speakers suffered from diffraction which allowed you to locate the sound source and keep you aware of the fact that you were listening to equipment instead of music. The DQ-10's, when carefully placed, would tend to vanish and leave a good soundstage with decent imaging. The earlier versions of this speaker were not mirror imaged (a conversion kit was made available) and had lower quality caps in the crossover. Later models came mirrored and had some improvements in the complex crossovers necessary to blend so many drivers. I agree with the review that managed to get some decent bass out of the DQ-10's with a good amp. I have experienced that myself running a Soundstream 200Wx2 amp into the pair I got recently. I have added an active sub to the set just to fill in the bottom octave and it has helped a lot. I am running a tube preamp with the Dahlquist which really takes the edge off of the high end and tames the supertweeter. The folks at Regnar are a good resource for the Dahlquist speakers since they were the original repair crew when Dahlquist was first started. The DQ-10's are certainly not up to the state of the art due to their age and advancements in audio technology, but they are a great foundation for a comparatively small amount of money.

I have owned several pairs of DQ-10 speakers over the years, and they are fun.The image happens in front of the speakers with layers of depth.
However, dont look for images outside the plane of the speakers!
They are musical, and need an amp with BALLS.
Try a Phase Linear 700, or 400.
Dont Laugh!
My friend Bob Carver loved Dahlquist Speakers and his old amps kick ass on them!
If you can get em cheap, and can get a real amp on em, you can have Music Cheap!!!
Recommended, even today!