Help My friend wants to go with some DQ-10s

Delete the piezo tweeter, rewire and re-cap them with good quality parts and the DQ-10's are not bad speakers. Technology has moved on, but a good basic design is still a good basic design. You can probably beat them with newer products in any given category, but probably not in as balanced of a manner for the same amount of money.

By the way, $500 for this speaker in stock form is too high, especially if he does not have a warranty and / or right to return or trade back in. If the speakers truly are in fully functional shape, tell him to offer the dealer $350 and put the extra $150 into high quality crossover parts. Then hook up the finished product to some decent electronics and work on speaker placement. You might be pretty surprised. Sean
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Phasecorrect: I won't argue the points that you brought up. They are all true.

As i had already stated though, i don't think that you could find a "conventional" speaker that could compete with the DQ's at the prices mentioned. That is, if you are willing to get your hands dirty. Not everything in life is as simple or convenient as sliced bread. This is especially true if you like something a little higher quality than what one can typically buy off the shelf.

I guess that this is why there are SO many different makes and models out there i.e. something to suite everyone's individual tastes and situations. As such, i would not try to discourage your friend but i would make him fully aware of what he's getting into and try to do so in a "balanced" manner. Sean
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Phasecorrect: Please explain to me how your rebuttal here:

"Here is what one can get new or used for same amount of coin / all vastly superior in one way or another."

differs from what i stated here:

"You can probably beat them with newer products in any given category, but probably not in as balanced of a manner for the same amount of money."

As such, i'm not suggesting that the DQ's are the end all or the most perfect speakers that one can buy. I simply think that they can be made to compete with newer versions quite well for not a lot of money. If one is handy and knows how to shop, one should be able to purchase a "solid" pair of 10's and replace the caps and internal wiring for less than $500. This is not to say that this speaker won't have drawbacks after the upgrades are done ( it will, believe me ), but that it will offer pretty balanced performance for the amount of money invested in it.

Then again, if your friend wants to raise the roof, listens to a lot of rock, etc... i would agree with your assessment. These speakers are not made for doing anything like that. They were designed to perform reasonably well with a wide variety of musical selections and i think that they do that, even moreso after modification. To each their own. That is why we have different makes and models to choose from.

Having said that, have you ever thought that maybe your friend's hearing and personal tastes differ from yours ? Let the person buy what they like and work with them from there. I know that we all want newcomers to get the most out of their investment right off the bat, but sometimes, people have to learn for themselves. Along the way, they develop their own strategies and tastes and learn to live with the decisions that they've made OR they change them as they go along. This is no different than what most of us have done here, so why deny them the fun and experience of that part of the journey ??? It is better to be slightly more "passive" and a help than to be a "guide" and cause friction. Sean
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