John Dahlquist was a frequent guest back in the Early 70's at the New York audiophile club. He frequently explained and demonstrated his Dq10 pre and post product model for us.
having said that, the loudspeaker was theoretically supposed to be a moving coil proximity of the quad 57. While it became the rave of Harry Pearson, the speaker was indeed colored and a touch stringent; nothing like a quad by any means. The Spendor BC1 made it look sound like a toy.
John lives on Long Island at present.
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I don't know how many times I have had encounters with these. While in college in the 70s I went to a stereo store in Charlotte and heard them for the first time. I had previously lusted after Bose 901s but when I heard Stevie Wonder's Boogie On Reggae Woman on the DQ10s I was amazed at the detail I could hear with instruments and these became my new standard. In about 1980 a guy I worked with had a pair of DQ10s that he was driving with a pair of Sanyo amps, something like 200 watts each, along with a powered subwoofer, thinking how impressive it was at the time. In the mid-80s I went back to graduate school and my roommate had a pair of DQ10s that he drove with a Hafler SS amp and Dynaco tubed preamp. I haven't heard them for about 30 years and wonder how they would hold up today against better designs. |
Email,
I lived on the other side of the bridge ( Westchester county). I borrowed and bought many speakers from them,including Kef 105's B&W 802's and many other things that I just can't remember. BTW,I wasn't richer than you just older! |
Email,
I thought Harmony House was on the West Side, near Lincoln Center. These are long damaged brain cells, but I thought that there was also a Harvey’s Electronics nearby. Lyric HiFi and one or two other places were on the Upper East Side, IIRC. |
Cerrot - was harmony house also a repair and computer place on the upper east side of Manhattan? If that’s the place it was there I first heard quad 63’s us. I walked In repair my mac Se computer and said hey are those electrostats (I had read about them). I was totally shocked even thoug they were run with a quad amp and standard radio shack speaker cables. I ended up buying a used Crosby moded 63 as my first high end system.
Yogi- so I guess you grew up in Rockland as well? You were either richer or older than me since I couldn’t afford anything from ear drum.
What did you borrow or buy from th em? |
No he's still doing ARC repairs in his little 2nd story hovel. I have someone that can get past his screenings of people that are after him and is willing to ask what's happened to it. This should be good!!!! I'll let you know what happens !!!!
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Yeah yeah, Accurate Audio. Back when all those little appointment-only one-man shops sprung up everywhere, selling budget high-end lines. Brooks Berdan left GNP in Pasadena and worked out of his house for a couple of years before getting his storefront in Monrovia. That Eagle 2A is definitely worth getting back. The repair shop guy vamoosed? |
bdp24----The stores were named Accurate Audio. I still have an Eagle 2a that I bought a few years ago, my original had a problem, I took it to a repair shop in Culver City for repair where it has been for 5+ years. I gave him the name of the person back east that rebuilds and modifies Eagle amps but he chose not to listen to their advise, he knew better, and did his own thing, told me there was a problem, and I haven't seen it since. I'm back into the chase of him to get it back !!!
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I heard them in a friend of my sisters house, who worked at Harmony House in NYC. I cant remember the amp (or receiver) but I remember a Sony Tone Arm that totally blew my mind. he used a glass cake cover to go over his table, or at least, thats what it looked like. he played the most uninteresting piece of classical music I ever heard, and I was glued to and moved b y every single note. If thats not a compliment to those speakers, I don’t know what is. That experience pushed me into the high end, 40 years ago. |
emailists- Wow! Ear Drum brings back alot of memories.
I bought mucho gear there . They would always let me take gear home to try out. Those were the days ! |
I really enjoyed reading peoples recollection of the speakers. I remember hearing them for the first time as a teenager In a store called Ear Drum in Nanuet NY. It was amazing to hear what sounded like an actual guitar in front of you. there was actually a Tech Hi FI right next to it, which was more of my budget at the time.
i can remember trying to get my father to buy us Infinity 2.5’s after that, which he would have no part of. He loved music and stereo but wasn’t into high end. Maybe those early days of being deprived of quality gear (I did have Pioneer HPM-100’s) in junior high and high school has lead to my lust for great gear today.
I still to this day don’t know how I came to crave quality audio even as youngster. No one that I knew of had anything good, but we were all rapid music fans. I can remember reading Audio magazine on the bus in high school, but my brother still has the exact same system he had in high school 35 years ago. |
I drove my pair with an Ampzilla, loved the big meters. An early c-j preamp and Phillips 212 TT and Nak cassette completed the system. I bet an updated/refurbished pair with current passive components would sound very good. |
Auditioned them at New York Audio Show 1974 based on strong recommendation from the AR (Acoustic Research) docent at the listening room that AR used to maintain at NewYork's Grand Central Station. At the 1974 show the Nakamichi (tape deck) room was using the Dahlquost DQ-10s to show off the new Nakamichi cassette decks. The crowd was in awe at the stunning musicality...myself included. Had wished I could afford a pair ($700 a pair at the time). Nowadays I drop that much on accessories.
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Yes, no secret the DQ-10 copied the exterior design of the Quad 57.
Early versions of the DQ-10 were produced with the same driver array for both channels, a common practice at the time. A local dealer, Audio Directions, developed a few mods, including the mirror image array, later adopted by the factory. I never knew if Jon Dahlquist was influenced by the store's demo or not? Also it was popular to replace that Motorola tweeter. And someone developed a wood box base that could be opened to the woofer to create a larger back cavity to extend the bass.
I remember being impressed by the demo at that store, but they were just out of my reach so I settled for early Vandersteen 2s. |
Samhar---what was the name of that small chain of Hi-Fi shops in SoCal, one of which Randy operated (the one in Venice) before starting Optimal Enchantment? I was a customer at the one on Sherman Way in Woodland Hills, at the North end of the San Fernando Valley. DCM Time Windows, NAD, etc.---high value, budget high-end brands. I still have my Eagle 2A and Dahlquist DQ-LP1 x/o! The Dahlquists always seemed to me be an attempt to make a dynamic version of the original Quad, which it sure looked like. |
I first heard them at the Sound Center in the San Fernando Valley. They were playing a recording (vinyl of course) of Big Bill Broonzy. Man, that guitar was twanging the blues for real. Great speaker, indeed.
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I owned a pair back in the day, and enjoyed them very much. I drove them with a Bryston amp. one of my sources was a Nakamichi 600 cassette deck – what a beauty!
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Whart - I too spent time in NY, Angelica then Rochester and from there to Maine. Glad I left because the gun laws got out of control. Now, I spend my time between Canada and Maine for work. Off to Paris tomorrow then Calais.
Sbank - I grew up in Malvern and when I am back in town I will most certainly look you up.
Small world for sure.
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Carl Marchisotto of Nola and Alon fame worked with Jon Dahlquist on the DQ-10. DQ-10s were one of the first high end speakers I heard, driven by an Amber 70 amp. Very inspiring stuff at the time! Cheers,
Spencer
PS: Kenny if you are still in the neighborhood, you might want to PM me, as I am President of Philadelphia Area Audio Group. |
Kenny I don’t get back to Pa very often- we were invited to an outdoor party in eastern Pa some years ago- it was a sort of pot luck/bonfire. I had forgotten that the preferred garb was camouflage hunting gear with orange day-glo hats, and everybody brought something they killed. After many years in NY, I’m splitting time in Texas, and plan to relocate there, so in some ways, it takes me back to my roots. The one thing about the ’Burgh that is universally recognizable- the accent. Some people manage to lose it, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met someone and after a few words, I’ll say: "You’re from Pittsburgh, right?" They often say " How’d younz know?" It did have its good points, and I know many of my peers stayed there. Was a good place to grow up in the ’60s. The rust belt decline in the ’70s was sad. |
martykl - Too funny. Now that you mentioned it, I too remember the DCM time windows. I did not like the shape of them but the sound as I recall was pretty good compared to others.
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I remember that the local high-end store in Ann Arbor (college days), Mich. featured the Polk 10, DCM Time Window, and Dahlquist DQ-10. I wasn't familiar with any of those brands prior to that first visit. All three made an impression, but the DQ-10 was the one that lust worthy. It was also furthest from my virtually non-existent, college student gear budget. |
I owned a pair in the mid '80's - '90's, that I bought from Randy Cooley when he was in Venice 1/2 block from the boardwalk, they were mylar capped and mirror imaged. I drove them with a John Iverson Eagle 2 amp that I bought from a salesman at Dimension In Stereo in Torrance, he said he had worked at Electron Kinetics and modded them. The front end was a Luxman C-10 pre, Luxman T-10 tuner, Teac 3300 SR and a Thorens 165 table & Grado cart.
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Whart - I knew I liked you for some strange reason, could not place my finger on it. Now I know! A fellow Pennsylvanian! Born on the other side of the state, in Philly! Small world!
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First heard them at Opus One in Pittsburgh, where I grew up, when they were introduced. The owner, Tasso Spanos, was a lovely, passionate guy who really knew music and loved good quality gear. In the day, he was a big advocate of double KLH 9's and Marantz tube amps, then as the industry evolved in the early '70s, became an ARC dealer. The Dahlquists were featured as a top choice in his store, which was located on the main shopping boulevard in downtown- a choice location (but for the streetcar noise). Tasso had the first Monks cleaning machine I ever saw in action, was very early in the high-end video thing- using the Advent projection TV with some sort of delay line for faux multi-channel sound and was quite clever about putting together systems. His shop was one of my first experiences in the so-called "high-end" at the commercial level, apart from the stuff some folks were DIY'ing in their basements. |
rodman99999-I heard rumors that the very change you mention made them sing. I had new crossovers put in my Klipsch and talk about listening enjoyment!
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When I had my shoppe in Florida(early 80's), I upgraded a few DQ-10 crossovers, replaced the Motorola Piezos with JVC ribbon tweeters and mirror imaged the customers' pairs. Talk about sweet performers(for their time)! |
Our last meeting of our audio club had a pair of beautiful DQ-10s and they sounded great. I believe we drove them with an old receiver. Not sure of the power. Really brought back memories
Alan |
Yogi - Thanks for posting that! Interesting how much things have changed over the years in HiFi.
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I owned them many moons ago Great speaker! THE 12 MOST SIGNIFICANT LOUDSPEAKERS OF ALL TIME Equipment reportby TAS Staff | Sep 18th, 2010Categories: For this special loudspeaker-focus issue, I asked our most senior contributors to each name the twelve loudspeakers that had the greatest impact on high-end audio. These are the speakers that introduced a new technology, changed the market, influenced future designs, or revealed some previously unheard aspect of sound quality. Although each writer worked in isolation, the individual choices exhibited remarkable unanimity. From each writer’s picks we selected, by consensus of the senior editorial staff, “The 12 Most Significant Loudspeakers of All Time.” Our final verdict is presented in ascending order of significance (#1 being the most significant). Robert Harley 6. Dahlquist DQ‑10
One should always be wary of pronouncing “firsts,” but, appearing in the early seventies, Jon Dahlquist’s DQ‑10 was to my knowledge the first dynamic speaker to employ multiple drivers in an open-baffle configuration (except the acoustic‑suspension woofer, which was enclosed) staggered for proper time‑alignment and phase coherence, in an attempt to realize the openness and freedom from boxiness that Dahlquist prized in his beloved Quad ESL-57s—with the added advantages of deeper bass and dynamic extension well beyond the Quad. (The physical resemblance to the Quad was both mandated by the design and an intentional homage.) Far from flawless (including conceptually), the DQ-10 was nevertheless a ground-breaking design that preceded dozens of subsequent speakers (perhaps most prominent among them models from KEF, B&W, Spica, Thiel, Vandersteen, and Wilson) continuing up to the present day. Few large, full-range dynamic speakers before or for some time afterward equaled its openness. Paul Seydor |
phil- That's when I first heard them. Seems like yesterday, although in the late 70's. Funny how everything high end was a $1000 back then.
Mofi - yes, a photo would be sweet
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I still have a pair. I spent 4 months completely restoring them. Even the old vinyl wrap was removed and new wrap was installed. Bass drivers were re-foamed by Regnar. I had a custom woodworker friend of mine take the original wood sides and make exact templates and then make all new sides out of solid Purpleheart.
I even designed custom solid steel stands and had them custom welded and added Purpleheart trim pieces.
Wish we could add pictures because these came out really nice and are stunning both visually and sonically.
I had many offers to sell them, but probably never will. I personally have so much time and effort in them, them seem kinda like family. |
in high school we used to listen to a pair with Crown amp and Thorens TT
looking back it was pretty colored and weird (tiny) imaging but we were in heaven at the time |
