Who remembers the Dahlquist DQ-10's?

Saw and heard these in the late '70s. Sounded very interesting and nice. If I recall, there were five drivers in each one, and a complex crossover too.

I used to sell them in store in Milwaukee (the 70s) then became the Dahlquist rep! So I knew Jon and he was a character! I remember in the 70s there where people STACKING DQ10s- crazy. Yes, you guys are right, DCM Time Windows an the demo room, with Magna Planars and .big KEF 105s.

I still own DQM 909s (that need new drivers) in boxes from the early 80s.

Brad

I found a nice pair with the original manuals and warranty card and the then I was at Goodwill and found the DQ-1W and the DQ-MX1 for $25.00
it's soo funny but out here in California you will see a lot of vintage speaker at tag sales and swap meets for pennys on the dollar and sometimes the homes are being sold by the grand children, and they are not into this old time junk, which is what they call it, kids out here are into 
ipads and skate boards and app's. I found a pair of Bozak 301 tempo's that a young lady was selling because they did not MATCH her IKEA living room set, $10.00 for the set and she asked me " is that too much to ask for them" we have a HAM FEST that starts up at times and you can find things from engineer's that designed audio gear for major corporations like the ALTEC'S and JBL  and a lot of various amp builders then you will find Boutique audio products that are new in the box, that people find OUT DATED because they have the NEW BOSE SYSTEM installed and the wife just loves them off the floor. so I'm just waiting for the COVID to go away and will be on the hunt for some more AUDIO JUNK that the kiddies and new style (IKEA) people are given away!!!! 

The DQ-10 were one of the top two eye/ear opening experiences of my youth at the Chicago CES show.  The second one was watching a tape of Blazing Saddles on the first Advent Videobeam at ....I believe the Drake Hotel, but it could have been the Palmer House.  A good time was had by all.  It was a room with many from Advent but not Mr. Kloss.  Henry was a very private person....I was lucky enough to meet him, a very interesting man....with his Checker Taxi Cab car. 

Had them when they came out.  Fried them...more like smoked them!  Our Bozak B313’s were always the more dynamic and natural sounding speakers throughout the decades.  Their bones still lay in the old family basement, awaiting a resurrection.

Just to share, I worked in the Audio industry at one time and was at the CES when the DQ-10 was introduced.  Two of my best friends still use them.  

No hyperbole, just my experience...I have owned the Maggie 1.6, 3.6 and 20, and various higher end Martin Logan, Vandersteen and some others.  All that said, I remember the DQ-10 as one of my all time favorites.  Their ability to image was part of my audiophile "awakening". 

My first pair of  high end speakers was the Fried Beta speakers with the matching subwoofer but all that changed when I heard the original Alon l speakers. Real soundstage with articulate bass and it beat the ML Aries I had at the time. 

I have DQ-10s (early model without fuse in back) and DQ-20s. Currently running the DQ-20s with the Apt pre-amp and amp mentioned above. I have two amps as mono-blocks, so 200 Wpc. But sound OK with one amp running both speakers (100 Wpc). I also have a Kinergetics KBA-75 which is fine with both DQs also, but that is 60 pounds of class A all the time

It’s been more than 40 years but I remember it like I just walked out of the shop.  It was a small shop called Stereo Mart in Garden Grove, California.  The place was crammed with high-end stereo gear.  The salesman must have taken a liking to us (remembering through the fog, it was more likely, as the store was empty, he had nothing else to do). The man appeased us by spending a couple hours comparing all the speakers.  A switching system wired into what I believe was a phase linear, powered all the speakers.  The one exception were these unusual looking, new to my eyes, Dahlquist DQ-10’s (I was unfamiliar with Quads as of yet)powered off of the switching system by a Crown DC-300. (perhaps an unfair advantage)  One by one, Saras, JBL, Tannoy, infinity, Acoustic Designs, all fell by the wayside to the DQ’s.  It was as if any other speaker was in another room.  The clarity when listening to orchestral works, was what I heard when I listened to the orchestra from my seat as a trumpet player.  Over the next couple of years a few similar scenarios were repeated.  One was at a large audio store called The Federated Group, I swear they had everything.  At this store were the venerated Infinity Servo-Statics at $40,000.00 a set.  At $800.00 the pair the DQ’s again won the day.  Because of my then meager means, I could not get them.  To this day I look out for a lucky find.  Sorry to be so long but I never really got to express the excitement I felt when I had this experience.

@statman 
+1
I agree with 'first bitten'- a very good descriptor.
B

These stories have brought back wonderful memories of when I was "first bitten" with obtaining better sound reproduction at home. I owned Magneplanar MGIIB speakers and my friend had the DQ10’s. Some of the best care free times I have had!

@mr_g 
I, too, was at the Hotel Pennsylvania. And, I too, remember the Dahlquists. ( and, the Shahinian Obelisk's).
They were outstanding.
B

A piece of old trivia.  I'm Phil Schwartz's daughter who was the US importer of Fidelity Research phono cartridges.

Jon, Saul and John Bedini used to exhibit with us at the Jockey Club in Las Vegas in the 70s.  John Bedini used to do hi-end amplifiers.  

One time we were getting feedback/noise, and Saul just grabbed a piece of aluminum foil and placed it on the wires to kill the noise.  Such a low tech fix.

The other part of it was that Jon used to say that his speakers couldn't be blown.  John cranked up Funky Town by Lipps Inc. and cranked it up.  Pop.  We all giggled and popped it back into place.  

DQ10s.  The first speakers I ever heard that disappeared while playing and the standard I have set for audio speakers ever since.  That was in the mid 70s at Myer Emco in the DC area. I have lusted after them but have never been able to afford the level of amplification they deserve. 

mr_g,                                                                         If you lived nearby me in Florida I would lend you some of my vintage amps to try out with your DQ-10's. I have several that might work well: Acoustat TNT, Perreaux 1250B, SpectroAcoustics 500, Bedini 150/150, Sumo Andromeda, BEL 1001, GAS Son of Ampzilla. All of these have sufficient power to drive DQ-10's. It's just a matter of what sonic flavor you'd prefer! I myself recommend matching vintage components with similar vintage gear. Present day new gear is not attractive to me! 

When it comes to power hungry speakers, what is needed is an amp with high current capability for those ohm swings.   That Parasound has some good current, at 45 amps peak per channel.  It's at the low end of Parasound's line up, however.  Their A21 does 60 amps per channel, which is pretty good.  I owned this amp, and it really has great detail and control and  always sounds effortless.  It's worth a listen, anyway.

Something Emotiva doesn't do is publish the current output of their amps, they really should get with it.  Slew rate, current and output at 2 ohms are all important specs that Emotiva ignores for the XPA-1.  Oh wait, they state that the XPA-1 has a minimum 4 ohm load requirement.  For a mono block, that's embarrassing.  I'd stay away.  It also only goes down to 10 Hz, all of Parasound's Halo amps go down to 5 Hz within rated frequency response.  

I presently own a pair of DQ-10's - mirror imaged, redone woofers, upgraded crossovers, custom stands and new grill cloth. Sound quality comparable to today's multi-kilobuck speakers! I first heard them in 1976 at Audiocom in Old Greenwich, CT. Amplifier in use was a GAS Ampzilla. Preamp was an Apt Holman and signal source was a Denon TT and Denon 103 mc cartridge with a custom-made head amp copy of a Levinson JC-1AC. To this day it remains in my memory as one of the best sounding systems!

I had DQ10's in the seventies, I cannot remember where I bought them or what electronics I drove them with. They were wonderful, and I do remember I had them modified at New York audio labs in Croton. Harvey Rosenberg had a pair set up there with tube electronics, they were sublime! I gave them to my cousin when I bought Acoustat 2+2's. He still has them.

@martykl  Was Absolute Sound the store in Ann Arbor with the DQ10s?  They had up to four locations but slowly began closing them before ultimately going out of business. Used to deal with Jerry at the Royal Oak location for years. 

@emailists it's possible we bumped into each other from time to time.  I knew the fellas at Eardrum fairly well back in the day, and we often kidded the owner (Artie) that his radio ads sounded like they were done by Tom Carvel.

I still own a pair of DQ10's with walnut sides that were refoamed, recapped and mirrored by Regnar.  I've retired them now in favor of my recently acquired Martin Logan reQuests, but they still do their magic.

If anyone is in the Northeastern PA area (zip 18337) I might be persuaded to drag 'em out, if you bring the beer.

I certainly do.  I had bought Magnaplanar MGIIB's and was so smitten with them. I went over a friend's house (Donald) who had Dahlquists DQ10's and it was the first time I heard them in someone's house instead of the showroom floor. I always loved the somewhat similar physical resemblance to the original Quad electrostatic speaker. Neither speaker had dynamic slam but imaged well and had great soundstaging when set up properly.

213cobra Phil,

Hi.  I used to live in Pittsburgh and visited Opus One frequently.  At that point, I just couldn't afford what I wanted and then they ended up going out of business.  From what I remember, Tasso powered DQ-10s with a Kenwood L-07M and a Kenwood L-07CII.  However, I can't remember what subwoofer he used.  Was it an Acousat?

Thanks,
Ed

After KLH and Bozak 301 I moved up to a used pair of DQ-10s circa 1977, mirror imaged, factory tweaked x-over and a M&K sub. Technics DD turntable, Grace 707, Shure V15 yada yada. The acoustics in the living room were good too.
Every scratch, every speck of dust, or static drove me nuts. That piezo electric tweeter made me give up on HI-Fi for a number of years. I sold the whole thing and found temporary happiness with pedestrian Infinity RSBs, Thorens and Stanton 681.

Dalhquist factory was about 10 minute walk from my home.I drove them crazy with my visits and questions .Although I loved the speakers I couldn't afford a quality amp needed to drive them.
If I recall correctly I purchased AR 9"s instead  (big mistake)

dd44, I replaced my Apt Holman with a Counterpoint 5.1.
That was my venture into the land of tubes.

Springreen,I remember Jerry(very nice guy) and listening to the original Linn table at Hi Fi Haven.
 

I have a pair of DQ 10s recently upgraded by Regnar. I was using an APT Holman amp and pre-amp to drive them but those trusty machines are failing. Without going to great expense, what would be an apt, and readily available, replacement for the APTs? I live in Manhattan. Many thanks in advance for guidance, esp to 'mofimadness" if this post connects. 

martykl

Was Tumultes the place with a model train that ran around the room on tracks near the ceiling?

I think you're correct!

I had a pair of DQ10s from '84 until about 4 years ago. Once I heard the DQ10s at a friend's house in '82 or so, I fell madly in love and just had to have them. And that love affair lasted for almost 30 years through many electronics and other system upgrades.

Regnar refurbished them sometime along the way and I did a few simple tweaks (like replacing the fiberglass inside the speaker cabinet with modern acoustic fiber, which helped the bass as it turns out).

What I loved about the DQ10s is that they just disappeared and nailed the human voice, whether signing or spoken. Listening to a radio talk show from outside the room...I'd swear those folks were sitting in the room just having a conversation.

What I didn't like was the tizzy tweeter, how fussy they were about placement, lack of dynamics, cabinet size/width, and lack of low bass. A great, high-powered, high-current amp helped the sound quality a lot, but still...

I still think fondly of the DQ10s...we had many good years together. I gave them to a friend who's into acoustic music when I got my new speakers. While the new ones are awesome (Wilson Sophia 3s), there is still one thing that the DQ10s did better: that spooky, real voice in the room.

Was Tumultes the place with a model train that ran around the room on tracks near the ceiling?

stringreen

Does anyone remember HIFi Haven in New Brunswick, NJ

Yup, that was a great store. Afterwords, lunch (or dinner) with drinks at Tumultes which is still there, though not in its original location.

Does anyone remember HIFi Haven in New Brunswick, NJ...   It was a mecca for all of us budding NJ audiophiles....a wonderful place.  Jerry was the manager.....I would love to talk to that guy....lots of good time there.

I heard them in the early 70's at a friends house  of my brother's. It was the first high end system I heard and it was great. Nelson Pass amp and Preamp with a Lynn Turntable. He played Paul Simon's Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard. I could not believe how open and discovered imaging for the first time.

20s were cool in their day but can't keep up with modern tech.
I had 2 pairs mounted in frames above each other with big soundcraftmen amps in the 80's.   Plus needed subs...   At the time kinda cool, would love to have a pair now for nostalgia, but would not expect high end sound.

"Later the store picked up B&G electronics"

Sorry, I meant BGW Electronics, who provided the amplifiers for Sensurround to provide audio effects for the movie "Earthquake."

I sure remember them. I worked at Stereo Mart on Anaheim Blvd 1975-6. The store was a satellite of Audio Associates of Pasadena, started in the ’40s and claimed to be the oldest high fidelity store in Southern California. We had most of the big players of the time (e.g., Marantz, Revox, JBL, Ohm, Tandberg, Sequerra, Infinity, Altec-Lansing, ESS, B&O, Accuphase, Kenwood, Dual, Technics DD TTs, Philips, Nakamichi, etc.) and that included Dahlquist. We were always on the mfrs’ demo stopping points, and that included Saul Marantz stopping by for a half-day event demonstrating his (and Jon Dahlquist’s) new Dahlquist 10 speakers.

I had been an audio enthusiast for five years by then but the combination of the Marantz 1600 preamp (from their USA-made Pro line) and Dahlquist’s phased array speakers introduced me to the sound of 3D imaging, where you could hear not just a left-to-right sweep, but also front-to-back. We loved the Dahlquists; they sounded so much more real and threw that 3D soundstage that pulled you right into the music.

Rather than keeping the DQ-10s on the floor with their little feet, we were placing them on the Bose pedestals to increase the clarity and imaging. Around that same time Dahlquist came out with much better and cosmetically matching stands, which we switched to.

I was able to talk at some length with Mr. Marantz, who was a great guy to hang with. He mentioned that they were working on another base or stand for the DQ-10s which would house subwoofers, turning them into 6-way speakers. Dahlquist did come out with the DQ-1, a sub for the DQ-10s, but it was box-shaped and not an integrated base for the DQ-10. I never heard the DQ-10s with it because I moved onto another store before they came out.

I asked Mr. Marantz if he had any musical background that inspired him to do high end audio. He said he played classical guitar and mentioned that several of the other high-fi pioneers were musicians as well, mentioning that Avery Fisher was a violinist and Joe Grado an opera tenor.

We usually used a Beogram linear tracking turntable in our "high end" room, but when we got ahold of a Fidelity Research LOMC, we mounted it on a new Marantz 6300 DD turntable with Supex steup-up transformer. This was our source for playing the music for the demo and Saul was quite impressed with the sound of the rig. We used either Accuphase separates or the Marantz Pro 1600 preamp and one of their power amps to drive the DQ-10s.

Later the store picked up B&G electronics and the evening crew found that when you put a pair of their amps in mono mode making 500 wpc, "the Dahlquists really opened up!"

I have a guitar-playing buddy whose home system sources from a turntable playing a pair of DQ-20s powered by a Phase Linear 700. It's a good-sounding rig and doesn't sound particularly dated. My impression is that the DQ-20 is smoother and more refined than the DQ-10, as would be expected.

Whart,

I did meet Marc at Opus One, but we spent very little time f2f since I was in Indiana and only seldom in Pittsburgh. I had more time with Doug Smith, in part because he drove his Lotus Elan (not so old then) up to Indiana from time to time, usually bringing a some Glenlivet with him to share with me, Denny, Rich and Jon (Barletta) in the Indiana store. It's likely Marc wouldn't remember me at all, except possibly for hearing I sold a hell of a lot of gear!

All in all, I was amazed to find out Tasso is still kicking, given his intensity, blood pressure, excitability and elevated heartbeat! The pain management therapy realm he's been involved in is the kind of logical extension you'd expect for his post-hifi days. Tasso was never happier than when he was simultaneously sharing, helping, proselytizing and convincing someone of a PoV he held dear.

Tasso taught his mind to interpret sound and mine convincing fidelity from any scrap of aural evidence available to him, and then judge the relative merits of the soundchain that produced it. At a time when people were thinking about individual components, Tasso sold synergies and systems, everything being imperfect to start with. It led to Opus One having the most unusually pure selection of convincing sound for the era, of any store I'd experienced in that era. I learned acute discernment in audio quickly working for him and with people around him who he had trained to listen. Opus One employees developed a fast, reliable "ear."

Phil

I first heard them in the mid-70s in Des Moines, IA. I owned Infinity 2000A hybrid electrostats at the time and the shop invited me to bring them over after they closed so we could compare. I thought both speakers acquitted themselves well that evening, but I was very impressed with the Dahlquists. Shortly thereafter my roommate bought a pair of 2000As and we ran them stacked driven by a Marantz solid state amplifier, which had a lot of power, but which I finally realized sounded horrendous on top. A move to the SF Bay Area in the early 80s found me speakerless and after messing with a Polk Audio sub-sat system for a while, I found a used pair of DQ-10s which I plopped down onto black-painted cinder blocks as they had no stands. I enjoyed them for a number of years and I later sold them to a friend. They ended up in our startup company office around 1996 and at some point they disappeared in favor of an in-ceiling setup. Clearly, I have never forgotten them and I would love to hear an updated pair...

Phil- great post. Thank you for that, and for the memories they evoke. You knew Marc F, no doubt? I spoke to Tasso a couple years ago- he wasn't well. A great contributor to one of the great eras of the industry. 
bill hart

I remember the DQ-10's fondly.   I believe what made their sound so much better was that they were time aligned. 

@213cobra Great post, thanks! Cheers,
Spencer

In 1974-'76 I worked part-time for Tasso Spanos at Opus One (Pittsburgh), mostly in his Indiana, PA store while an undergraduate student at IUP. Occasionally I'd slide down to Pittsburgh for a day or two of duty downtown. For everyone younger, in those days, hi-fi stores were vastly more common and distributed than today, and university towns had many competitors. We Boomers bought hi-fi in vast numbers then, usually before we bought our first used cars, and with a campus of 12,000 of us at the time, Opus One pushed a lot of audio into rural western Pennsylvania from Tasso's Indiana,PA outpost.

Opus One was one of the early retail laboratories for what came to be known as "high end audio" in the mid 1970s. We promoted the Double Advent system before Harry wrote about it. As someone else noted here, Tasso was an advocate of the double KLH 9 system earlier, and we always had a pair from trade-in against something newer, like Magneplanar Tympani III-a, or sometimes even a pair of Dahlquist DQ10. Or, of course, double Dahlquist DQ10s in the spirit of the Levinson Double Quads system. And yes, Opus One had the Advent Videobeam and the Betamax VCR.

We were very early sellers of Linn. We sold the Transcriptors Saturn and Glass Skeleton turntables, with the Vestigal tonearm. Early Nakamichi along with Tandberg, ReVox, Stellavox, Nagra tape machines. Early too with Audio Research, Mark Levinson, db Systems. Tasso had a long-time association with Marantz, which by the mid-70s was more powerhouse mid-fi brand than high-end, except for the fact that we did see and sell a mammoth Marantz 500 and later 510 power amp now and then. Pristine Marantz Seven ("c") preamps came through, often traded-in for an ARC SP3a-1. We were among the retail pioneers for Koetsu and Win Labs in the US, along with Supex, Decca, Micro-Acoustics, and we moved a river of Shure V15-III, ADC-XLM and Denon 103D cartridges. It was an exciting time to be in the business and specifically in Tasso's business since his relationships with primary vendors and the individuals who founded namesake firms ran throughout the industry. Saul Marantz was involved with Jon Dahlquist, so Tasso got DQ10s early. He was also one of the earliest recipients of the Sequerra tuner for retail.

In our campus store, a large craftsman-style house, for a couple of years our default centerpiece system was a pair of Dahlquist DQ10s driven by either a pair of Julius Futterman (real Julius, not the 1980s Harvey Rosenberg iteration) OTL monoblocks or an Audio Research Dual 76A. The preamp was usually either an ARC SP3a-1, Levinson JC-2 or a mint Marantz Seven. Sources were variously Linn Sondek with Transcriptor Vestigal arm and Denon 103D phono cartridge into a Levinson pre-preamp or a Monks step-up transformer, Thorens TD-126c with Shure V15-III direct into the preamp, or a Thorens TD-124 idler drive with Ortofon RMG arm carrying an SPU. We also had at all times a Nak 700 or 1000, and a Tandberg 10XD or ReVox B77 reel installed. For blasting the walls down, we sometimes drafted a Marantz 500 or SAE 2500 brute amp for untroublesome muscle.

The Dahlquist DQ10 was compact for a floorstander of the time, and versatile in the budgets, expectations and listening preferences it would satisfy. For a small extra charge we exactingly mirror-imaged the open-baffle array. A standard mod was to pull a Gold Toe black dress sock over the piezo supertweeter, which calmed its tizz and mitigated its tendency to beam. The Dahquist DQ10 -- at the time $695/pr. -- anchored ambitious student systems with Marantz 2270 or Tandberg 2075 receivers and Kenwood turntables with Shure V15-III cartridges, as well as audiophile or relatively deep-pockets serious music systems employing Audio Research SP3a-1/Dual 76A ($2000 at the time), Linn Sondek/SME 3009/Koetsu/Levinson step-up, and a Nak 700 or Tandberg 10XD lashed on as well. For its time, and given its 5-way crossover, the Dahlquist had tremendous appeal and ability to satisfy for its at-the-time revelatory articulation, soundstaging and - unlike Quad ESL - credible powerhandling for dynamics. At Opus One, your system choices were more often than not organized around an Advent speaker, the Dahlquist, or a Magneplanar, as resources and space allowed.

It was a time when over a roughly six year period, there was a sea change in tonal and transient fidelity over the most revered gear available a just half to full decade earlier. Those years set the stage for what became "high-end," and were in their way the years of greatest rate of change since the foundation years of hi-fi. On balance, the improvements introduced to hi-fi buyers between roughly 1972 - 1978 made improvements in any other six year period since seem just annually incremental. There have just been many, many relentless increments since then. The CD was a quake of sorts. There were landmark products earlier and later. But like rock between roughly 1964 - '69 when big steps forward seemed to come every week, hi-fi in the middle '70s was tearing away obfuscations of convincing musicality at a torrid pace. The DQ10 was one of the slashers. Ironically, it was about the same time I also heard the Rogers LS3/5a at Opus One, plus an open baffle full-range-driver array by a customer who worked at the Rola-Jensen factory in nearby Punxsutawney, using eight Jensen paper cone car drivers per stereo channel, the Gale 401A, various Altec and Lansing vintage speakers from Tasso's long trade-in history, and many other discoveries that hinted at the splintered paths to come.

Opus One's Indiana store was opened by Jim Wallace, who had been a young customer of Tasso's in Pittsburgh before moving to Indiana, PA, and its operation was continued by Jon Barletta until that store was closed due to loss of lease. Tasso lost Opus One in Pittsburgh in the great grind-down of independent retailers in the '80s, when hi-fi also lost its mass appeal.

My brother still has a pair of Dahlquist DQ10s that I sold to a customer/friend in 1976, and have been in continuous use since, along the way refurbed by Regnar.

Phil

Harmony House was on York Avenue, around 62nd street, and yes they did repairs too.  I was a grad student in that area 1974-1979, and happened to wander in there, was hooked.  They had great stuff, and would have designers/manufacturers in.  Joe Grado was there once showing his new Signature cartridge, I think it was $200, and shocking at that high price.  Someone asked him about its being fragile so he took the head shell off the arm and threw it across the room to dispel that rumor.  They have Harold Beveridge in to show his speakers, so very many.  I bought my first high end stuff there, they had Rapport, many many high end items, a truly wonderful store.  

for the last 20 years you could pick up a pair for  between $150 and  $350.  now all of a sudden i see on the bay everybody wants $1,000 for a pair.  what the hell happened???????.  they are a nice pair of speakers and by this point should be rebuilt but $1,000.  really now

It was 'Harmony House II' and they were on the upper west side, definitely on York Ave., can't remember how far up, but pretty sure in the 60's. It was pure high end audio.  It was the first time I saw listening rooms in a hifi store.  It was 1975.  NY in its hi-f hay day.  You walked the streets of Canal street with Scott tuners being displayed on the sidewalk...

I have had my DQ10s since the middle 80’s and have been working on them every since. The crossovers were completely redone: boards and all as well as the wiring. Eventually I even did some by-pass caps with some well-known name brands used for their individual characteristics. I also did some customized wool felt baffle damping. In recent times I added a Fountek NeoX 1.0 Ribbon Tweeter with its own crossover board. Finally I bought a DBX DriveTrack PA2 to adjust the drivers to work with room acoustics and to fine tune any frequency to my hearing preferences. The detail and the imaging, not to mention the timbre of music is to me quite extraordinary, but like all audiophiles, I do like to experiment “carefully” and do so over time with a lot of research before doing so.

I am at a crossroads in my decision making with regard to the drivers. Technology has come a long way, and there are a lot of very good drivers out there with which to experiment. The original boards and drivers can be kept to fall back upon; however, working on the premise that the original design layout has a lot to do with the width and depth of the imaging, I still feel there is a lot for the design to offer and compete with the newer models . . . after all the crossover is the heart of any speaker.

The DBX has allowed the double subs (DQ1-Ws) to be totally controlled as a active system, and the subs blend completely into the main speakers quite well. The DQ10s have always been criticized for lacking bass; however, in this treatment, it has been remarked how good the bass on these really are. I got a demo disk from Legacy, which has a double bass going down into the basement . . . and the fullness, extension, and detail without distortion cannot be denied. Of course, I had the 13" Seas woofers (no longer made) re-coned and rebuilt. The DQ10s bass unit I did myself.

The neat thing about the DBX is its ability to wirelessly allow the operator to not only view real time frequency responses . . . but to have so many tools to fine tune the sound. The subtle nuances and the finer details like the tell-tail sound that audibly cue one's ears to the sound of real brass cymbals, not to mention the harmonics and decay of the piano strings, really catch one’s ears when one hears these finer details being reproduced from recordings that were not seemingly there before.

The final question is: just how much more can one invest to improve these classics, and how much of a competitive edge do these “ole boys” still have with these young whipper snappers? Perhaps my quest for these classics to shine even more, will provide the answer to that question as this “ole boy” still enjoys his DQ10s!