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Thread: Looky what I just got - DQ-10/DQ-MX1/DQ-1W

  1. #1
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Looky what I just got - DQ-10/DQ-MX1/DQ-1W

    "This QUAD ESL 57 looking speaker was designed by Jon Dahlquist and Saul Marantz nearly 40 years ago - twenty years after the ESL 57. As the "best speaker of all times" ESL 57 is a good role model for any speaker, but apart from the shape the DQ-10 has quite little to do with the QUAD. The DQ-10 houses 5 dynamic drivers, four in a semi open back configuration (felt backed), and the 250mm woofer in a sealed fibreglass damped cabinet (50 L) The four mid-to-high units are spread over a large frontal area, and on varying depths relative to an imagined front baffle. The reason is "time alignment", ie. an attempt to minimize phase errors by placing the drivers such that they'd had the exactly same acoustic source. The front baffle of the DQ-10 is not tilted, but instead the smaller units on small baffle boards (minimizing diffraction) are set behind the deeper ones."

    So the Dahlquist speakers are some kind of legendary something or other ... grin.

    To set the stage, I got a pair of magnepan MG-IIB speakers last summer - 6 foot tall, 2 foot wide but just 2 inches deep - they are huge things, but their sound has an amazing presence - when I play Sinatra's "One for the Road", for instance, you can its just an amazing sound field!
    The Maggies are old - maybe early 80s, and even when they were new, they didn't have much of a ton end and really need a sub - I put my Volkswoofer on them turned down, and that helped.
    They are very INefficient - maybe 84 or 86db at most, and 4 ohms ... the Carver receiver seems to run them well, but I suspect they'd do better on the Adcom GFA-555.

    Well, since listening to them on and off, then I've been interested in the "out of the box sound."

    Yesterday I saw an ad in the DC Craigslist for a pair of Maggie SMGs and though - "Hey, they might be kinda neat to do a quad/surround system with the other pair." Then I found out the seller had a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10s. Opimax brought a pair of them to on of the listening parties at John Evans house - but I spose I never did any real critical listening to them ...

    But hey, they are smaller that the big maggies! The price was very reasonable, PLUS - the sale included the factory stands, factory passive crossover and the factory subwoofer.
    He said he'd had the woofers refoamed a few years back, but needed room and had to sell them

    I ran out to Annapolis Thursday after work and gave them a listen - guy had them set up in the corner of a room under construction, had a big wooden chest in the middle, and was running them with some old BPC Onkyo receiver. And no components - he demoed them with the CableTV rock music channel!

    But they sounded pretty neat, and after a bit of haggling, we loaded them in my CRV and I headed home.

    I have a very crowded upstairs room right now . but I slid the L200-plus speakers out of the way and set these up kind of in the middle of the room.

    Played the usual tracks, Mark Knopfler - Border Riever, Jennifer Warnes - Way Down Deep,
    van Morrison - The Warm Feeling, part of Furtwanger's Beethoven's 9th, Bits of Aja and Cousin Dupree ...
    even without the sub they seem to have nice snappy bass and a great mid.

    I will need to recap them and do some cleanup - they are FILTHY from the construction at his place, maybe new grill cloth, but hey sound quite nice.
    For whatever its worth, speakers are DQ-10 s/n 03621 and 03622, Sub is DQ-1W s/n 4518, no serial # on passive sub

    I wiped the sub cabinet down with orange oil - it was completely dried out - but its looking nice now.
    Has a sealed box 12 inch woofer - he demoed it, but I don't have room for it right now - and very little need!
    Passive crossover is a beefy box with loop-throughs, phase switch, a volume control, and is selectable for 60Hz or 80Hz pass.

    Got some Bill Evans playing on them downstairs now and its just fills the room with lovely sound!

    I know HERESY!! But - they are American speakers ...

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    Name:  DQ-MX1+DQ-1W_4836.jpg
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    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  2. #2
    Senior Member Odd's Avatar
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    Looky what I just got-

    Lucky are you Americans who have access to so much cool stuff. Many bay sellers are not willing to ship to Europe even if we pay the shipping cost.

  3. #3
    RIP 2021 SEAWOLF97's Avatar
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    AFAIR ...those have Advent 10 inchers ...if you see inverted surrounds and masonite spacers...thats them ....sound pretty good for what they are

    your place is going to look like an obstacle course pretty soon

    >>I know HERESY!! But - they are American speakers ...

    Hersey ? I'm down to 2 JBL pairs , a CL-505 , Ohm Walsh F's , AR90's ... but all are USA made
    (and big a/d/s 's in reserve)
    Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

  4. #4
    Senior Member jerry_rig's Avatar
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    Wiring

    Congrats Heather! One of the tweaks on my DQ-10s back in the day involved upgrading the wiring to heavier gauge OFC cable. I found that helped open them up a bit. New caps will certainly help as well. Enjoy!

    Jerry

  5. #5
    Administrator Robh3606's Avatar
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    Here's the schematic if you ever need it. I remember the first time I heard a pair of them. Sounded good to me at the time. Have fun with them.

    Rob
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    "I could be arguing in my spare time"

  6. #6
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Perspective

    Size comparison next to my L200s with external horn.

    Nobody ever said DQ-10s were pretty under the grills!

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    I do need to rebuild the tweeter panel -
    plus I want to mirror image them like the later ones were.
    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  7. #7
    RIP 2021 SEAWOLF97's Avatar
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    Ah, yes ....the old "10 inch cone in a 12 inch basket with inverted surround" trick

    anybody ever figure out why they did that ??
    Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

  8. #8
    Senior Member 1audiohack's Avatar
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    These were actually produced for sale to the public? Like that?!?

    Honestly no offense meant, it's just my state of shock has electrocuted my once diplomatic character.
    If we knew what the hell we were doing, we wouldn't call it research would we.

  9. #9
    Senior Member grumpy's Avatar
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    Yes. Under the pretty hood/bonnet, these were definitely
    function over form.

    They did have a nice sound and a soundstage that
    probably drove the unconventional layout. Fun find!

    ... and one of a handful of systems that incorporated
    a piezo tweeter fairly well.

  10. #10
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 1audiohack View Post
    These were actually produced for sale to the public? Like that?!?

    Honestly no offense meant, it's just my state of shock has electrocuted my once diplomatic character.
    No, THIS is how they were presented to the public -
    very reminiscent of the British QUAD 57s (from 1957 on ...)
    but yes, underneath the grill they was so very UGLY!!

    Honestly, the amazing sound is what sold them ...
    something like $500 each panel, plus $100 each pedestal, - $1200 system!
    ... subwoofer and Xover sold separately


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    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  11. #11
    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Congratulations on a cool find... I remember liking them back in the day, but I haven't heard them in decades and ca As for the build quality, virtually all speakers of the day were built in a pretty kluged together look.

    I used the Dahlquist subs for a few years... they are a 13" SEAS unit that is rather slow and a bit boomy, but it was pretty good for the day. The Dahlquist LP-1 active crossover will help a bit, but using a different sub with the LP-1 is probably the best fix.


    Widget

  12. #12
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    I did get some extra wires made up and tied the subwoofer in over the weekend

    Still need to move the excess speakers out of the room - I'll sell the maggies,
    and hopefully move the L200s down to the TV room ...


    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  13. #13
    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Recapped them, mirror imaged the main speakers, cleaned and oiled the sub -
    all sounds quite good - (everybody liked them at the last listening party) ...
    but we're just running out of room upstairs!

    I've got them listed in the local CL for now - will see what that brings ...
    probably too close to the Holidays for such things.

    But I've also brought the M&K Volkswoofer sub up from the basement and have
    plans to hook it up to the Mags again, take some pix of that system, and
    post them in CL for sale. The mags look great and the Volkswoofer is a gorgeous box ...

    I tried the Mag/M&K sub combo before and it works quite well - and, to be honest,
    I'd rather sell the Mags than the Dahlquists ... but something needs to go!
    2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
    7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460

  14. #14
    RIP 2021 SEAWOLF97's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    The Dahlquist LP-1 active crossover will help a bit, but using a different sub with the LP-1 is probably the best fix.
    Widget
    and I picked up a MX-1 last week ..when things get slow, will play around wif it.
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    Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

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    DQ-10s

    I bought these same DQ-10s from a fellow in Springfield, VA. Replaced the tweeters, rewired and recapped them with Sonic. Driving them with CJ 100 watt tube amp. They now reside in Garrett county, MD. Looking for DQ-1ws.
    Scott Miller

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