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Dahlquist DQ-20 Fan club Rant

I just need to say - I have been using DQ-20's for the past 5 years, and recently got the "upgrade bug". So for the past month I've been running around to showrooms and auditioning the latest crop of under-$5,000 Miracle Speakers all of which have glowing reviews, of course. And I've been checking out used speakers that went originally up to $12,000. And you know what - I've given up.

With the disclaimer that everyone's ears are different - I must say that there' justs nothing out there that beats the DQ's (for my particular ears) overall sonically.

There are plenty that have lots of high end zip in the showroom, because they've got metal dome tweeters which will fatigue you real fast at home. Hence so many of the "latest and greatest" hitting Audiogon with bizarre explanations by the owner as to why he's selling 4 month old speakers.
Nobody ever says - "I made a mistake, these suck, but you'll just love 'em. Listen to how real the triangle at the back of the orchestra sounds!"
And there are some that have MORE bass, because they put a big round hole in the cabinet - called a port - that goes, Whoomp, Whoomp, Whoof. (Could somebody let the dog out, please!) To be fair, there are speakers that go lower with good accuracy - but it's nothing that can't be dealt with by adding a pair of quality little subs. And the bass the DQ's do have is tight.
And there are speakers with nicer wood veneers - you want the birdseye maple veneered MDF instead of the cherry veneered MDF - Oh, that's another $1600! Just don't tap the top of the cabinet with your fingernail, you might dent it!

There are NO speakers that I have heard that have sweeter, more coherent, more real midrange and near-highs, period. In combination with my Velodyne ULD, the DQ's can rock, they can do gorgeous vocals, and full orchestra is probably as good as you'll get below $10,000.

There are speakers I've heard that image great, but that is most certainly one of the Dahlquist's strengths, too.

The only thing I truly would wish for in the DQ's is just a bit more zip in the highs.

It's disappointing. I really wanted the fun of some "New Toys", but there is a magic to the DQ's which I assumed was available elsewhere - it's not. My Spicas had it, but they did have much greater limitations dynamically and frequency-wise. I'd have to say that the Vandersteen 3a Sigs were the closest to having that magic and coherency, but not very exciting - and the Green Mountain Continuum 3 was overall the most impressive (but just not quite right for my tastes.)

So what am I gonna do? I'll experiment with the Regnar capacitor upgrade, but I'm not necessarily going to touch the crossovers - that's probably where the magic is coming from. And I'll try a bi-amp configuration. Maybe try a more "modern" Scanspeak tweeter.

And I have this crazy idea to take two pairs, remove the grills, and stack them like quads (on a custom welded rack) with one speaker upside down, so that each set ends up in a D'Appolito configuration. I'd be willing to bet that would be an approx. $1500 set-up that would knock your socks off.

Any other ideas or suggestions out there? I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's done the Regnar (or other) upgrades. Cheers, Chip

opalchip
opalchip OP
355 posts
 
Yeah - but her Mom's in China! And 4 DQ-20's with the grills removed - not a pretty sight! This would also have to involve building new 7 foot tall grills, probably by modifying the old ones.

I've gotten pretty good imaging in a side by side arrangement with other speakers. The key there is keeping ALL distances to the listening spot identical, and also keeping the distances and angle of orientation between each "pair" the same. So that'll be the first step just to see whether the whole thing is even worth while.

Out of devious curiosity, I tried last night with one pair 8 inches directly IN FRONT of the other (for lack of space or time to do anything else at the moment). Bass coupling was thunderous but there was definitely some cancellation going on in the midrange. I didn't really expect it to sound like much - but I had to plunk the new pair down somewhere. Overall it was actually better than one would expect.
tommytom
16 posts
 
Hi Opalchip,
I agree with you on the DQ20's. I remember the 10's when in high school and then a few years ago saw the 20's at a tag sale and imediately recognized them as Dahlquist. Belive it or not I picked them up for $75. I too want to upgrade because of their age but everytime I bring my cd's into a showroom, the speakers don't have quite the air and clarity. I have listened to Vienna, Sonus Faber, Martin Logan, Revel F30, PSB, and some others in the 2-5k price range.
I have dealt with Regnar in LI as they claim to be the "original Dahlquist" service people and they did do a nice job of rebuilding the woofers. I also had to replace the Scan-Speak tweeter and was told by them not to purchase the same 5008? or an upgrade from someone like Madisound because the original is specially made to match Dahlquist specs and xover. Of course this may be a sales pitch on there part to sell the 5008 for $100 but it may be something to consider.

JT
mikesinger
572 posts
 
would suggest alon v's or circes.... can be had for $2k to $4.5 k... but they require very, very good electronics.

the openness of carls designs is hard to beat.
mel76126
3 posts
 
I recently did the full Regnar upgrade to my DQ-20s: caps, coils and wire. The difference is most noticeable in the midrange. You may not notice a bit of harshness in the midrange of -20s until you hear a Regnar mod next to a un-modified -20. At least I never did until I did the test with a CD in mono while I panned back and forth listening to Diana Krall’s voice. It is a tough call as to, "is it worth the $$." There is improvement to be sure, but it is not dramatic. But personally, I'm glad I did it.
opalchip OP
355 posts
 
By The Way, since this thread revived here. I was able to do a side by side comparison of my DQ-20i's and Alon V mk. III's for a full week in my living room - thanks to a very nice fellow Audigoner who was selling the Alons locally. I rigged up a switch so all I had to do was click it with my right foot to swap back and forth for A/B testing. To keep it brief:

The Alons had noticeably better punch in the deep bass. Which is nice BUT, hands down, the Dahlquist midrange was much, much more accurate. I used to play classical guitar, practicing up to 8 hours a day, so I know EXACTLY what a guitar should sound like under various playing modes and the DQ-20's nail it. When A/B switching the coloration of the Alons was obvious.

The tweeter performance of the Alons was marginally better, but not in a significant way.

One thing that drove me crazy (a little) with the Alons was the more open baffle. This created excess "spaciousness" and wider soundstage where it didn't actually exist by bouncing the rear wave off the back wall - unless the speakers were really out into the room. I found that putting pillows over the rear cage dramatically improved the accuracy of the speakers.

The DQ's have a slight dip in the lower midrange which I had noticed previously when testing with an EQ/Analyser, and it was definitely VERY noticeable when A/B'ing in some isolated instances, to the point where it sounded like a viola was playing at half volume, but 97% of the time it was undetectable. It might be worth fixing that bug somehow.

These differences would be difficult to notice without the direct A/B, but there was no question I prefer the Dahlquist when switching back and forth. They are simply more natural.

I may experiment with upgrading the Caps and possibly even swapping into Alon woofers if they can be fit without too much bother.
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