Hello to all you Audiogonics,
This is my first post, but the Steely Dan reference got my nostalgia juices flowing. By way of intro, I'm "old school" going back to the days of taking my tubes to Olson Electronics with my dad to use their tube testers and buy new tubes as needed. But back to Steely Dan. I was not that familiar with this band until one glorious day in 1979. I was shopping for speakers and was in the local Federated Electronics. A young salesman (Mark) approached me and asked if he could help. I appreciated his unassuming manner, and I told him what I was looking for. He then guided me to the sound dampened listening room where there was a variety of speakers, Wharfedale, Cerwin Vega, Sansui, Klipsch, Altec Lansing, Pioneer, JBL, etc. But what caught my eye was a pair of "unusual looking speakers. Salesman (Mark was his name I still have the receipt) noticed me admiring them. He asked me if I would like to hear them. Those speakers were my first exposure to the phased array Dahlquist DQ 10s. The demo vinyl that Mark selected was Steely Dan's iconic Aja album. I was transported to audio nirvana by both the recording and the transparency of those speakers. Bought the speakers on the spot with a sweet deal since these were floor models in perfect condition with full warranty. I still have them even though I "retired" them a few years ago but brought them out of retirement recently. I upgraded the electronics myself (electronics was my field when i served in the USAF) in the mirror imaged pair with a "Silver" kit from Regnar/Dahlquist in New York. New low oxygen copper point to point wiring, top of the line European caps, gold plated binding posts, new HF pots and sent the woofers to them for reconning. OMG they are still great speakers improved by a pair of DIY stands that I fabricated several years ago as Mark did not have the stands available when I purchased them. So, that's my Steely Dan story albeit a somewhat lengthy one. Thanks for reading.