Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Thomas J. Norton wrote about the Dahlquist DQ-12 in October 1990 (Vol.13 No.10):

Following Robert Harley's review of their DQ-12 in April (Vol.13 No.4), Dahlquist sent us another set of the loudspeakers for JA to try in his listening room. Other new equipment waiting in the review line caused a delay in his getting to the second pair. Since JA was embroiled in matters chez Avalon, and since the Stereophile listening room currently being used by DO and myself appeared to be in a rather effective stage of its acoustical transformation (footnote 1), I volunteered to give a serious listen to the DQ-12s for a followup. The fact that I had just finished evaluating another loudspeaker in the same general price range (the Signet SL280) appeared to make the move even more appropriate. To add grist to the mill, I had heard RH's original review pair in his listening room back in February, when the initial evaluation was still in progress.

Readers should refer to RH's original review for complete details on the Dahlquists and on the results of his listening tests, but since there are always new (and drop-in) readers, a brief system description is in order. Ready? Three-way design with 8" woofer (sealed, acoustic-suspension loading), 5" midrange (in a unique cylindrical, "aperiodic" loaded subenclosure which allows some rear radiation to escape for some controlled dipole radiation, which Dahlquist argues improves depth-of-field reproduction, footnote 2), and 1" soft-fabric dome tweeter. The midrange and tweeter are mounted above the woofer cabinet on their own, separate baffle, shaped to minimize diffraction and tilted back slightly to put the drivers on the same acoustic plane, ;ga la Dahlquist's longstanding "Phased Array" concept. A large, fixed grille, designed to be left in place, covers the entire front of the loudspeaker, except for the lower few inches of the woofer cabinet. Spikes are fitted, and terminals are provided for biwiring—which was used for the listening tests.

The DQ-12s were set up on the short wall of the listening room, 3–4' out from the side walls and well spaced (6–7') from the rear wall. Associated equipment used included the Aura turntable with Graham tonearm and Koetsu Rosewood Pro IV cartridge, Rowland Consonance preamp, Kinergetics KBA-75 and (briefly) Sumo Andromeda IIA amplifiers. CD playback was via the Esoteric D2 D/A processor driven by the digital outputs of the NAD 5000 CD player. Interconnects were by Cardas (Hexlink from turntable to preamp, and ca 20' of unbalanced from preamp to power amp), AudioQuest (Lapis from CD to preamp), and generic (75-ohm video coax from CD digital output to processor). Speaker cables were a 7' bi-wire set of AudioQuest LiveWire Clears.

When I read RH's review in the April issue I was not surprised, considering what I'd heard on my visit to his listening room. Although in the two hours or so spent listening to the DG-12s on that occasion I had not felt that they were tipped-up in the treble to the point of distraction, tipped-up I nonetheless found them. The low end was surprisingly strong and robust, though a considerable way from the best in definition and clarity. Certainly competent bass for a $1200/pair loudspeaker, however. The rest of the range was open, reasonably transparent, and lacking obvious colorations. And the soundstage was precise.

Naturally, when I got the DQ-12s into my listening room, the first thing I wanted to listen for was any indication of an etched and aggressive top end. In using our (briefly, sigh) in-house sample of the Koetsu Rosewood Pro IV, I hoped to give the Dahlquists their best shot. In my admittedly all too brief time with this cartridge, it had impressed me as a sweet yet detailed pickup with a slight tendency to lushness—characteristics which should surprise no one familiar with the Koetsu sound. It also measured that way: ±1.1dB from 30Hz–16kHz (except for slightly more than an additional 1dB dip around 5kHz, footnote 3), with the general trend within those tight limits being slightly up at the bottom and down at the top. The Koetsu also very definitely had that "palpable presence" about which we reviewers tend to yammer on so excitedly when we hear it.

So what did I hear? A lot "less" than I expected. Less upper-octave energy, that is. I began with a number of selections with closely miked—but superbly recorded—pop and jazz female vocals. First up was The Flips' album What's in the Bright Pink Box? (Flying Fish FF-457, footnote 4). The vocals were rather breathy, the sibilants emphatic but not spitty or sizzly. Record noise was not emphasized in any way, however, and the midrange was very open, clean, and boxless. On Jennifer Warnes's track "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" from Duets (MCA-42131), much the same impression was made. Overtones were a bit prominent, and Jennifer Warnes's voice was definitely on the cool side of neutral. But it was nowhere near being unpleasant or unlistenable; on the contrary, the sound was open and airy. The midrange clarity was again evident. The bass lines on this track were less taut than I've heard them previously, with the occasional double-bass note exhibiting some overhang; I was tempted to do some tweaking of the placement in hopes of tightening up the low end.

But I decided against it; the bass was generally acceptable, and I was disinclined to risk sacrificing a setup which was giving me a soundstage very fine in width, depth, and in an "expansive" quality which enabled it to "detach" quite effectively from the loudspeakers. I would not describe the high-frequency response as self-effacing or subtle, but it wasn't really over the top, and didn't detract from the Dahlquist's other strengths. The quality of its midrange was definitely a real plus; the vocals on Taj Mahal's Recycling the Blues & Other Related Stuff (Columbia KC-31605) were convincing and appeared to be doing justice to what the Koetsu was pulling from the grooves. The lush quality referred to earlier in reference to Koetsu pickups in general did appear to be somewhat restrained, but not to the degree that the loss would jump out at you unless you were specifically listening for it.

My whirlwind survey of favorite LPs continued, including Center Stage (Wilson Audio Specialties W-8824). Here the Dahlquists added a degree of sparkle to the sound—not at all unpleasant on this recording—but a bit too much crispness to the percussion and sheen to the brass. The famous Wilson bass drum on this recording was full but not particularly tight—owners of Wilson WHOWs would not be amused, but the low-frequency performance was still respectable for the DQ-12's price class. The Dahlquists did handle this recording at impressively high—read "realistic"—levels without loosing their composure or upsetting mine.

Up to this point I was pleasantly surprised. While I did not feel that the Dahlquists' highs were entirely neutral or self-effacing, I would certainly put them within the broad range of acceptable HF balance for a medium-priced loudspeaker. I do have to say, however, that I would caution strongly against using the DQ-12s with associated components with similar tendencies—tipped-up MC cartridges or bright-sounding electronics, in particular.

Now it was on to CDs. Here I began to note a degree of thinness through the upper bass/lower midrange. As I listened my way through the superb Astrée sampler (Astrée 7699), I felt that the reproduction was decidedly on the cool side of neutral—evident on a broad range of material, from guitar to voice to double bass. I've noted over the years that getting this balance right is one of the trickier aspects of loudspeaker design. Too little energy in this region, provided it isn't taken to an extreme, often translates into an "open" quality to the sound—though with some loss in the almost tactile "thereness" of instruments and voices. This is the sound I was getting from the Dahlquists, and I can't deny that their openness and detail were very enticing, their superior soundstage also continuing to make a vital contribution. While the treble was still prominent, it was in no way spitty or tizzy. I still suspected that their top octave had some lift, but a smooth, controlled one; not, certainly, one as obvious as in the samples I'd heard at RH's. The midbass leanness I was becoming aware of (I suspect the naturally greater warmth of LPs, plus the inherent traits of the Koetsu, had made it less evident in vinyl playback) was not a major flaw, but it did somewhat increase the analytical trend in the overall balance.

As the listening progressed, the brightened high end was becoming most evident on vocal sibilants, high percussion, and closely miked pop material having strong HF content. Whenever the HF material became especially complex, with many details occurring simultaneously, those details also exhibited a tendency to run together—a reduction in intertransient silence, if you will. But on much program material this quality was not in evidence.

At this point I went back briefly to LP listening, to revisit (and confirm or refute) some earlier observations. In particular, I should point out that on my first listen to LPs I had not used the spikes provided by Dahlquist, preferring instead to determine the suitability of the chosen loudspeaker positioning prior to firmly affixing the DQ-12s. Now, with the spikes in place (as they had been on the CD listening), I did notice on vinyl a trace of the same upper-bass/lower-midrange leanness noted with CDs. Since spikes usually have a tendency to tighten up the sound (and the overall focus), this was not an inconsistent result.

It was perhaps unfortunate for the Dahlquists that I had just reviewed the Signet SL-280, for which I had built up a great deal of enthusiasm. Compared with them, I felt that the Dahlquists had less bass extension and smoothness. The Dahlquists had the more cohesive and defined midrange, as well as a bit more neutral perspective. But the Signet had a more naturally full-bodied sound throughout the upper-bass/lower-midrange region, resulting in more liquid, balanced instrumental and vocal timbres. Soundstaging for both loudspeakers was very good by any definition, and excellent within their price classes. But at the top of the spectrum the more subtle, never etched, yet at the same time fully detailed treble of the Signet emerged, for me, as the clear winner.

Conclusions: Though our latest pair was dramatically improved over the original review samples, the treble quality of the DQ-12s remains their most controversial characteristic. They had plenty of sparkle and detail, yet still asserted themselves just a little vigorously in the high end of much (but by no means all) program material. They did, however, make a case for themselves with an open, spacious soundstage and focused, low-coloration midrange. I was able to attain a slightly smoother low end in my room than RH had in his, but the penalty here was less overall bass energy. I'd love to hear these with a sweeter, less obvious (metal-dome? footnote 5) tweeter, and a shade more upper-bass/lower-midrange output. Their current strengths do make them worthy of a middle Class C recommendation, though judging from the rather dramatic difference between our early samples and the latest versions, I have to recommend a careful audition and careful matching with associated components. Not bad recommendations, come to think of it, with any loudspeaker.—Thomas J. Norton

---

Footnote 1: See the review of the Signet SL280 in this issue for a brief description of this room.

Footnote 2: Some observers continue to claim that the original Dahlquist was a dipolar design. It was not, in the strictest sense. If one discounts the broad radiation pattern of the lowest bass (characteristic of any low-frequency driver), only the midrange driver had any rear radiation by virtue of its free-space mounting. And the rear of that midrange was covered by a thick piece of felt to damp such radiation. The midrange energy radiated from the rear of the DQ-12 appears greater, from my recollection, than that from the original DQ-10, though the mists of time make that something of an educated guess.

Footnote 3: A characteristic which is so prevalent with the fixed tones of the CBS STR-100 test disc that I use, with practically every cartridge I have measured, that I am beginning to discount it at least partially as an artifact of the record.

Footnote 4: The Flips are an acappella group in the mold of The Nylons and The Bobs. By cautioning you about the occasional X-rated lyric on this album, I'm probably guaranteeing the group's future success.

Footnote 5: Many reviewers emphasize metal domes these days as if they were the only good, conventional tweeters. That's not true, but the bulk of current development efforts seem to be aimed in the metal dome's direction.