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The Dalhquist DQ-10 loudspeaker has not as yet been formally submitted for review. (The designer tells us he is still working on the low end.) We auditioned a pair at the one local dealer we could find who had the DQ-10s on demo, and were immensely impressed. Obviously, Jon Dahlquist is on to something that other speaker designers have been overlooking, for, despite the multiplicity of driver speakers in the system, the DQ-10 sounds like one big speaker. There is no awareness of crossovers or separate drivers (except at the low end, about which more subsequently), and the overall sound has a…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Five-way, floor-standing loudspeaker with four dynamic drive-units and a piezo-electric supertweeter.
Price: $395/pair (1974); no longer available (2008).
Manufacturer: Dahlquist, Inc., Freeport, NY 11520 (1974); Dahlquist Corporation, 30 Riviera Drive, Unit 1, Markham ON, Canada L3R 5M1. Tel: (905) 470-2649. Fax (905) 470-2237. Web: www.dahlquistcorporation.com (2008).
These speakers inadvertently managed to put me in a good mood even before I listened to them, because of a dumb little gaffe committed by Thiel's packing department. Each speaker came with an Owner's Information sheet, which is nice. Each sheet included Unpacking (and Repacking) Instructions, which is nicer. But each sheet came packed inside the carton, underneath the speaker, where it was not accessible until after the speaker was dumped out of the box, which is pretty silly!
The Thiel Model 04 is unusual in appearance, as are most systems where time alignment has been attempted. The…
Sidebar 1: Larry Archibald on Loudspeaker Time Alignment:
We at Stereophile are not given to open dissension, but I must profoundly disagree with J. GOrdon Holt's dismissal of time alignment as a significant factor in loudspeaker design. Granted, the earliest attempts at time alignment were not far from marketing gimmicks, although some of the speakers on which it was tried have remained favorites of the public (the Dahlquist DQ-10 comes to mind) and not merely because of successful marketing.
One of the problems with early designs was that the effect of crossover time delays and…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Two-way, floorstanding, reflex-loaded loudspeaker with 6" cone woofer and 1.5" dome tweeter. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.
Price: $640/pair, $670/pair on West Coast (1983); no longer available (2008).
Manufacturer: Thiel Audio Products, 1026 Nandino Boulevard, Lexington, KY 40511. Tel: (859) 254-9427. Fax: (859) 254-0075. Web: www.thielaudio.com.
During the late 1970s and early '80s, I worked my way through college by selling hi-fi, or more precisely, mid-fi. During those years, I heard and sold several hundred different loudspeakers costing under $1000/pair. Despite the fact that I experienced them under less than ideal conditions, I was nevertheless able to get a feel for their relative performance. When switching between speakers, the differences between them were drastically juxtaposed. No two loudspeakers sounded even remotely similar tonally, indicating that they all had severe colorations.
After spending the past two…
I found the Q/4s to be less detailed than the other loudspeakers under review, but this was to be expected given the Q/4's smooth, laid-back presentation. I much prefer a more natural spectral balance to a zippy and hyped presentation. The highly detailed rendering may sell speakers in the dealer's showroom, but wears thin quickly when trying to enjoy music through them. The Q/4s did, however, present less inner musical information through the midrange compared to the other speakers reviewed here. There was not quite the sense of involvement heard through the Cyrus 782s, due in large part to…
Sidebar 1: Review context
The reference system used to audition the four loudspeakers reviewed here includes the VTL 225W Deluxe monoblock and Krell KSA 200 amplifiers, driven by a Theta DSPro Basic digital processor through the passive Electronic Visionary Systems Stepped Attenuator. The analog front end was a Well-Tempered Turntable and Well-Tempered Arm fitted with a Sumiko Boron vdH cartridge. Phono preamplification was provided by the Precision Audio outboard phono module, connected to the passive attenuator. The phono preamp has enough gain for the moving-coil Sumiko and is able to…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
The Q/4 exhibited minor cabinet resonances at 100Hz and 120Hz, and a fairly strong mode at 260Hz that produced a buzzing from the enclosure. The Q/4's impedance magnitude and phase angle are shown in fig.1. The single impedance peak at 70Hz is more typical of a sealed-box tuning. Note also the slight dimple at the cabinet buzz frequency, 260Hz. (A much finer analysis would be required, however, for this cabinet problem to be fully revealed in this plot.) The impedance drops to 5 ohms through most of the bass, rises near the crossover frequency, then drops sharply…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Two-way, "line-tunnel"-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drivers: 8" copolymer polypropylene-cone woofer, 1" fluid-damped dome tweeter. Crossover frequency: 3kHz. Frequency response: 37Hz–20kHz ±3dB. Impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB (distance and input level not specified). Recommended amplifier power: 25–100Wpc. Input connection: One pair five-way, gold-plated binding posts.
Finish: walnut or black ash vinyl.
Dimensions: 10¾" W by 20" H by 9" D. Shipping weight: 46 lbs (one boxed pair).
Prices: $490/pair East coast, $514.50/pair West…