• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Dahlquist DQ10 and tube amps

D

derik736

Member
Hi guys,

i was wondering if anyone uses DQ10 with tube amp. I recently bought a pair of DQ10 which i absolutely love. My amp is chinese Jungson JA88D, pure class A, about 80WPC. Great combination, specially for the money i paid (450 euro for the amp). Very energetic, dynamic and musical. But....i´m a tube guy :drool: i miss the magic of my fisehr 500b which wasn´t able to drive dahlquist properly.
I look for any kind of tube gear (vintage or recent but i tend to vintage), intergated or power amp, to power up my Dq10.
What you think abot eico hf-60. Will it fit??? Any other ideas??
Thanks

Paul
 
Register to hide this ad
Unless you are prepared to drop a large amount of money, building your own PPP amp is probably one of the better options.
 
Well, i actually have something similar :) completly modified behringer src ultramatch DAC with tube output stage, plus jungson ja88d which actually is a poweramp with attenuator. I love this combo, i can only imagine that tube would be a bit better. That´s why the idea. i know there´s lot of powerful tube amps out there, just don´t have any idea which one to get :scratch2:
 
I have a pair of DQ10s that I love. I have powered them with a pair of Dynaco MKIIIs in the past. They now get their juice from an Audio Research D76A producing 75 wpc. The DQ10s love power. I have gotten very pleasing results from both amps. I can drive the DQ10s to very loud listen levels.
 
I picked up my DQ10s about 3 years ago and the prior owner used a Dynaco ST 70. I thought they sounded pretty good but think they sounded better with my Eico HF 85 (tube preamp) and an Audiosource AMP 7T. The Audiosource is a discontinued Tripath based amp that I picked up cheap on Ebay. It is 200 watts per channel.

I too love tubes so now the DQ10s are packed away and I'm driving a pair of DQ7s with a Fisher 400. Eventually I hope to get the amp linked below working and will bring the DQ10s out of retirement.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=262526&highlight=pich
 
I was able to drive a pair of DQ-10s with a mcintosh MC-250 at 50 W.P.C. to respectable volume, with no problems. I don't think they were designed to get really loud, the pair i have will handle 130 watts, and that's about the max. I would be very careful with any amp below 50 watts.
 
my amp is this here: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0809/jungson_ja88d.htm

It delivers spectacular amounts of class a energy and drives dq10 to astonishing volume levels. i really can´t complain. And it´s very very musical. I just know that tube can do better. My experiences with SS vs. Tube, are always against SS. Tubes just play music.
I´ve seen some el34 ans kt88 amps back in the days, with 4 tubes pro channel, delivering about 100w. I didn´t need so much energy, but i would now.
I habe a few amps i want to give a chance. there is a pair of omak jewel 3 amps, el509 tubes with about 60wpc/8ohm. than some cayin 860 and velleman.
Anyway i will post some impressions as soon as i get them married with my beloved dq10s.
Greetings from overseas :)
 
I use a variety of amps to drive my DQ-10's, depending on what I'm listening to, and what I just plain feel like hooking up. Much of the time I drive them with my Audio Research Dual-76. As this is essentially the amp John Dahlquist used when voicing the speaker, it makes a certain amount of sense. And, in general, I like the sound. In my basement listening room, 12 x 22 feet with a 7.5 foot ceiling, it is all the power I usually need. Right at this moment I have my Marantz 8 power amp hooked up instead. Though it is only 30 watts per channel, it has enough power for some music; and has more of that warm, tube-like sound, especially with the Russian Mullard EL-34's I have in it. It also has better layering in depth.

Other tube amps I would be interested in acquiring or trying with my DQ-10's would be the Conrad-Johnson 55 Watt model (can't think of the model #); and the Quicksilver Silver 60's.

When I want more dynamic slam I use solid state amps, such as my Sumo Andromeda (200WPC). Another favorite is my Electron Kinetics Eagle 2A. I had a Threshold CAS2 for a while. Not bad--the soundstage was higher than with the Andromeda. But I didn't think it sounded any better than the Eagle 2A, and somehow decided to sell it. Not sure that was the right decision. But I have found all these to be good amps to use with the DQ-10's.
 
DQ10 and tubes, yes! My favorites to drive the 10's are the Conrad Johnson MV75A1 and the Luxman MB3045's. I also use modified Dyna Mark III's, Stereo 70, HK Citation II and MAC MC240 from time to time with good results. Mine are biamped with double Janis W1 subwoofers driven by Solid State.
As mentioned above, the Audio Research D76 was used in the design of the speaker,
but Dahlquist used Strapped (two per channel) Luxman MB3045's to demo them.
When I met Saul Marantz in 1979, he said he was using a Marantz 8 to drive his personal pair and thought the Marantz Nine would be even better but he had lost his
pair (!) somewhere along the way.
 
Great news...seems like proper 50 tube watts suppose to be good enough :banana: I could give Audio Research a try, no chance to try the other as they are quite rare here in Europe.
Anyway thanks for your posts, now i know it really makes sense to try.
I'm going to give achance to the Pilot Sa 260 and Cayin 860 (both are El34 Monoblocks) within next few weeks.
Other thing: i think about stacking. Would need second pair of dq10, preferably just the drivers and crossovers without enclosures or such. Anybody who wants to get rid of his pair would be kind enough to ship it to Europe??? :D after paypal payment of course ;)
 
I used a Conrad Johnson MV75A1 (75wpc) with DQ-10s for quite some time; gives up a little in the bass to the big SS amps I tried but way worth it for all it did better.

I'd consider 75wpc the minimum for these though.
 
The only below-75w/ch amp I would consider for these, would be the HK Citation II. Otherwise, smaller amps need not apply, IME.

IMHO, this sounds like a job for a Rogue Audio Stereo 90...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
Otherwise, the Stereo 90 power amp Gordon wrote about is already 230v. Very nice looking amp. Gordon did you hera one of those??? 2500 for new amp is also ok, specially for 90wpc :yes: There are some european retailers so shipping wouldn´t be a problem i guess...
 
From the small house/happy with low volume department: I found DQ 10s with a Stereo 70 very satisfying. Maybe I don't know what I'm missing, but the Stereo 70 was swapped in just out of curiosity as a temporary replacement for a Parasound 250 wpc power amp. Never bothered going back.
Obviously most DQ 10 owners want more volume than I do.
 
That is a Dynaco Stereo 70. Though 35 wpc is probably somewhat optimistic, it does sound fairly powerful, though, of course, that may be partly the not tightly controlled bass. I would guess that a Fisher 500 would not have as much oomph, but no doubt 500 users will tell me I'm wrong.
But if a 500 doesn't have the grunt you want, try out the Dyna before plonking any money down -- that's good advice with any amp since its hard to predict how the complex load presented by the speaker will interact with the amp.
You did have the Fisher hooked up to the Dyna with the correct tap, I assume.
 
I ran tubes occasionally on my DQ-10s. I had no problem getting volume out of them with my Fisher x202b, Dynaco 70 and Fisher SA-300b. The problem wasn't volume, it was that they never really came alive. They seemed, I don't know, "dynamically compromised" compared to my solid state amp at the time. The Fisher SA-300b was the best of the bunch on them. It wasn't bad, actually. I really wanted more power, though, and got rid of the speakers before I ever had enough, even from solid state, to REALLY wake them up in my old place with it's very large room. In a small room things might have been different.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom