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DQ-20's - Help! I don't need them, but I want them!

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ojTHEd

Active Member
I'm in a jam here. I've got a line on a pair of original owner, recently professionally refoamed DQ-20's. I know the DQ-10's are incredible, "don't walk away" type speakers, but how about these? What's the current value of mint DQ-20's (not 20i's)?

Please guys, start talking anout this and let's hear some thoughts.
 
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tentoze - thanks for the quick response!
May I ask what yours cost - and what's the most you would spend for a pair like I described?
 
Mine were bought new in 1988- $1800 seems to be about what I remember paying for them. If I was to throw a wild guess at what a pair in good condition was worth these days, I wouldn't think any less than $400 on the absolute, rock-bottom low end.
 
that's just the thing, they're not $950. He's kind of smoking ozone or something. He's fine with $600, but I really feel like that's too still much by a good amount. I wouldn't want to offer him less than fair value for them, but with my audio stuff, I like to buy it at a price I know someone else would pay. I mean, I've never heard them, I could hate 'em! I just don't like to lose money - like the new car's "oops, you drove the new car off the lot, lose 25% value" penalty!

Part of why I love buying vintage gear is that I can listen for a while and if I decide not to keep it, I can sell it to someone else for what I paid, or even a little more. There's no CHANCE I could do that with new, store bought stuff.

Oh, and thanks to Cosmos for rooting out the ad - I was kind of hoping to keep it under wraps until I decided! :D (seriously, just being sarcastic, I don't mind!)
 
Oh.. $600 is a different story..

I hadn't spent alot of time with the DQ20s, but I love the DQ10s. 10s bring $400 or better pretty consistently and the 20s can bring $600 and up.. However, if you don't know if you like either Dahlquists at all.. then I don't know. I don't think you'd have much to lose.. hell, offer him $500, at that, I think I'd jump and I sure as hell don't need more speakers. this pair sold for $550: http://cgi.ebay.com/Dahlquist-DQ-20...ryZ14993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and you won't have shipping..

Sorry about the ad, but I had already spotted it this afternoon and just connected the dots..
 
Yeh, $500 would be reasonable. And, from my experience with them over the years, they like lots of clean power- not as hungry as DQ-10's, but they really won't perform the way they should on a small-output amp or receiver. 100 wpc will have them in about 2nd gear. And they need space to breathe- small rooms don't do them justice.
 
I do have 200 wpc, but I've got a pretty small room. Heck, a small house. I'd have to keep them downstairs in the home theater/family room. about 12'x15'x8'.

With the stretching I'd have to do to buy them, and the lack of a proper space for them, I just may have to pass. If anyone else wants them, I'll be glad to help however I can.
 
And you're asking us for help in walking away from a pair of Dahlquists? You are desparate <G>.

See if he'll take $450 -- that will solve it for you.
 
I invested a lot of money by having Regnar rebuild my original DQ-10s. At the time I asked the shop foreman, Joe "Regnar" whether it would be better to refurbish a pair of DQ-20s which I also had access to. FWIW, Joe advised me to save my money and invest in the DQ-10s. The 20s by my recollection are not actually a Jon Dahlquist design but rather an effort by Joe Marchiotto (sp?) who also designed the DQ-LPS-1 crossover and left the company to found Alon which he still runs. The Alons are naturally offshoots of the DQ-20. There are really no good comparisons to the DQ-10.
Obviously, JD was enamored like everyone else at the time with the Quad EL-57s but other than the superficial similarities, there really is no commonality.
 
I had a pair of whatever the Marchiotto DQs 3 ways were with an 8 inch woofer and a grill that was entirely sock clad -- I don't think they were 20s, but can't identify them, to my chagrin. Beat the daylights out of my regnar modded DQ10s. So much that I bought them back from the guy I sold them to. But then sold them again. I have the same response to the Alon speakers I've heard -- I love them, but there is something going on in the low treble that gets me after a while. It may be relevant that I use Dynaco Stereo 70s -- both stock and Van Alstine modded -- which ought not to have enough power. But I never listen very loud, and I finally just decided to stick with the Stereo 70s after a long flirtation with the Parasound/John Curl 250 wpc amp (model number forgotten), when I realised that the DQ 10s were more dynamic and sounded better on the Stereo 70.
So I vote for the later Dahlquists. But I am not sure I vote for $600. There is an awful lot of really serious competition out there for that kind of money. Vandersteens, for example. Or Lowthers, depending on your taste (and this is a serious suggestion -- the Dahlquists (like most speakers, they are not really full range, so if you need low bass, you are looking at a subwoofer, so suddenly you are at a noticeably higher price range, whereas, if what you are looking for is phase coherency, single driver designs might give it to you with less penalty from crossover loss).
But if you like the DQ 20s a lot, I imagine other speakers will not satisfy, so see if you can get to a price you like.
 
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I run the entire DQ-10 system with the DQ-LPS1 and DW-1 and run the mains with Luxman MB-3045 KT-90 powered Monoblocks. I agree that short of this the DQs sound a bit thin although the imaging is still very good.
 
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