Continuing to audition speakers, I currently have my old friend Dahlquist DQ10s and new comers Von Schweikert VR3s. I am sold on time/phase alignment design approach. Right now, the Von Schweikerts are in my system, they have excellent base extension along with their full, rich mid-range and extended detailed highs. The Dahlquists are awaiting a crossover rework/upgrade before I give them the critical listening test against the other speakers. I tried Thiels CS3.5s but thought they were junk and couldn't sell them fast enough. Only one system will stay, I'm keeping an open mind and leaving it to my ears as to which it will be.
Added a Squeezebox Transport CD DAC to my system. The old Sony 5-CD player gave up the ghost. Boy, what a major improvement! I now put CDs on a much closer level to vinyl than I use to. The Transport gives a full analog like sound with very clean and well defined bass. Also, the music server approach to CDs is very fun and user friendly. I can sit back and select music with the remote from my entire CD collection.
The Yamaha PX-3 linear track turntable continues to function well, I like it because it - has great isolation from feedback, is fully automatic (no chance of having a 'oh-shit' moment with the stylus), is great sounding, and is compatible with modern cartridges.
Auditioned two cartridges - Shure V15 IV MM with new SAS stylus, and Yamaha MC-705 MC with new stylus. Decided I liked the MC better. Then recently acquired a higher-end Shelter 501 II MC cartridge to complete the analog front-end.
The Bryston electronics are rock solid. Very low noise, very transparent and have the power the Dahlquists need to play loud and clean all night long.
Spent lots of time experiementing and cleaing the records. Tried lots of different solutions and technics. Settled on a three step process - steam cleaning/vacuum, Disc Doctor/vacuum, and pure water/vacuum. Gets the last vestiges of dirt from the bottom of the groves.
Linear tracking for zero tracking distortion, automatic operation to prevent 'oh-shit' moment with stylus, great isolation from vibration, adjustable VTA for cartridge aligment optimization, sounds great. Mint condition, recently outfitted with a Shelter 501 II MC cartridge.
Shelter 501 II
Very nice and detailed presentation, full bodied sound throughout the spectrum without brightness. The clarity in sound is a noticable improvement over other cartridges I've heard.
Yamaha MC-705
Very detailed and fast cartridge. Has a Audio Technica ATN3200XE stylus on it.
Squeezebox Transporter
Wireless DAC that uses your computer as a music server. Excellent detail in CD sound reproduction, makes CD listening easy and enjoyable.
Bryston 12B
Mint condition Bryston 12B preamp, features built-in MC step up transformer, allows selection between MC and MM phono stage. Extremely quiet and transparent preamp
Dahlquist DQ-LP1
Exceptionally clean subwoofer crossover. High pass section is passive with 6 dB rolloff at 60 Hz. Low pass section is variable, but set to 60 Hz with 18 dB rolloff. Lovingly modified with STEALTH power supply diodes, polystyrene caps in signal path, polypropoline caps for filtering, and Vampire RCA jacks. Made a huge difference in bass definition.
Bryston 4B
Great amp. Plays clean, tight, loud all night long. Wish I had 2 of them for the power hogs. Use for the mains only above 60 hz.
Bryston 3B
450W mono mode drives the Dahlquist sub clean and tight.
Von Schweikert Audio VR-3
Excellent full range speakers, while they excel in bass extension, I still use them with the Dahlquist subwoofer, they image very well and very clearly detail the highs.
Dahlquist DQ-10
Has been a part of my system for 30 years, still sounds amazing. When mated with the DQ-1W subwoofer and DQ-LP1 crossover, a legendary full range system is born. The Brystons provide the power needed to bring them to life. They are not in the system right now, awaiting a x-over upgrade before another face-off against their sister DQ-20s.
Dahlquist DQ-1W
Great looking, clean, tight and just what the DQ-10s needed.
Dahlquist ST-10
Original Dahlquist stand. Oak finished pedestal style. Brings the DQ-10s up to listening level.
Monster Zip
Simple 12-Gauge zip cord construction to deliver the signal with low loss.
Custom Jon Risch Belden
Complete set of Belden coax interconnects sized to length for niminal excess in my stereo rack. Does it sound better than the cheap interconnects, I don't know but on paper it was in the direction of the 'white light' so I did it. Makes the stereo rack look better without the excessive, hanging cables.
VPI Industries HW-16.5
The VPI HW-16.5 record cleaning machine brought the record collection back from the dead. This was the single greatest improvement I've made to the sound of my system. Combined with a steam cleaning regiment, the clean records provide a clarity and purity of sound that puts CDs to shame.
System edited: Deleted the Thiel CS3.5 speakers. I tried them and they sounded like junk. No lower mid-range at all. Something must have been bad with the pair I had but I'm gun-shy to try anything Thiel again.
System edited: Changes to the system were to replace the Sony CD player with a Squeezebox Transporter DAC and the addition of Von Schweikert VR3 and Thiel CS3.5 speakers. I have not done the audition yet to determine which speaker system to keep.
Wow! The incredible Dahlquist System! For this writer THE masterpiece in audio, with Marantz blessing of course! I hope to live another 30 years in good physical shape and still with a good hearing (and a running brain of course) to see how many of present days arrogant and pretentious loudspeakers can match the guts of Jon DahlquistÂ’s creatures in the future. Not so many I am sure.
A Great system to say the least. I have a pair of DQ10's with updated Regnar modifications that I use in a second system. The Regnar upgrades are wonderful.
Would you go into detail about the updates you did to your DQLP-1. My unit is stock and needs up-grading. It degrades the hi frequency image and information, right now I just use it as a subwoofer crossover, the DQ-10's are running full range.
I would appreciate all the information you can send me.
That PS Audio IVH is one smooth-sounding preamp. Some have considered it the best that Paul and Stan designed together. To this day, it is one of Paul's favorites. He ponders fondly when he is reminded of it. I have one in my 2nd system paired with a Musical Design Signature amp and I have to pull myself away sometimes to go listen to my main system.
Had some DQ-10's myself years ago, they are power hungry speakers. Had to buy a new amp right after I got them (sansui au-717 would not do the job at all).
Brings back some old memories. For years my system consisted of the DQ10s, janis, Bryston 4B, Audio Respearch SP 5 and a Kenwood KD500 turntable with a Grace 707 tonearm. Forgot what my cartridge was. Loved that baby. But, there is/was a time to move on. Happy I did. peace, warren
