I'm sure it comes to no surprise to anyone who has read some of my past postings here, that I'm an avid fan of the Dahlquist DQ-10. Few speakers have maintained their reputation as have these babies, and they are still often compared to others costing far more, and do very well in those comparisons.

Still, there's no denying that the DQ-10 is desperately in need of a subwoofer: its bass performance just about stops at 50HZ, and not too much is readily audible even above that.

When I first bought my DQ-10's, I did so without a sub. I was working for Pickering at the time, and Saul Marantz had enthusiastically endorsed the Pickering XSV-3000 cartridge as the best sounding MM cartridge he'd ever heard. I offered a "salesman's accommodation" price to Dahlquist employees on the XSV-3000 of only $20 (half of dealer cost), and most snapped up the offer. Then, one day, a Dahlquist salesperson told me that I had no idea of how good the bass performance was on the XSV-3000 (which I was using at the time) if I didn't have a subwoofer.

So, I purchased the DQ-1W sub and the passive crossover. Wow! I was amazed. A few years later, I purchased the electronic crossover and used a separate amplifier (a bridged apt/holman) to power up the DQ-1W, and it sounded even better.

So, to make a long story endless, after inadvertently destroying the DQ-1W, I purchased a self-powered Definitive Technology SP-15F sub which significantly outperformed the DQ-1W. I don't believe it's manufactured any longer, but other quality subs are.

I had noticed when listening to my system recently, that the sound seemed to be a bit thin. EMI recordings sounded downright shrill, and with little or no bottom information, especially when compared to a Telarc recording (Telarc always has a ball recording bass drums, and often at a woofer-damaging level too!). So, I made two very slight, but very dramatic adjustments: I raised the crossover point on the sub (it's not clearly marked as to just what frequency, but it's continuously variable from 150 to 50HZ, so I guess it's now around 100HZ), and slightly increased the level as well.

The difference was nothing less than astounding. I don't have an overabundance of bass, nor is the sound "tubby" or anything like that. There is a newly-added "fullness" to many instruments, particularly bass fiddles and trombones, and even male chorus members. And when those Telarc/bass drum smacks occur, they do so with a vengeance! And, just to be sure the level wasn't too high, or the crossover point too high as well, I played the Saint Saens "Organ" symphony (#3) and listened carefully. The low pedal notes all but shook the foundation of my house, but there was no "boominess" to the sound, so I think I lucked out at the settings.

So, what's the point of all this rambling? In Definitive Technology's lit with the sub, they make it very clear that there's no "right" setting for the crossover points, nor the level, and that the user should experiment with those settings. I always exercised caution, and kept the level settings on both fairly low, but now realize that was a big mistake. Coupling the DQ-10's clear, detailed sound (and their fabulous imaging) with thunderous bass is really something, and I suspect, such a statement is valid for many other quality speakers too.

So, unless anyone owns a speaker system which in and of itself is capable of reproducing extremely low frequencies (and, I dare say, most speakers - even very good ones - aren't), if that person doesn't own a good subwoofer, then he just has no idea what he's missing. The results are very, very satisfying indeed!