DMHenrie wrote:

You mentioned selling the DQ-20's originally to IIRC, I believe, What is
that?

You might consider selling everytihng and getting a whole new matched
setup. Or just match to the DQ-20s. In any case, the old JBLs are
way past their prime.

I have been keeping up with foam rot on both the Dahlquist and the JBl's.
Didnt think much about the crossover capacitors changing value, hmmm, gotta
give that more thought. I doubt the magnets though lost anything.
Gave a good listen tonight to Both sets, with the JBL's using the sub, and
the Dahlquist standalone and switching back and forth with same material.
Dahlquists are definetly the more superior speaker in terms of flatness,
openess, and soundstage.

Which shouldn't happen. Normally, the JBLs should give the Dahlquists
a run for their money and then some. The problem is that JBL monitors
age very un-gracefully. The magnets do loose charge over time, though
it's easy to get them re-magnetized. The crossovers with that nasty
pot on the back - if you're lucky they used standard electrolytic
junk capacitors. If not, I've seen all sorts of cost-cutting junk
in old pairs. Capacitor and crossover sub-component selection
wasn't considered to be a factor at all back then by most firms.

Thankfully it's changed, but JBL Pro was one of the very last to
abandon their 1970's technology.(though they still use alnico, even
though it's a hopelessly outdated technology) The new ones have
proper binding posts and a crossover that is adequate, though.
Your Dahlquists have a decent, modern crossover and so on, so they
still sound very nice.

....
Based upon the rest of your post, though, you should match the DQ20s
up with some surrounds and get a good sub. I suggest a 10-12 incher.
The old JBLs were known for having a kind of one-tone sound due
to resonance and other factors. Most car stereo subs also suffer
from this. But, a good sub will run you $600-$1000. Selling the old
JBL sub and speakers as a set will get you a few hundred, though,
to offset this.

HSU makes decent subs(stick with their better models), as
does Velodyne(though I'd only recommend their servo controlled
subs). Properly done, you shouldn't be able to tell that there
IS a sub in the system - just that it goes lower and doesn't
trail off like before.