Lower the wash temperature and use the Towels cycle. I have found excessive wash temperatures with towels produces the result you describe. Run a test, wash a load in warm, than a load in hot and you will see a profound difference.

Towels drink up the water. I use the cycle with the highest water level, minimum detergent, unless the Towels have stains and then rinse,rinse, rinse. OK for me it's a minimum of three and maybe four rinses. Quick wash isn't a good fit for heavy towel rinsing. Quick wash is meant for light items. Doesn't work well on denim either, too heavy. I learned that the hot temperatures on the dryer kills fluffy on towels. If the machine wrings out the towels medium on the dryer works fine. Believe it or not I've used delicate cycle to rinse because it has lots of water. Another recipe is needed if the towels are very dirty or stained.

I use towel cycle, Mrs Meyers, a dab of FS. In the dryer I use towel cycle, a fabric sheet and balls. Towels are always fluffy and smell nice.

I've read about this issue before with scratchy towels even coming out of the dryer.

I've never had this happen and I do not use softener with towels. They get either a regular hot wash or Sanitary or Allergen cycle. Always extra rinses.

The dryer temp. I use is med-high heat and also use the Eco-Friendly option which lowers the the temp a few degrees and increase time but uses less power overall.

I also use these options...

Wrinkle Release:

The wrinkle release option helps prevent wrinkles and tangling by alternately tumbling the load without heat for 5 minutes in a clockwise direction, then 5 minutes in a counterclockwise direction.

Perfect Tumble:

The perfect tumble option uses reverse tumble action during cool down to reduce tangling and wrinkling.

Shrink Guard:

The shrink guard option reduces the initial drying temp. and gradually lowers the drying temp. during the cycle to protect the fabrics from shrinking.

As you suggested yourself, you may try backing off the spin speed a bit to High or Medium. This will probably still extract more water than your SQ did! I find that towels do a bit better if they go into the dryer with slightly more residual moisture. Maybe that helps "steam" the cotton fibers in the dryer. I don't know for sure. Good luck :)

I've had a hard towel problem since we moved here. Never had it elsewhere. I first felt I was washing too hot in the Asko using 190F loads. Initially I was washing those in Tide HE. Those towels got very dried out.

After I replaced all the towels, and had brand new ones, they were still scratchy. That's when I went to using the Vaska tabs and started testing out the fabric softeners. But I think the biggest difference was going to warm water for washing and going to a cooler dryer setting. The fabric softener takes care of it and lasts through a second wash without. But the towels get scratchy again without the softener even on warm.

It's likely our water quality.

For me towels do best in 120F or less!

Use the cycle with the most water used. Add the Extra Rinse option.

I know liquid detergent leaves most items softer, but for me, liquid is too sudsy for towels. I use a sm. amount of usually Tide he powder.

I always spin towels at max, 1400rpm. No problem ever.

Mama...USE a little liquid fabric softener. Add about 1/2 cap to your Duet's softener compartment. If you add Extra Rinse, the softener will be dispensed in the 3rd rinse.

Dry towels on warm or very warm. Hot dries them out and makes them scratchy and rough.

This protocol works great for me!!