heres some Gallo speakers for you

[JimBRICK]

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1192816074


Now these are nice

[engtaz]

Go for it. LOL

[JimBRICK]

Go for it. LOL

Nah too cheap for me :D

[venomclan]

Get em Jim, then you will officially be in the "Got Balls" club with us. :D
Venom

[engtaz]

too funny

[Face]

Since when is 90db a high efficiency speaker?

[JimBRICK]

Get em Jim, then you will officially be in the "Got Balls" club with us. :D
Venom

My son gets a college fund before I get 3000 buck speakers :D

[janmike]

Probably the most hideous speakers yet.

[SKsolutions]

Those just scream JACKASS !

[dorokusai]

Since when is 90db a high efficiency speaker?

Good question. I've always considered anything <90db low efficiency and I don't recall a middle ground on that. Who cares really, buy the right amp and you'll never worry about that rating.

[dorokusai]

Those just scream JACKASS !

Have you heard them or are you just talking about a picture? The tweeter used in that array is actually quite smooth and while the design isn't my cup of tea either, it sounds good.

[hypertone]

Looks like a vertical nutsack.

[Gaara]

I've never been a fan of the look of the older Gallos, a little to weird for my taste. I love the look of the Ref3s though...

[SKsolutions]

Have you heard them or are you just talking about a picture? The tweeter used in that array is actually quite smooth and while the design isn't my cup of tea either, it sounds good.

Nothing like mounting your balls in the living room. Make sure they are far away from the walls. . . and company.. . so they can breath.

A visual atrocity. A Star Trek speaker, when Shatner was in it.

Doro, I've not heard this model, but did very much like the Ref 3's on first impression. I dig the idea of 360-ish degree sound radiation, but at what expense.

[Yashu]

The tweeter used in that array is actually quite smooth

I have heard the ref. 3.1s and they are quite nice. I understand they still do not use any kind of complicated crossover network, but at what price? Mechanical engineering can only go so far. The reference 3.1s sounded pretty good to my ears, maybe a little bright (this might just be being me mistaking "open" with bright), although the tweeter was more "airy" than I would call smooth. They did a good job filling the room though!

[venomclan]

I have heard the ref. 3.1s and they are quite nice. I understand they still do not use any kind of complicated crossover network, but at what price? Mechanical engineering can only go so far. The reference 3.1s sounded pretty good to my ears, maybe a little bright (this might just be being me mistaking "open" with bright), although the tweeter was more "airy" than I would call smooth. They did a good job filling the room though!

There is only 1 crossover at 150hz for the 10" sub. Incredible soundstage, very fast too.
Venom

[Yashu]

The speed was very nice... I was at one of the high end dealers that I go to, and they had a set setup to demo for someone else, but I kindof sat in and listened because I had wanted to hear them. There was definately an "airy" quality to the sound and yes they were fast... but open fast, not so much "tight" fast... not sure how to explain that better... oh, I know... they had a sound closer to electrostatics than box speakers.

I didn't hear anything wrong with them, other than the material used by the other couple auditioning them was not something I was familure with so I didn't have a good reference.

The ones posted here in the thread don't look as nice though... and without a real bass driver, I am assuming they NEED a sub, whereas the ref. 3s do not.

[venomclan]

Yashu,
I am not familiar with the Ref 2's, so they probably need a sub. I am pretty happy without a sub or the sub amp on the 2nd voice coil. I have been experimenting sub different amps with the 3.1's and now have a Butler 250 watt SS/Tube Hybrid amp that I like a lot. The one thing I noticed about the 3.1 in all the demos I made at the dealer and at my house, the 3.1 tends to put the image a bit behind the speakers, as my prevoius B&W's put the image forward.
V

[Yashu]

That is an interesting observation. The demo that I experienced was with "world" music (think middle eastern pop music), so I was not quite sure what to make of that part. I liked them though... the ref. 3s were much smaller than I expected, and yet they easily filled the room. I think I even asked if they were using the Gallo sub, and it was not being used... so the bass was more than adequate.

I never liked side firing woofers either... like the LSi 15s, I would have a hard time owning the LSi15s because of that side firing woofer, but the driver in the gallo speakers was fast and had a long throw. (the woofers were facing inward) The whole thing looked like a quality speaker.

The HT part of the demo is where I felt the gallos truly shined, not because the ref. 3s are bad for 2 channel or anything, but because gallo did a good job building an entire HT package... those tweeters gave such a nice sense of space that I would love to be able to build a HT around them.

I think on the AVS forums there are quite a few people that are also in this camp... they swear by the gallos for HT. I see them talked about less on the audiophile forums, but after hearing them, I have no real doubt about their performance with 2 channel music.

The whole mechanical crossover thing... It's not that I doubt the gallos, it is that my background in mechanical design makes me wonder if the freq. slope can really be flat without a little help from some kind of basic electronic "tuning". I wonder if Stereophile has ever done a review... their measurements are usually pretty accurate. If they haven't, then they should, since these speakers (ref 3s) sound more serious than they appear.

[venomclan]

Hi Yashu,
Sounds like a nice demo of the Gallo's. I too was surprised at how small they were in person. A popular tweak for the Gallo's is too raise them up on stands and a few aftermarket companies make stands for them. The 3.1 images very wide but not as tall. Mine came with custom Sound Anchor stands that raises them about 10". Here is a pic of mine:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51539&highlight=gallo+3.1

I use them for both 2 channel and HT. I have a pair of surrounds on the way (Dues). I do not think Stereophile reviewed them but The Absolute Sound did in 2004 and they were speaker of the year and on the cover. Check out some of the 6moons. reviews if you are interested:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/gallo/ref3.html

There are a few reviews on the Reference 3 and 3.1, sub amp, 3 vs. 3.1 etc...

I use the Butler hybrid amp, here is a review on this amp, at the end they use it on the Gallos.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/butler/2250.html

Curious to know what you think as an engineer.
Venom

[JimBRICK]

I say it again Venom............damn those are beautiful speakers

[venomclan]

I say it again Venom............damn those are beautiful speakers

Thanks :)

[Yashu]

That Butler amp is pretty cool.

The things that I help design do not have tollarances anywhere near as tight as the gallos. To think about how much engineering that must have went into the driver design and fabrication, and to then prepare that for manufactuering, that the price is actually pretty good. I'll bet he went through many many driver revisions before getting the pair to match up so well... It's not the cheap route that is for sure. It is much more cost effective to either source drivers from somewhere, or design something that get's close and then tweak it with electronics.

BTW, do you listen with the grilles on or off? I heard them with the grilles off. My dealer does not like the grilles... but that may be because he is trying to make a sale, and they look more interesting with them removed.

[venomclan]

That Butler amp is pretty cool.

The things that I help design do not have tollarances anywhere near as tight as the gallos. To think about how much engineering that must have went into the driver design and fabrication, and to then prepare that for manufactuering, that the price is actually pretty good. I'll bet he went through many many driver revisions before getting the pair to match up so well... It's not the cheap route that is for sure. It is much more cost effective to either source drivers from somewhere, or design something that get's close and then tweak it with electronics.

BTW, do you listen with the grilles on or off? I heard them with the grilles off. My dealer does not like the grilles... but that may be because he is trying to make a sale, and they look more interesting with them removed.

I am not certain, but I believe that the drivers Gallo uses are made by Dynaudio. A lot of engineering went into this design nonetheless. Gallo has a new flagship now that uses multiple tweeters and midrange drivers, I think speaker each has 8 mids and tweets. They are $14K/Pair but I have not heard them.

I use the grills on because I have a 60lb. bulldog that can destroy a city block. I would prefer them to be off, and hopefully I will have a dedicated room in the future that will allow that. I had read somewhere on another forum that the 3.1's sound a lot different without the grills. I have not tried it yet.
Venom

[Gaara]

I am not certain, but I believe that the drivers Gallo uses are made by Dynaudio. A lot of engineering went into this design nonetheless. Gallo has a new flagship now that uses multiple tweeters and midrange drivers, I think speaker each has 8 mids and tweets. They are $14K/Pair but I have not heard them.

Venom

The woofer is a dynaudio and I believe the mids are still dynaudio as well, the older Gallos used dynaudio for the mids also. The kynar tweeter is Gallo's own design.

[unc2701]

I'm not so sure about the mids being Dynaudios... I've got the spares from when I upgraded to 3.1, so I'll look for a part number tonight.

[shadowofnight]

You could always hang these http://www.bullsballs.com/compare/chabullballs.html on the speakers for better damping...resonance control...overall looks ;)

They are of course the Champagne variety...nothing but the best for high end audio....

[strider]

You could always hang these http://www.bullsballs.com/compare/chabullballs.html on the speakers for better damping...resonance control...overall looks ;)

They are of course the Champagne variety...nothing but the best for high end audio....

Just when I thought I couldn't add anything pertinent to this thread...

[venomclan]

You could always hang these http://www.bullsballs.com/compare/chabullballs.html on the speakers for better damping...resonance control...overall looks ;)

They are of course the Champagne variety...nothing but the best for high end audio....

Nah, not really going for the redneck look, but I am sure they would look great on my Corolla :D

[tonyb]

Still diggin' that amp Pal ??
Glad to see you got your music on,enjoy!!

[Yashu]

I don't see anything on gallo's website about a new Reference speaker. The 3.1s seem to be their best.

I also think that their mids are now made in-house. I thought I read that in the 6moons article... but not sure. It was part of what they had to do to avoid using a crossover for the tweeter and the mids.

Here is the quote in the postscript:
I learned that his custom Carbon-fiber 4-inch midrange drivers went through incarnations A through H until he finally came up with the perfectly tweaked 4-layer voice coil transducer to mechanically roll off at 3,000Hz

That is one reason I marvelled at the amount of engineering it must have taken to get everything to perfectly match, and to reliably manufactuer it.

[Gaara]

Thanks for the intel, I always assumed that the mids were the same as previous incarnations, but I guess this is not the case.

As for the new speakers V was refering to the new 5LS. A little info here (http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/gallo/gallo.html) just do a google for Gallo 5LS and you'll find tons. Not out yet, supposed to be Q3 2007 last I checked.

[venomclan]

Jared beat me to it, but here is a link from another forum
http://www.hometheaterlounge.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=2163&highlight=gallo

[Yashu]

Looks like some ultra super duper version of a HT speaker. That is a lot of tweeters though.

I don't like any speaker that NEEDS a sub. I have never heard a system with a sub that sounded as integrated as a full range speaker.

Gallo has made such a name for itself in high end HT that this does not suprise me though.

[Gaara]

Just a line array.

If you have never heard a system where the sub integrated well you haven't been listening to the right subs.

I used a Martin Logan Grotto with my SIA Rothschilde A2s and it was very fast and detailed, it integrated perfectly to fill in the bottom octave. Worked great with my LSi7s as well.

Jared

[Yashu]

The problem with subs are that to perfectly integrate them into your system, you need to either run your mains through the crossover in the sub, or have the sub and mains hooked into some kind of active or passive external crossover (like how Vandersteen does their sub).

Basically... you are adding an extra layer in your chain, sometimes of a completely different manufactuerer than your mains.

However, I am speaking in 2 channel language... For movies, I have heard plenty of great systems with good bass that felt integrated into the experience... and the modern A/V Reciever is owed the props by playing the part of the crossover instead of having to use the one in the sub.

I was not very specific... I was not talking about HT.

You might not be talking about HT either... and I do agree that there are some musical subs out there... Vandersteen, Totem, the Martin Logan that you mention. The only one I have heard was the Vandersteen... It was paired with Vandersteen mains, and used it's passive crossover box to integrate almost seemlessly. I still had that "disconnected bass" feeling though... and this was in a treated room.

I am not knocking subs... but there is far less for them to "do" in a music setup, with full range speakers. Actually, I sometimes feel that a lot of music just doesn't sound right with a sub... like the sound engineer did not realise there was that extreme LF here or there. It's funny the things that you hear and feel on a powerful sub that you never knew where there.

[unc2701]

Again, you just haven't heard a sub done correctly. W/ 2 channel it's harder to integrate them properly, but it can add to many systems. The important thing that most people miss is the the sub should be a SUB!!! It should kick in where your mains roll off: for most people this means below 40hz.

[Gaara]

Yashu,

I meant my statements for 2ch. I personally want the purest signal for my speakers so I have preamps with dual outputs. One goes directly to the speakers and the other, when using a sub, goes to the sub. In some cases I will use a external x-over or eq, other times I just use the x-over in the sub.

I spent ~6hrs setting up my Grotto to integrate, I tried different locations, different x-over points, different levels, and different eq settings. I did freq sweeps to test and it turned out quite well, matched up almost perfectly. The only downside was the sub was set to do 40hz and below only, with a brick wall filter set at 40hz. It integrated best this way, but the sub got so little use that it was pointless to keep in the system, mainly due to my musical tastes.

With my main rig I had a sub for a while when using 2ch but eventually got rid of it. There was more oomph but after treatments and a new amp my mains are solid down to 20hz. Adding the sub gives some extra power down low but it masks the true tone of the bass.

[Yashu]

I did the same thing when I was trying to integrate a sub into my system. I used the 2nd pre-out on my NAD integrated and sent it directly to the sub... but I was never able to get the sub's rolloff to match my mains. I tried everything and it always sounded "wrong"... sometimes it didn't sound bad, but it was distracting.

Here is what I thought about doing to make it right:

I was going to purchase a passive adjustable hi-pass filter and put it between the pre out and the main in on the amp, then I would be able to roll off the mains to better match the sub. The problem with this approach is that the headphone circuit is AFTER the main in... meaning, I could not use my headphones anymore without buying a seperate rig for them. The headphone circuit in my NAD is actually pretty good, and the level of complication it was going to take to make the sub work was going to be too much for my minimalist ways... so I sold it.

Anyway, that made me realise how hard it was to do subs right with 2channel music. Not saying it isn't possible, but it seems pretty tough.

(BTW I realised how off topic we have become, hehe)

[unc2701]

Not to dig up an old thread, but I think I finally found who makes the subs in the Gallo Ref 3's:
http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_338_340&products_id=1079
Looks right to me, anyway.


All I need is a pair of those and I can make my own Ghetto Gallos with all the parts I got back from the upgrade!

[venomclan]

Then you can call them the 3.11111111111's
Go for it.
Venom

[unc2701]

The only problem is the "S2" stuffing. I can't reverse engineer that, so I'm gonna have to make my enclosures about 5x larger and I'll lose some of that punchiness that the Gallos have.

I wonder if they'd sell me some? I don't see how it'd be a problem for them...

[ABX]

A friend has the Gallos, likes em too.
He did the stand trick, and has a big Velodyne Sub.
He has all older Classe stuff on them.

[venomclan]

Unc, you are not running the sub amp correct? If you like that much bass, I think a REL or the JBL Fathom may mate
speed wise with the Gallo's and save you all the trouble. Of course, that is the easy, expensive and boring way....
Venom

[unc2701]

Sorry, I wasn't clear- I'm totally happy with the sound coming from my gallo's right now.


Here's the thing: I got my Gallo's upgraded to 3.1. They replaced everything except for the cabinets and the subs and sent the parts back, too: Tweeters, Mids, crossovers, etc.

So I have everything I need to build a _second_ set of Gallo's except for the sub drivers and the S2 stuffing. Without the stuffing, I'd have to change the enclosure sizes, since the Q would be way off.

[venomclan]

Just curious, did you get the upgrade done from Gallo factory? What did it cost?

[unc2701]

Yep, from the factory and I think it was about $600 per speaker- they had some options for how much or how little they did (new transformer, keep/ditch the tweeter switch, etc). I plan on hanging on to these indefinitely, so it was worth it to me, especially for getting all the old parts back.

Their CS is great, was in no hurry, totally willing to talk about everything. It's hard to say how much of difference it made since, I couldn't A/B back and forth, but my impression was the new tweeters were a little smoother and the mids a little punchier.

[venomclan]

I guess you really love the Gallo's to do an upgrade like that. It is cool that you still have the other drivers. I would try and see if Gallo has a pair of empty shell Ref 3 enclosures he can sell you, then make some surrounds out of them for a killer system.
V