I recently took delivery of a pair of Thomas Gallo Reference 3.1 speakers to replace my '90s Klipsch 3.5s, and I can't believe the improvement in natural sound and imaging on all kinds of source material of many vintages.
They're quite compact for floor standers; covered with a black cloth sock rather than having wooden cabinets. They give excellent stereo imaging in most room positions, unlike box speakers, and become invisible when you listen to them--you think the sound is coming from just about anywhere but these odd black monoliths.
With the socks removed, they're freaky-looking and anything but invisible.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
Looks interesting - uses the D'Appolito MTM arrangement. I'll bet they image in a very 3D way. Did I understand they include a subwoofer amp in the lower housing?
The woofers go down to 28Hz as they are. They are a dual voice coil custom-made unit. There are two sets of binding posts on the back; upper set is for additional outboard sub amp which drives one voice coil. The other voice coil is driven from the main amp.
The tweeter is a capacitor as well; specially treated film diaphragm that radiates 310 degrees.
Imaging is superb. Sound reproduction: Well, I heard Neil Young drop a guitar pick last night, and I can also hear the clarinet's key pads in the opening to "Rhapsody in Blue"!
I had to upgrade my CD player...the system was too revealing for a cheapie.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
Very interesting Paul, hopefully I will get to hear them someday.
I recently bought a Definitive Technologies Super Cube II subwoofer to augment the bottom end of my Magnepan MG Ic speakers, now I can get down to 14Hz! Made a huge improvement.
Just out of curiousity, have you (or anyone here) ever tried Magnaplane speakers? I had a friend who had them and they sounded amazing, I've been kinda casually looking for some for a while now, they are huge, though.
"They make great f***'n basses". - Lemmy, NAMM 2009
Magneplanars and Quads (both bipolar electrostatics) are amazing speakers. They have a presence and quickness of response that have to be heard to be believed.
They are two of very few bargains in the used speaker marketplace. They are best-suited to classical music and some (more intimate) jazz, I understand, being a bit down on bass thump which limits their use for rock music. This is a generality, however, and I also understand that with a good active subwoofer, they work well for most music.
Their size (and the fact that I wanted NEW speakers, and new Maggies are expensive) kept them out of the running in my decision to go with the Gallos.
Last week, the final piece of the system--a Chinese-made tube preamp for the phono stage--arrived from Hong Kong. I will be retiring my small Bellari (not enough gain for one of my cartridges) and putting it up on Ebay. The Chinese preamp (Yaoin MS-12) is another quantum leap.
BTW, I did invest in some exotic interconnects (Mapleshade Clearview Ultrathin ribbons and Double Helix Digital) for both the turntable and the CD player, and the difference is once again noticeable in transparency and resolution of high frequencies, something the Gallos excel in.
To listen to "Love" last evening at show volume on this system, with a glass of champagne and a good cigar, was a great finish to a wonderful Christmas day...
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
Bought a couple of items awhile back from The Audio Advisor so now get there catalog. Some things are pretty cool that they offer and some I have to wonder if my ears would know the difference. The best money I've spent in the last year on audio has been for 1) a powered record cleaner and 2)high quality speaker cables....Paul, when you get you rig all set up can I bring over some Lp's to give it a go?
I've been enjoying my Magnepans all over again - I bought them about 19 years ago, but up until quite recently, they've been languishing in my basement. Finishing the basement provided the excuse to press them back into service. The rest of the gear is nothing special - but the sound it all makes together remind me of why I bought the Maggies in the first place. They are a little bass-light, but the quickness of response that Paul refers to makes up for it in many ways.
These are the so-called 'small' Magnepans - the SMGa model. Even so, they stand nearly 4' tall....
George, the rig is set up...as long as those LPs are in mint condition, we can audition 'em. Otherwise, it's the '64 HH Scott/Klipsch Heresy rig in the dining room...It's much kinder to scratched vinyl.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
My Maggies soung just fine with rock, jazz, fusion, classical, folk, just about anything really, especially with the DT subwoofer. When I first got the MG-Ics I found the bass and lower mids to be a bit congested so I measured their in room response and from the bottom end up to around 800Hz the whole range was elevated about 4dB compared to the rest of the frequency range above 800Hz. Since these speakers have jumper points on the back panel for Manepan's external crossover I just built a circuit with a resistor and inductor to insert and flatten out the response. That made a dramatic improvement in the mids and the whole sound just opened up. Now with the subwoofer I have a very nice high resolution speaker system that goes from 14Hz to higher than these old ears can hear anymore!
Thanks Paul..as you know I have a Scott/Klipsch set up somewhat like yours..I love the low output tube amps with high efficiency speaker systems for warmth and detail..great for classic jazz...not so go for poorly recorded rock....The good deals for rock speakers (IMO) are used sets of the large Advents or again used sets of the Polk SDA series. Best setup I ever heard for rock was at a dealer/builder I knew..had 3 way systems..tri-amped with massive amounts of power to each speaker (6 amps) and an isolated eq..remarkable..
