Gallo 3.1 sounds slow and veiled...why?

Fair enough. Here's where I'm coming from. I was running Gallo
Reference Ultimates (the top of the line predecessor speakers) with
the same amps and pretty much assumed that the Reference 3s might
not have enough power. I then heard from a man who knew my amps
and was involved in final pre-production testing of the Ref 3s and
encouraged me to buy a pair, saying that my amps would be ideal. He
further said that 10 watt amps of his own design were used
successfully in this pre-testing process.

He also knows my room -- 18 x 40' with a sizable "L" off
one of the 40' dimensions -- so we're not talking about small spaces.
I do use the Gallo SA subwoofer amp on the woofers' second voice
coils but I often forget to turn it on.

As to "driven to the max," of course not. But I've never
knowingly clipped the amps even with big band and orchestral
classical LPs and CDs. Three friends have bought Ref 3s after hearing
mine, so the amps must be doing something right. I've heard Ref 3s
driven by pretty powerful solid state amps (Musical Fidelity) and was
not terribly impressed. Others might well be terrific with them. Dave

Edit: If I had gone solely by how the Ref 3s sounded in the shop
where I bought them, I never WOULD have bought them :-)

The thing with SET amps I think is they clip and distort in a less harsh way than SS amps. That allows them to go louder than one would expect off a few watts.

Regarding SS, I think you have to throw the kitchen sink current-wise at speakers like these in order to max out the performance. My OHM speakers are similar. Less power and more current can trump more power but less current. I've found the Bel Canto enhanced IcePower designs accomplish this as good as anything. The sound is not unlike some more neutral sounding tube amps I have heard, but not tube like in the euphonic sense that many enjoy.

The Gallos are extremely easy to drive, with a benign (8 ohm) impedance curve and virtually no crossovers -- none at all between mids and highs and just a capacitor or two between woofer and mids.

Dop,

Are you saying the impedance curve is near flat 8 ohms at all frequencies?

If so that would indicate more tube friendliness in general.

Most things I've read about the gallo's suggest using high quality SS amps and the more power the better for the bass. that would suggest a less than flat impedance curve with lower impedance at lower frequencies, not an uncommon thing with speakers these days.

It's hard to know these things for certain unless it has been measured and reported for a particular design. have you seen something like this for the Gallo's?

When I heard them, a tube pre-amp was used with a higher end NAD SS amp, not sure the model. This combo also drove a pair of Quad ESLs very well in comparison.

I would really like to know this for sure. I have considered experimenting with a SET amp in my house, but I do not believe most of the speakers I currently run to be particularly tube friendly. Despite that, I could see it working well perhaps in a smaller bedroom system or such even with the less than optimal speaker matching.

That's what I'm saying. But for the life of me, I can't remember where I heard or read it. Stands to reason, though, given my own experience -- remember, I have a BIG room -- and that of a friend using the same amps on his own Gallos. And the reports of others here and on AA who power them with tubes and love the results.

Just a coincidence, but this friend came into a pair of Quad ESL-63s and I heard them in direct comparison with the Gallos, which we both preferred, especially in the highs. FWIW, he Gallos were slightly louder at the same preamp gain setting than the Quads. Dave

PS I do hope the OP isn't upset that we high-jacked his thread :-)