Gallo Reference 3.1 questions...

Ok, got it.

I just bought a pair of these last week. Overall, I am very happy with them. I do notice them improving as they break-in (love you Sade :)

These are replacing my beloved KEF 104/2s. These are fantastic speakers in their own right with great imaging, crystal clear highs, and a very detailed and forward midgange. Bass is actually port loaded - a unique feature for these venerable loudspeakers. As far as musicality, pace, rhythm, these speakers have it in spades. They are just getting old so I was looking for something special to replace them.

The Gallos are a very different speaker with many of the same qualities. Imaging and sound staging are as good or even better than the KEFs. The bass is certainly tighter already, and I'm sure has a ways to go. The highs are silky smooth, but not as detailed as the KEFs. I've notice some improvement in the highs, just tonight in fact. So I think this will come along with time. The mids are a concern for me. And it's not that the mid are bad, just very different than the "in your face" 104/2s. The Gallos present more of a laid back blended in midrange. When I focus on it, it sounds very good... I'm just not used to having to focus on the mids. This too seems to be slowly improving (or I'm getting used to it :). Ditto on musicality. right out of the box, they didn't have "it" - the reason you listen to music. Tonight, they definitely did. I'd rate them as semi or sometimes engaging compared to the KEFs.

My placement is about 18" out from the wall and only 7' apart. The room is very large and well damped with only a section of it being used for listening. These speakers have no problems filling it.

Like I said, overall very happy with these speakers. They have many of the qualities I was looking for and sound pretty darn good right out of the box. I can certainly see, er, hear the potential these speakers have to offer.

Follow-up in a couple of weeks.

I have heard the Gallos in a friends house and liked the a great deal. I am looking to upgrade from 20 year old OhmC2s. I live in Hawaii so the room sizes here are small vs the Mainland. I am setup in a 10 x14 foot living room with an arched ceiling. I can put the speakers about 7-8 feet apart and 18 inches from the wall out. I have a Mcintosh MA 5100 integrated and SAE separates. Both solid state with 45w and 100w respectively. Does that sound like either will drive these speakers enough? I listen to lost of acosutic jazz, female jazz vocals, acoustic guitar, signer songwriter, 70-80s rock. I figure it would be an easy year before I could afford to add on a new am setup.

Danmeyers, sounds like things are progressing with your Gallos as expected. Along with heavy break-in I did quite a bit of experimenting with placement and the rake of the speaker.

Joek, you should have enough power but the Gallos do like lots to reach their full potential. Most reviews point this out and even Mr. Gallo admits this. Read bottom of this review, http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/gallo3/followup.html I run mine of a Pioneer receiver at 140 watts per and will probably put in an external amp with more power in the future.

Danmyers, what amp are you using? I was using an early generation Adcom 555 for about a year with my 3.1s, and thought there a veiling to the mids, almost like someone placing a piece of paper over the cones. I upgraded to a Music Reference RM-200, and the mids came alive, and were much more transparent than with the Adcom. In addition, it became tonally more neutral - I think the Adcom added some glare as well. The lesson, I think, is that the 3.1 is very revealing of the upstream components.