1. Home
  2. speakers
  3. 1163439997

First round of auditions disappointing

Well, I finally got out and did some actual listening over the weekend, and I can see that I have quite an adventure ahead of me.

I listened to the Focal Profile 928, Polk LSi15 and a couple of Martin Logan's (Vista and Vantage). The Focal was by far the worst of the bunch; as a matter of fact, it was downright awful, and at a price of $5K for the pair?????????? Good grief...

The Polk LSi15 was better, but far and away from what I expected, given the good press. I use to own Martin Logan Sequel II's, and liked them for their midrange qualities. The newer Logan's were pretty nice, but far too dead in the dynamics department. Very nice rendition of vocals though, and great soundstage presentation.

The more I listened to the typical box speaker, the more I believe that design won't satisfy me. My wife, who is really not "in" to music, commented to me that the Focal sounded "like a box," so there you have it.

I'll probably have to wait until CES, because there is little in the way of "high end" in my area.
seadweller
johnnyturbo
39 posts
 
I have had the gma callisto's for almost a year. I second everything that bombaywalla has written. in addition, the bottom end is very well defined and clean. obviously you don't get the big dynamic oomph, but - and this is important to note - you get the bass that is in the recording, and it is incredibly well integrated with the mids and highs. if you do a high proportion of your listening to jazz, folk, vocals of any sort, then you will be astonished. to do justice to rock, you need a different speaker, or add a sub. this is not to say that it is subpar, merely, that it's limitations become apparent with rock. i feel no need to upgrade.......at this point. finally, the people at gma are a pleasure to deal with.

oh yeah--- i have no other connection with gma other than being a happy owner
photon46
1,008 posts
 
Seadweller, I live in your area and noticed you have interest in auditioning the Gallo's. Are you familiar with St. Cecilia's Sound Gallery in the Clearwater area on Hwy.19? I've found Brian, the owner, to be a great guy and he's got a pretty good product lineup (including the Gallos's you mentioned.) I listened to them myself during my search for replacements of my Maggie 1.6's. What really floated my boat, but was out of my budget, were the Nolla Reference Vipers. He's just received a new Nola Viper model priced @ 5.5k that sounds like it's worth a listen.
seadweller OP
52 posts
 
Thanks.......I just came upon them accidently, while searching the net for dealers in the area......Never heard of them, but I'm going to swing by on Saturday.....
mauiaudioman
171 posts
 
Having owned both GMA's entry level Europa as well as the high end Calypso's I can tell you these are the least "boxy" box speakers I have heard. You really should try to do an audition before buying anything else. They are the real deal.
More to discover