Any real improvement w/ Gallo Ref 3.1s?



See my other post.

It seems quite possible, even likely, that the near simultaneous introduction of the Gallo Ref 3.1 and the Gallo Ref AV are related. Perhaps neodymium magnets, allowing for a shorter and lighter voice coil in the midrange spheres, was a necessity for the Ref Av because they can be wall-mounted and require lighter weight and a smaller depth dimension? And once introduced for the Ref AV, wouldn't it necessarily follow that the Ref 3.1s would use the same spheres in the interests of efficiency and cost savings? But is there truly an improvement from the use of the new magnets? None of the reviews of the Ref 3 I've read complained of the "faults" the Ref 3.1s supposedly "fix" (although there were some comments of treble "roughness" and midrange-treble "colorations" in the British press which I could not hear). I realize neodymium is all the rage nowadays, but wasn't it originally used in headphones, where light weight and small dimensions made it a necessity?
msratty
It seems perhaps that the biggest "difference" may come from the cap change in the crossover??

Otherwise, those were my exact thoughts relative the changes to the speaker.
I doubt that would contribute much, if anything. In any event, it's the "new and improved" widget that gets the boob every time. I'm happy with the "old" and "unimproved" Ref 3.
Msratty

Not meant to offend, but a cap change in a crossover can have a pretty significant effect on the sonic signature.

Interestingly, I just found this write-up by Srajan Ebaen at 6Moons that may be the first comparison between the older Ref3 version (that I also have no plan on selling) and the newer 3.1:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/gallo7/comparison.html

In this case, I am not really sure if the cap upgrade was meant as an upgrade or due to the new drivers, but the article states, "Gallo also replaced the non-polar electrolytic capacitor in the 1st-order series crossover with a metalized polypropylene equivalent said to eliminate a grayish coloration in the midrange as well as to enhance low-level information."

I assume the above info was from Anthony.