Tyler/Salk sensible alternatives to Gallos?

Thanks to all. Frankly, Tvad, your suggestion for the Klipschorns triggered schoolboy lust. The first time I saw and heard a Paragon monolith was one of those "you remember exactly where you were where when...." moments. Damn if the idea of having a pair of Klipschorns wouldn't scratch that itch. And your second post about getting the drivers up got me thinking. My current house system is a pair of Newform Research speakers driven by a Pass Aleph 3 and Blue Circle 21 pre. It is a great combination for playing with, especially since the Newforms have a ribbon device that takes the overall height to 75", making the "driver" at ear level and then some. The Gallos are 36" and the other towers are in the 50" range (if memory serves). That system is set against a side wall in a large room - 24x24x18. The room opens into the rest of the house which adds another 1500sf or so. I could park the Klipschorns in the corners at the far end of the room, filling it and perhaps the rest of the house. The Pass/BC would be a good match for the Klipsch. I could run the Newforms in my studio with the Halcro MC40 I just got (thanks Ebay), and a pre that I am shopping for. And looks like the Khorns can be had (used) for less than the Gallos (2k-3k). Funny this passion. Yesterday, my sights were set on the state of the art Gallos, and today, on the art of the classic. Tvad, appreciate the paradigm shift.

I believe Khorns would love the BC21/Pass combo, and you're right about the room filling sound. That's why I suggested them.

Interesting that you are already using tall speakers. You're experiencing the importance getting the drivers up to standing ear level. That seems important for getting the full immersion effect of playing along with the music.

I believe the Khorns would also achieve this, but you'd have to be positioned a little farther away and into the room.

Tvad, frankly, when I got the Newforms about five years ago, I never gave any consideration to the height of the ribbon. And I have been happily playing along with them ever since, probably for that very reason. More I think about it, I may already own the perfect speaker for my needs. The 400 watts from the Halcro would really drive these relatively inefficient (91db) speakers better than the 30wpc (albeit Class A) pumped out by the Pass. But then for the house, I can already see a pair of Khorns anchoring the corners. They are in the range of 108db, making the Pass a much stronger partner than with the Newforms. Tvad, really greatful for your suggestion.

Agree with Miklorsmith (totally). They IMO are not a musician's speaker. I spent about 2 hours auditioning them at a dealer and my conclusion was they are fast and open, and can "slam" - which makes for great audiophile WoW factor. Drum solos sounded great. Horns sounded pretty good. But they are not "neutral", i.e. timbrally or harmonically accurate. String quartets sounded very shrill, larger orchestral stuff was just mush. I had high hopes amid the hype, as I thought their looks and size would have high WAF, but I really couldn't stand them.

You may not feel the same way, but I would be wary of buying these before listening to a pair.

Achieving decent soundstaging across a wide listening area requires taking psychoacoustics into account. The ear localizes sound by two mechanisms - arrival time and intensity. Arrival time will inevitably be skewed in favor of the closer speaker if you're off the centerline. So to maintain an acceptable soundstage from off-centerline, ideally you'd want a configuration where the farther away speaker is actually a bit louder than the one you're closer to. Perhaps the simplest solution is a geometric one - namely using an extreme amount of toe-in, like about 45 degrees, such that as you move closer to one speaker you're also moving more on-axis of the farther speaker. Most speakers are louder on-axis than they are off-axis, at least in the higher frequencies where most localization cues come from. Note that most speakers are not designed for this configuration and so most do not really work very well with it. The radiation pattern has to be unusually well-controlled or else the soundstaging or tonal balance (or both) falls apart with this much toe-in. But it's not like you can use less toe-in and get nearly the same results - the tweeter axes have to cross well in front of the listening area if you want that freedom to move side-to-side without the soundstage (and tonal balance) collapsing.

In order to get consistent tonal balance throughout the room, you want the first-arrival frequency response and the power response (summed omnidirectional response) to be very similar. One key here is to look at the first-arrival sound from the two speakers combined, rather than at just one. That same extreme toe-in that gives us decent soundstaging over a wide area can also give us consistent tonal balance over a wide area if the speakers are designed with this as a high priority.

Decent soundstaging across a wide listening area and consistent tonal balance throughout the room are important to me, and I gravitate towards designs that can do this. The Klipschorns suggested by Tvad are among the relatively few loudspeakers that can do both.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer