Anthony Gallo Reference 3 without sub

A home audition may be warranted, since what they do right - they do very well. The dealer is willing to let me borrow them for a weekend, but ultimately I doubt they're the right ones for me. Tubes would definitely help, too.

It's just a personal preference but the openness, snap, and clarity in the upper end (which IS spectacular) is less important to me than what I feel is lacking - an occasional muddiness in the low-mids and a harshness around 3-4khz. My guess is the root of the "problem" (for me) is here - From the 6moons review:

"the 3kHz transition between the twin hyperbolic 4-inch Carbon-fiber mids in their 5-inch spherical steel enclosures and the central omni tweeter is accomplished mechanically."

This is unusual - allowing the natural limits of the drivers' frequency responses to act as a crossover. It's an effort to eliminate the distortion that a crossover could introduce. I'm no expert in driver technology, but this means that a signal all the way up to 25khz is being pumped into these 4" drivers. That is not the "normal" way of doing things and perhaps this method doesn't quite work for my ears.

Bdbaba,

Which Panny amp are you using with the Gallo's? I've had mine for a couple months now, and I was tempted to give the XR50 a try (which would be kind of ridiculous, since my current pre/pro alone cost $3500, but what the heck!)

I have had a pair of gallos for a number of months. And here are a few things to be aware of. Remember, they get better with time. Also they will reveal up-stream flaws in your other components. No offense, but the Nad is a nice mid-fi unit, but is not at the top of the audio food chain. Also the Gallos are very sensitive to placement. You can fire the woofers out or facing in. The wrong way for your room will give you muddy results. Also I have found that components stacked between them hurt the soundstage and the bass response. You should also be aware that the guys at INsound, aka Omega Mikro, plan to offer mods to this speaker as they have to prior Gallo models. All in all, these speakers deserve serious attention and a little patience.

Aloha Jcruse,

I am currently using an xr25, but I am eagerly anticipating the release of the xr70. I was planning to keep the xr25 and using it "digitally chained" to the xr70 to drive the second voice coil of the Gallos. Alas, I have not quite figured out how to do this using the panny's amps.

It does seem silly to run a pair of $2600 speaks with a $200 reciever, but it sure sounds good. You can get these things modded, but then your price increases tremendously. I am tempted to go that route, though.

Have a great day.

bdbaba

I must say, regarding the 100 hour break-in period, that for me,it wasn't nearly enough. I was concerned about needing to hook up my bass amp for the second voice coil, and now, after passing about the 200 hour mark the speakers have finally become smooth throughout their frequency range. Nice taught deep bass and highs that are no longer harsh. I much prefer them to anything in their price range. I used to covet the Vandy 3A's, but could never pull the trigger on buying them as they didn't seem to fullfill the full sound range in quite the way I was looking for it to be fullfilled, I think mainly I found the highs to be a bit layed back.
Love the Gallos though, and I use them with tubes.
Rolloff