fritz carbon 7 vs gallo starda's

Can't speak for the Gallo's, but for me, the Carbon 7's are the best monitors I've heard under $4000, and I've heard a lot. Relatively speaking, I would call it's sound warm, so if brightness is a priority, you might not like them. Otherwise, you'd probably fall in love with them like almost everyone who hears them. I can go on and on about how much I like the Carbon 7's, but check out the recent review on Sonicflare dot com, I believe Sean accurately describes the Carbon 7's.

The Carbon 7's have a relatively smooth impedance curve so they are fairly easy to drive. I've used low power tubes and high power SS, they both work very well. Never used Virtue amps before but if your room is small then it should be fine, otherwise a budget SS amp off Audiogon like a Parasound or Adcom would really make the Carbon 7's sing. But again, not picky about amplification.

As for replacing the Studio 20's, that's going be a night and day difference. There's another Carbon 7 owner who replaced his Paradigm Studio 100 towers, he's extremely satisfied.

How did things work out? I hope you're enjoying a pair of Carbon 7's as we speak!