Gale 401's


Hi there,

I've had the good fortune on inheriting these speakers, though, without an amp.

My dad always said they need "power power power", but looking on other forums, people talk about sold state amps, which I know nothing about, and my dad sure didn't have one of those.

  • What's the difference between solid state and your run of the mill amp from Richersounds? 
  • Could a Cambridge Audio AXR85 power these enough to truly appreciate them?
  • or do I need to invest in something more specialist? 

Thanks,
C
c27078

Showing 1 response by georgehifi



,
  • c27078
    , Could a Cambridge Audio AXR85 power these enough to truly appreciate them?
No! it’ll make a noise, but that’s it. When they are driven well they are one of the old sleepers that can really do it, with all types of music, and they need good stands



I owned 3 pairs of these, two wood one chrome, and now they are getting very sought after.
First check the foam roll surrounds on the bass drivers, they don’t last long. And that all the drivers look like this
https://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uploads/large/2501348-0fe1beb5-seeking-gale-401-british-speakers.jpg

My dad always said they need "power power power"
And your dad was right, to get the best out of them they need very good Solid State power that can do down to 2ohms almost doubling wattage from 4ohms.
Good bi-polar output solid state. An affordable integrated used that comes to mind would be the John Curl designed Parasound Halo Hint or newer Hint 6.
https://parasound.com/hint.php
Or if your not short of a few rubles a Gryphon Diablo 120 or 300.
https://gryphon-audio.dk/produkt-kategori/integrated-amplifiers/

They benefit greatly getting rid of the mid and tweeter level controls and replace them with a 10w 2.2ohm on the tweeter and a 20w 2.2ohm on the midrange, and also replace the 5 x capacitors with higher quality todays ones.
https://www.stereonet.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2020_08/Copy-2-of-GS401-Speaker-Crossover-Schematic...

A little review and pics
https://www.hifianswers.com/2021/03/gale-401-the-paradox/
https://www.hifianswers.com/2021/02/gale-gs401-images-set-1/
https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/download/file.php?id=70470&sid=54775f27a9aa204d47f42...
https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/download/file.php?id=70612&t=1&sid=54775f27a9aa2...

Cheers George