Gale 401's

I recently went down a vintage audio rabbit hole and was intrigued by the Gale speakers. And just wanted to pipe in and say today received a fully rebuilt/restored set of Gale 401A's from David at Vintage Gale. Currently breaking them in, but they sound good right out of the box.

David did everything including crossovers. I even shipped him a pair of Cardas copper connectors to upgrade the speaker binding posts.

Powering them with a set of Aragon Palladium 2 mono blocks. Everyone says they need power, so that's the biggest set I got. They're running through a rebuilt Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 with VCaps.

Currently rocking out to Gimme Shelter. Looking forward to see how they develop after I get some hours on them.

Thanks @tomic601. I can only imagine selling in the Midwest. Appreciate the encouragement re the book. Goal is to have it done this year.

Bruce

@bgale Sorry for the loss of your brother. I worked at a dealer in Columbus, Ohio where we carried the chrome model w matching stands. The Speaker company. They always sounded great but in the conservative Midwest were a tough sell . Had we been sharper, we would have gone with wood cabinets.

Please do let us know about progress on the book. My absolute best to you.

Jim

Ira Gale was my brother. I was about 16 when he was actively working on the speakers and wound up working for him when I was in college. One of his favorite albums to demo the speakers was Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker, “I’ve Got the Music in Me”, an early direct to disc recording. I only recently stumbled across this post and thoroughly enjoyed reading the messages. I’ve come to know some of the names mentioned over the years, mostly thanks to John Mayberry, David from Vintage Audio and others through the Gale Audio Google Group. FYI, Ira was partial to SAE and Mark Levinson and definitely was a fan of “more power is better”. It’s so wonderful to read these posts going strong more than 25 years after his passing. I have been working on a book about his life for quite some time, nearing completion. Should anyone have met him personally or worked with him, I’d love to hear from you. I may be reached at bgalephd@gmail.com.

Best wishes,

Bruce

They also benefit from a really good tube preamp.I use a Supratek Cabernet 300B and it makes a huge difference-opening up the soundstage and allowing the beautiful tonality to come through.They are capable of really excellent timbre but like the Magicos this will not be revealed unless the preamp and power amp are up to it.Best power amps I have used is an Usher R1.5 which is a Nelson Pass design 150 watts /channel.A Musical Fidelity A5 was also very good [255 watts] but not quite the musicality of the Usher.I recently tried the March Audio p452 which is the latest classD Purifi and has heaps of power and drive and clarity but neither the musicality or soundstage depth or height of the better SS power amps .It is hard to make the Gales sound mechanical but the class D succeeds!

@c27078

The Gale is a speaker that can sound great when paired with a powerful SS amp. Some on this thread have not heard the speaker or heard it with an amp that was not a suitable match. They may need some restoration to perform at their best, and you may want to add subwoofers for low end extension
 
Get the right amp and enjoy!

+1 jtgofish! The 401's are still a formidable system! And sound best horizontally.

They image better horizontal because the mid and treble are then aligned vertically.Best with the tweeter at the top which then gives good image height.

Douglas Schroeder you do not have a clue regarding the potential of Gale 401s.When properly restored they are superb sounding things and will comfortably compare with good modern speakers in the $10,000 plus range.Which is about what they cost in real terms in their day .I have heard them side by side with Magico S5s and they do not lose much compared to them.The Magicos go a bit lower and have slightly better imaging but the Gales are just as seamless,dynamic and coherent and are more musically engaging but the overall sonics are quite similar.Like the Magicos they need a really good preamp and power amp to bring out their best.

If this is all you can afford in terms of a system, then build it the best you can and be happy. However, it is nowhere near - as typical of the bulk of vintage speakers - what is available today, of course at much higher prices as performance escalates. If this speaker whets your appetite for better, do not think for a moment the Gale is the end of the road. Not even close. People who suggest so are ignorant of the actual performance spectrum of systems.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

All that to say there are better speakers?  Not really..

Gail 401s are in a class of their own, just like JBLs. No one said everyone would like them, just the ones that took the time to set them up correctly and really enjoy a great speaker..

I don't own either Gail or JBL now. I have owned and repaired a lot of JBLs.  C45 ranger is not an audiophile speaker according to some, but then I didn't ask them either.

One of my favorite systems to listen to. JBL C45, Mac driven. (My Dads set up, he owned an Edsel too.)

BUT I listen to a Victrola too..

Your speakers will need a little attention, the crossover boards will need new parts and speaker surrounds. Replace the green end copper wire inside. 3-500.00 usd would be a real push on repair cost or parts. If you can do any of it.. 

As far a the speaker being horizontal vs vertical, they image better vertical, just like any MTM setup.. Horizontal you really have to toe them in to get the inside and outside drivers to sound correct

Your Dad had great taste.. Excellent speakers..

Regards

I have to say, there's been some great comments on this post. I've been members of many forums previously, mostly photographic, and this is probably the most helpful one I've used.

Much like photography, I can appreciate the nature of hi-fi and the rabbit hole mentality of getting bigger and better equipment.

I grew up listening to these speakers, but were switched out for something smaller about 20 years ago. I was always facinated by the sound and saw some (wooden ones) at an AirBnb a few years back and was instantly reminded of how awesome they were!

The foam thing may well be an issue and I'll remove the chrome caps to take a closer look and Vinatgegale has some great info. :)

Many thanks again for your warm welcome and advice, I look forward to delving into the world of Hi-Fi, if only brief. :)

Best,
C

@c27078
Sorry for your loss.

I’d follow owner’s/previous owners advice regarding the amp (within a reasonable budget for me) and enjoy them, especially if they reminded me of my dad.

Consider letting your motivations toward stereo gear and music evolve. You may find streaming music to your setup is all you want/need.

Above all, don’t be tortured by the damm stuff. It’s a stereo. You’re the master- it’s the slave. Do what you comfortably can afford to pay and spend time enjoying. Run your race, my friend.


Best-

With due respect to c27078, while these speakers are wonderful period pieces and striking in their day, with captivating aesthetics if in good condition, they are not exceptional performers in todays environment. They have an average complement of drivers, with no extreme bass extension, so they will not be able to handle well contemporary music with lots of LF. I have not analyzed their internals, but it is likely given the period, that they would have a lot of cabinet noise associated with the design and therefore have a fair bit of distortion from it, occluding the mid/treble. That's just the way it is with such speakers from the past. If there is access to the back, or through the drivers, you could add some dampening material to lessen that ringing of the cabinet. I had the opposite problem with the Ohm Walsh Model F; the thing was SO damped with heavy foam that it was literally killing the beauty, so I removed half of it from the cabinet and the speaker started to shine. 

Their magic is if you can put them in the Landscape orientation, which struck many who heard them as impressive. Well, yeah, I have been doing work with Landscape orientation for years. I noticed it first in the studio, where monitors are used sideways, so I thought I would mimic it. Of course it is a great treat to shift the soundstage horizontal vs. vertical. I have written about it in reviews of the Daedalus Ulyssses, Magnepan .7, and PureAudoProject Trio15 Horn1 reviews at Dagogo.com 

The irony of that is there are some who by their skepticism and lack of experience discount or condemn such things. Quite apart from actual use/experience they mock, condemn etc. Great for them! They don't have to enjoy the cool experience of Landscape! Let them sit with their impoverished experiences! You, OTOH, have a treasure in that these speakers will give you something that 99% of speakers of any pedigree will not, the Landscape orientation. They are worth working into the mix for that reason alone. It is the Landscape orientation that makes speakers like the Gale 401 special. If your intent is to use them Portrait, similar to regular speakers, then you may as well move on if not enthralled. Imo, it would be a shame to have the capability of Landscape and not pursue it. Then again, I had people telling me that I needed to spend up to $7K to completely overhaul the Ohm Walsh Model F speakers, and that was not my objective. So, do as you wish. 

If this is all you can afford in terms of a system, then build it the best you can and be happy. However, it is nowhere near - as typical of the bulk of vintage speakers - what is available today, of course at much higher prices as performance escalates. If this speaker whets your appetite for better, do not think for a moment the Gale is the end of the road. Not even close. People who suggest so are ignorant of the actual performance spectrum of systems. 

I place this speaker properly in the category of the Ohm Walsh Model F, which is similarly interesting but seriously compromised in performance. I suggest you spend time with it, enjoy it for all the right reasons, and if that's the ultimate goal, great! It will bring much joy. If, however, in time you pine for more, then perhaps you can keep it as a causal speaker somewhere else in the home and seek a higher performance setup. But, that most likely would differ significantly because most speakers nowadays are not Landscape but Portrait orientation. Imo, you have a potential win/win with the Gale and adding another transducer in time. 

Sorry for your loss. @douglas_schroeder ’s distinction between the casual "good enough" listener and the more serious efforts at trying to reproduce an approximation of live or real music in your room is a good one. Having said that, you might nonetheless choose to keep the speakers, not only for sentimental value, but for the coolness factor if you can afford to treat them as a core part of a secondary system which doesn’t require that you invest serious money in the overall system. I remember them from back in the day, doubt I ever heard them, they are sort of Bose 901-ish on stands but looked more expensive. To me, they are cool in a dated modern design aesthetic. You might have some fun with this even if you don’t intend to become a hobbyist, etc.

I would invest in a quality vintage 100+watt/channel power amp and pre amp to power them so you can make them shine a lot of the british speakers like current to sing and buying vintage will save you a lot of money over new and sound better too.

Assume you are in the UK (Richer Sounds).

Some of the Creek and Roksan amplifier models, though not super high wattage, were very stable running into 4 ohm loads.

Probably other local brands as well, but guessing that the two mentioned should be readily available on the used market for a reasinable price.

DeKay

It was the first stand mount that took my breath away. I thought the guy that owed them was kidding about how they just disappeared and imaged so well in the showroom. They were set up vertical on Bose 901 stands. LOL the Bose 901s sat in the corner and these took their place.. No sub speakers, nothing fancy.

A Fisher tube preamp, Phase Linear Solid State power amp, Tuner, Turntable and some cables. About an hour of moving speakers. I remember we flipped them upside down and the tweeter sounded quite a bit better.

It was the first time, I could close my eyes and place where the band members were on the stage right in front of you. but NOT get the WIDE baffle (at the time) bass BANG BOOM crap. 10-12 foot triangle set up.

The new War album had Low Rider and Cisco Kid. Lot of congas in that music with great vocals. Great speakers sound great, but bad speakers sound BAD, kind of music.. These were really really great. James Brown kind of funk o delic delight.. LOL

1-200 watts @ 8 ohms and double down to two (2) is great, but class d will do the trick at a great price. The speakers are a hard load, but todays amps no problem.. I wouldn’t use Valves (Tube) power amps, these speakers dip pretty low.. BUT the preamp side I sure would.

I make no bones about it. I like tone control so I CAN color the music the way I like..

Brought back some memories.. Great speakers..

Regards

I have a pair of fully refurbished GS401A speakers, here are my thoughts on them:

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7324

If you live in the UK, David Smith at www.vintagegale.com is an invaluable source  of help if you want to have your speakers refurbished, a wonderful guy to work with. These speakers may be +40 years old, but, after refurbishment they will give a lot of very expensive speakers a run for their money. Plus, they look stunningly beautiful IMHO.

GFi and DougS +1

Decades and decades ago I saw them reviewed in a audio mag. My local dealer had them. I was so excited to hear them as their design perfectly fit my home decore.

The salesman, many might know, was Steve Zipser. He took the time to let me listen, then switched to a pair of Ed Long Time Alignment speakers, which I purchased. He and I became fast friends. I even spoke at his wedding to GiGi

Yes to high power SS, it would be awesome to try the Voyager GaN amp. Mine could be here tomorrow or Saturday

you might contact these people

http://www.vintagegale.com/

this indicates the midrange driver was it's winning feature

http://listeninn.com/Website/Used-Speakers/Gale-GS401-Info.htm

I would not remove the level controls initially, rather benefit from them. get them going properly, then consider the suggestion above.

First, be aware of the two sources of advice in audiophilia; the "good enough" camp, which are typically budget audiophiles, and those who seek a premium experience wherein cost is a secondary consideration.
Your system and listening will vary widely based on whose advice you accept.

My condolences on your loss; September 9 will be the first anniversary of my father's call Home. The sting of death can be acute; if you wish to chat privately, I invite you to do so.

Please do not take this next thought as though it is callous; an audio system does not care whether you have emotions, ties to the equipment. If your goal is to continue in the vein your father did, with similar amplification, etc, that is a personal decision, but such decisions do affect performance. Like persons who feel obligated to the deceased to hang on to inherited stock and not sell it, even if underperforming, hanging on to the inherited amp or a similar genre of amp may give you a less rich experience.

You will get many responses with a very wide range of recommendations. You will likely end up more confused at the end than at the beginning. But, that's ok, you select your preferences and move ahead. Choices are open-ended in this hobby, changes readily available. If you don't want to wade through all this, then go to a dealer and let him/her give guidance. My advice in regard to preferences and amp selection is this; if you put a lower powered tube amp on those speakers, you will get a more warm, syrupy sound with less resolution, a more romantic sound. I suggest you stay away from SET (Single Ended Triode) amps, as matching them to speakers can be tricky, and frankly, imo several aspects of performance lack unless paired with different, even more efficient speakers. 

If you go higher power solid state, you should hear more dynamic impact, more taut bass, but potentially with more upper end presence and perhaps too much stridency for you. Only a listen would tell; no one here can declare/predict what you would prefer, and only a setup with an amp would suffice to show what satisfies. There is a very wide range of amp performance with any given speaker, so do not accept anyone's claim that they know the "perfect" amp for it. I suggest you attempt to get on loan a couple different genres of amps to try against the Richersounds. 

If you want to make it a project, a hobby activity, look for local amps you can buy and try. You will be astounded at the difference in outcomes. Then, as you wish to upgrade the system, you can have fun with all sorts of changes, including cabling (Power cords, interconnects, speaker cables, etc.) source, etc. It's a beautiful hobby and many ways to play, i.e. collector of media emphasis, or "gear head" who rotates gear. I love variety, so the speaker would be one of several different genres, or I could rotate DACs, or if I used analog I could have a turntable with several arms and cartridges, etc. I hope you find great joy in the hobby as did your father. 

I am a reviewer, so I point you to my article on an amp of particularly high sound quality in my experience, the Legacy Audio i.V4 Ultra (can also be configured as i.V2 Ultra, which would mean a two channel unit, or it can come configured as Monoblock, with one channel per amp) at Dagogo.com.

The amp I have recommended is a class D design, and some here will rail against that. So be it. I have no interest in arguing with anyone on my recommendation.  

,

• 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

What condition are the woofer surrounds in? If they are foam they may need replacement. Foam ages poorly and rots away!

They were built in England during the 70's. They came in two finishes - Walnut and Chrome. The Chrome version came with a pair of chrome tubular metal stands for horizontal placement. They are a 4 ohm impedance speaker of moderate sensitivity. A solid-state amp of 100 wpc@4 ohms will be adequate.