Gallo Ref 3's for musician?


Friends, I am building a new system for my practice space and would appreciate your thougts. I am a semi-professional musician (get paid but not enough to eat) with tenot sax and clarinet as main horns. I am working a on my improvisational skills by playing along with the greats - Stitt, Ammons, Bill Evans, Brubeck, and Getz, and with vocalists like McCrae and Cassandra Wilson. I am particularly into samba these days as well. My practice space is appx 13'x30' with sheetrock walls, carpet over concrete. The ceiling is a sloping cathedral. Speaker placement is unlimited in the room, and there is very little furniture, all of which can be moved as needed.
My needs are simple, though perhpas not simple to satisfy. I am a student of technique and tone. I want a speaker that is accurate; one that, to the extent possible, faithfully reproduces the true tone, color and pitch of the recorded instruments. And I need a speaker that throws a wide soundstage. When I honk along, I tend not to stay in one place, but try to find a spot that places me in the group. I am also looking for a speaker that has a good vertical stage as well - that sounds strong whether standing or sitting.
After some initital research I came across the Gallo's. The words people use seem to match my needs with regards to accuracy and soundstage and overall musicality. As there is no dealer within reach (according to the Gallo website), I am looking to you folks for your thoughts and suggestions in the $2k range - new or used.
I am also looking at Rogue componants, on the lower end or an integrated like the Tempest Magnum, PL Prologue 2 or the Cayin a88. I like the idea of being able to fine tune the sound with tubes.
I appreciate your assistance and thoughts.
deliberate1

Showing 3 responses by dopogue

The Gallos certainly throw a wide soundstage and do not restrict you to a narrow "sweet seat" location. To me they rank very high from an "overall musicality" standpoint. I've heard them described as height-challenged, but I don't hear that, though I do have mine up on 6" stands. You should be able to get a used pair cheaply enough (say $1300-1500 if you bide your time) that you can flip them at little loss if they don't work out to your satisfaction. Good luck, Dave
Whoa, there, Richard. Remember that the Gallos you first heard and loved at my
place were -- and are -- driven by 12 wpc of SET power, in an 18 x 40' room.
They LOVE tubes. And they do NOT need high current amps to shine.

Not that this has anything at all to do with the original poster's thoughts and
concerns :-)
A few notes. I see there's a pair here on Audiogon today being sold by a dealer who's asking $1845. Says the original MSRP was $3,000, but when they were introduced they cost $2595 (got mine for $2500 new). All this is just to help you in bargaining :-)

As to tube vs. SS watts, there's something in what you say about the greater "oomph" from a tube watt, but I know for a fact that some of the pre-production tweaking was done using a 10 watt SS amp. I think the Gallos must have a very benign impedance curve, because their 88 dB sensitivity suggests that low powered amps shouldn't work. Yet they do, at least some of them, like mine. Feel free to contact me off-line if you think I might be able to help further. Dave