Gallo Reference 3.1 with/without the subwoofer amp

Depends on your listening preferences, room size and associated gear. I would try them w/o the sub amp first and see how you like it. Some have gotten the sub amp and found it wasn't necessary for their needs. Other need and want the added effect. IMO, with the sub amp the Gallo's are competitive with some of the better full range speakers. But I will say depending on your associated gear, you may be suprised by the level of bass you can get w/o the sub amp. The Gallo's love current and get the impedance thing matched and your all set. I was consistently amazed at how they got better as the gear/system matching got better (as should be the case with a good gear.)

If you are using a high-current amp you can get away without one. But the SA works so well with the Ref 3.1's that I would strongly recommend it. Allows you to use a sweet little tube amp and still get solid, well-integrated bass.

or just spend a few bucks on a couple resistors?

http://www.10audio.com/gallo_ref3-1.htm

I have heard the 3.1s at my house and at friend's and we both preferred them better with a good sub instead of their amp. He returned the amp.

Tubes on top,a good SS on the subs, a Velodyne SMS to tie them together ,it is the only way to go.Raises the price of the speakers by $1k to $2k but is worth the price, on the plus side you can get there in steps.
Tony

Great q., as I am looking into that myself (I have a gallo 3.1 (5.1?!) system on order). The way I look at it is, if you are GOING to use a sub amp in order to have the speaker sound full range, then using the Gallo amp is the way to go, but as Grims states i would still use a SMS. My negatives about this arrangement are that bass frequencies are STILL tricky in most people's rooms, so where you put your monitors may not always be the best place for the sub freq., regardless of the SMS (which should improve things 2-fold. I also think that using a seperate sub will allow the main speaks to play all the other freq. with more ease. I guess another consideration is, if you will beusing the system for mostly music, like i am, u would want a pretty quick sub.
-Just my 2 cents.
Please let us know what you chose / do.

i just got a pair and was suprised by the amount of bass they had wihout the sub amp (this is with less then 20 hours on them).

I've only heard this mentioned in passing in forums,
but I'd like to see if anyone can confirm this:

I have an ARC Classic 60 on 3.1s in a small room,
(not the highest current amp of all time) and contrary
to a vast majority of forum threads have way, way too
much bass.... So much so that during bass heavy
parts of songs especially at high levels, the mids
will smear and get lost.

Highs and mids sound great in parts of same songs
w/o low end info.

The SA was actually suggested to me as a way to
DECREASE bass, adding SS dampening to the slow
woofer. I'm hoping this will help the midrange mud
I have from time to time. I've tried a few resistors
across the second terminals ala 10 Audio but results
were dubious at best.

I think more than an amp/speaker interface issue, you have room problems that need to be solved. Sounds like you and/or the speakers are in a room reinforcing mode, most likely 80-100 Hz. I would try moving youself and the speakers around a bit. And some well placed tube traps will soak up some of those standing waves.

Oz