Gallo reference /TAS vs Me

Well, I will be going back again to listen more with a friend. They never sounded harsh or strident to me, but they also didn't sound better in the treble than my modified Kindel PLS-As...but the trebles are my worst range of sound to hear well.

On break-in, I believe firmly that transducers definitely benefit from wearing in, a settling, of all the parts. What's still a question for me is if this pair is or is not broken in, since the shop owner sort of laughed when I asked him on the fone if they were broken in. I guess I'll have to hear them in my home with my equipment before I spend money on them.

I'm still inclined to believe they're excellent-quality reproducers and excellent values at $2600; we'll see.
.

I have my pair for only about 3 weeks, and I can say the sound opens up dramatically even with partial break-in. Of the several stores I visited trying to find them in stock, none on display were broken-in to the extent recommended by Gallo (100-300 hours) -- and you could hear it. Now at home, with music the harshness had smoothed out (to the point where I changed the tweater level from -2db to 0). With HT, the soundstaging is much more open and the spacial effects (or is that "affects" ) are more engaging.

I'll be amping my Ref 3's subwoofer inputs this weekend with a Parashound Halo amp and a Outlaw Audio ICBM cross-over. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Teonyc,

How did the amping of your second voice coil on the Ref 3's sound?

The added amping of the second voice coil adds a nice tight depth to the sound. Surprisingly subtle at times, it obviously shows in bass-heavy material like hip/hop or dance. The ICBM unit works perfectly with an outboard amp to drive the second coils.

I would NOT recommend using the full-range Gallos in lieu of a subwoofer for HT, as suggested in the owner's manual. I've been testing various hook-ups with the new extended-version release of "LOTR--The Return of the King." You will still need an decent sub for the LFE effects. However running the Gallos full-range yielded a much-enhanced sound stage, and dynamic feel to the movie.

I've also replaced my rear surrounds with Gallo Dues which are a perfect match for the Ref 3s.

Ted

I haven't heard them yet, but when I went in to my local dealer he told me that he hated them and would not even buy one pair to show because he felt that they could not be sold. I couldn't believe that such a highly praised speaker could be that bad, but he was that confident in his opinion that he gave me the phone number of the rep to find a place to hear them for myself. If they were good wouldn't he want to make the profit on the sale?