Mcintosh xrt20 or Gallo 3.1??

Right Dan, because those are close to the price range of the others ha. I love the Gallo's, but every once in a while I miss the big full boomy sound of the old school speakers. Maybe I should just buy the sub amp that I have been resisting. Then again, might be smarter to save my dang money in this economy.

Yeah, it might be. I just got a call from my best friend - he got laid off today.

Definitely a sub amp/woofer would get you the boom effect. Have you tried different placements? I took me a quite a while to get my Ref 3.1s situated in a place where I was happy with them.

I've been working on placement, makes it rather fun as I have a warp in the floor around my speaker area, tons of laughs....not. I have them positioned right now so that each speaker points on its respective side about a foot away from where my head sits. I still can't decide if I like the closer or further apart though. On the plus side I drug out a pair of old Infinity's and having them in the room created a really nice bass effect.

Yeah, I know what you mean about the "classic" sound. If you look at my system you'll see I built some speakers that are a nice blend of new tech materials using CAD in an old school sealed box cabinet. I use them for my surround speakers (I play 80% stereo). Occasionally I listen to them as my main stereo speakers, just to get that warm rich baffle resonance :) Am even thinking of going to that next level and buying a tube amp to drive them: all just for nostalgia!

Now there is no doubt that both the Gallos Ref 3.1s I currently own and the KEF 104/2 I previously owned are better sounding speakers. No doubt at all. I love 'em, wouldn't trade'm and listen to them for hours on end. But every now and then, I do get nostalgic for warm overtones and resonance. Go figure!?

You might consider an in home trial of a pair of OHMs (www.ohmspeakers.com).

I use them with the A3CR amp and a tube DAC and pre and they are awesome. I auditioned the Gallo Ref's but prefer these and they have that nostalgic look and sound even perhaps you might take a liking to.