Gallo 3.1 sounds slow and veiled...why?

Mapman, do you own a pair of Gallo Ref 3s?

No, but I have auditioned them and considered buying them at one point and have also done some research and read comments by owners as part of that.

Never heard them on a set amp.

I do not doubt they do some good things with a SET, particularly at lower volumes and with some kinds of music, but it would surprise me if any speakers in their efficiency category could be driven to the max off a SET, although those few watts available with a set probably do deliver maximum bang per watt.

Whether or not that matters to any particular listener, particularly SET affectionados, is a different thing. I'm just stating a mainly technical observation based on what I know. I could be wrong....

Fair enough. Here's where I'm coming from. I was running Gallo
Reference Ultimates (the top of the line predecessor speakers) with
the same amps and pretty much assumed that the Reference 3s might
not have enough power. I then heard from a man who knew my amps
and was involved in final pre-production testing of the Ref 3s and
encouraged me to buy a pair, saying that my amps would be ideal. He
further said that 10 watt amps of his own design were used
successfully in this pre-testing process.

He also knows my room -- 18 x 40' with a sizable "L" off
one of the 40' dimensions -- so we're not talking about small spaces.
I do use the Gallo SA subwoofer amp on the woofers' second voice
coils but I often forget to turn it on.

As to "driven to the max," of course not. But I've never
knowingly clipped the amps even with big band and orchestral
classical LPs and CDs. Three friends have bought Ref 3s after hearing
mine, so the amps must be doing something right. I've heard Ref 3s
driven by pretty powerful solid state amps (Musical Fidelity) and was
not terribly impressed. Others might well be terrific with them. Dave

Edit: If I had gone solely by how the Ref 3s sounded in the shop
where I bought them, I never WOULD have bought them :-)

The thing with SET amps I think is they clip and distort in a less harsh way than SS amps. That allows them to go louder than one would expect off a few watts.

Regarding SS, I think you have to throw the kitchen sink current-wise at speakers like these in order to max out the performance. My OHM speakers are similar. Less power and more current can trump more power but less current. I've found the Bel Canto enhanced IcePower designs accomplish this as good as anything. The sound is not unlike some more neutral sounding tube amps I have heard, but not tube like in the euphonic sense that many enjoy.

The Gallos are extremely easy to drive, with a benign (8 ohm) impedance curve and virtually no crossovers -- none at all between mids and highs and just a capacitor or two between woofer and mids.