Gallo reference /TAS vs Me

I too had the same experience with the Gallo's ounding "closed in" and dissapointing. After reading the sparkling review on Six Moons I thought that I should give them a go before I dropped the coins on new mains. However, after about 30 min. of listening I was underwhelmed. One of the most surprising factors was that physical size was much smaller than I expected...not a bad thing..just different than I imagined after looking at them in pictures. I must say though, that they seemed remarkably well built and are very eye catching indeed. I will invest a second listen...

I have not heard the Gallo refernce 3 yet, but have read the Absolute Sound. They did state that the amplifier was very important - "top shelf amplification may be needed". I plan on auditioning them. I hope I can find a dealer that has them set up properly.

Tlerpan1,

The Gallos require some set-up experimentation for best results. I ended up with the woofers facing each other and the speakers toed-in to nearly directly face the listing position. This position puts the image height at about 5' to 6', which is similar to nearly every other speaker I've auditioned. I found that with the speakers facing directly ahead, the image height was far too low in my listening room, maybe only 2' or 3' from the floor.

Jeff

After reading some of the comments above about the Gallo sounding closed in I feel compelled to write that something had to be wrong as the pair I heard were very open, detailed and immediate.

I really like the design of this speaker too because it has no crossover from 125 hz on up and is easy to drive.

I have been living with the Ref 3's for a couple of weeks now. 'Closed in' would be the farthest thing from my experience I could come up with to describe their sound. They are fantastically open and revealing in my system.

In fact, they sound too prominent in the upper mids/lower treble in my room. Because of a door and power sources, I have to place the speakers at the short wall and fire them along the long wall. This may cause a first reflection room interaction that accentuates the upper mids. The 300 degree-dispersion tweeter may need more "breathing room" than the 32 inches (to the side walls) I am giving them. Despite the open-celled, rippled foam I have placed at those reflection points, I still hear a fatiguing, forward, ("shouty") upper-mid prominence.

Does anybody else have a similar problem with the Gallos?

Putting the upper mid-prominence aside (which may be unique to my set up), the Nucleus Ref 3's open up a detailed, light, and airy window on the source material that surprised me---especially for their price. (My reference is the Coincident Super Eclipse.) Their sound stage height is not an issue with me. The sound stage height is in proportion with the whole picture; it is somewhat like listening from the first row, mezzanine or balcony at a symphony hall---where the sound is often best anyway--and looking down slightly at the stage. Lowering the listening position compensates for this--if you don't like it.

I would like to bring the Gallos to a dealer to test them against other speakers in a different room just to find out what happens. Maybe that upper-mid shouting will be proven to be in my setup only.

I am currently listening to the Gallos with a pair of 95-watt, triode, push-pull mono blocks (Cary SLAM-100s) and also inserted the Berning ZH-270 amp. Do folks out there have a take on whether the Gallo Ref 3's "like" solid state or tube amps?