Gallo Review from Bound for Sound

The Reference III Loudspeaker from Gallo

3-way loudspeaker
In 1998 we covered the original Gallo Nucleus Reference loudspeaker. To this day, it is still one of the better loudspeakers to be auditioned by BFS. Were I to establish a hall-of-fame for loudspeakers listened to in the Big Rig and reviewed herein, a few models come to the fore as first ballot shoe-ins: The Scientific Fidelity Crown Joule would be in, as well as the VMPS RM40, the Jovian Pillars from Amrita, the Merlin VSM and the Silverline LaFolia. At, or near, the top of the list would be the original Nucleus Reference (including Bassballs). Each speaker contained two round aluminum spheres as chassis for a 6.5" woofer drivers; the visual effect being something like a large metal eyeball with the driver being the iris. The spheres were stacked one above the other, the top sphere wearing what looked to be a fez. But hats aren't allowed in the listening room. The cylinder on top of the upper sphere was actually a 360 degree film tweeter capable of spanning the super-sonic with ease. For reasons that I don't know, the speaker was discontinued a year or so later as Tony focused his efforts on smaller music reproducing spheres with 3" drivers and home theater applications. This didn't keep the Reference from becoming a true collectors item and a loudspeaker classic. I can't tell you the number of calls and e-mails we received regarding the old Reference and persons wanting to buy them new, used or in any condition they could be found in.

We now have the new Nucleus Reference3, and to say that expectations are soaring is to only state the obvious. Factor in the history of the speaker with a price that (in light of the inflationary price tendencies of everything from gasoline, to milk, to phono cartridges) is nothing less than reasonable, makes this story all the more interesting. In spite of all the press attention given to $5,000+ audio products in recent years, all of audio still loves a bargain.

Tale of the tape
Look at the photos. It will no doubt help in understanding my description to follow. The speaker is a 3-way design utilizing a series crossover between the woofer and two midrange drivers. I understand that there is no electrical crossover between the midrange drivers and the tweeter. Hence, the Reference3 is crossover-less from 125 Hz through 50 kHz. Designs like this tend to be more phase correct than parallel designs, while tracking dynamic contrasts more accurately (better contrasts with less ringing). The speaker does not have a cabinet as cabinets are usually thought of.... there is no box. Nominal impedance is 8 Ohms, with a sensitivity of 88 dB. Dimensions are: 36" x 8" x 16" (HWD). The weight of one speaker is 47 lbs. The mid/tweeter configuration is MTM with 4" carbon fiber mid drivers, and the aforementioned CDT film tweeter with a -3dB point of 50 kHz. The woofer is a 10" long throw with a dual voice coil (one coil for standard operation and a second coil for sub-woofer use). The woofers are not forward firing, instead being placed on the side of a woofer pan that will point in or out. The metal backbone of the speaker is hollow, and is used as part of the woofer enclosure, effectively adding volume for the rear wave of the woofer. The tweeter has a switch for +2 or -2 dB of adjustment for different room situations. Build quality is superior.

Set-up
The Reference3 has exceptionally wide dispersion characteristics. The tweeter, due to being placed up against the backbone of the speaker, has a dispersion pattern of only (!) 300o instead of the 360o of the original. Lateral dispersion is nearly perfect. Vertical dispersion is limited, but not nearly to the extent found with the two ribbons used with the VMPS RM40. Standing up from the listening position resulted in the highs being attenuated, but not terribly so - very listenable still. In the past, speakers with very wide dispersion characteristics have proven problematic in terms of room placement. That's simply not the case here. With the round spheres acting as enclosures for the mid drivers, they disperse in much the same way as the tweeter does. As a result, not only does this speaker have the widest sweet spot I've come across, it's one of the easiest speakers I know of to place in the room. Thinking of HR Weiner's review of the Walsh Ohm loudspeaker last month, those speakers and the Reference3 must image and stage in similar ways. The only real placement concern is with the woofer. Tony suggests that most people will want to point the woofers "out." In the Big Rig, I tried listening to the speakers both ways, but in the end, ended up with the woofers pointing "in." That, however, may have more to do with the configuration of my listening room than anything else. In my set-up, there were fewer frequency irregularities with the woofers pointing in. This feature, it seems to me, presents more of an opportunity than a placement dilemma. If your speaker options are limited, the ability to face the woofers in or out basically doubles what you are able to do.

This speaker is not bi-wireable. It may appear that way - but it is NOT! Each speaker does indeed have two sets of terminals on its backside. It looks like a bi-wire arrangement, but don't be fooled. If you remember your Loudspeaker Crossover 101 rules, you will recall that one cannot bi-wire a series crossover. In this case the upper set of terminals on each speaker is for full range operation. The lower set of terminals is for a second voice coil on the subwoofer which runs full range if hooked to your amp. You need a low pass outboard crossover to run the second voice coil. Running the second coil will extend the bass response of the loudspeaker to around 22 Hz. But if you try and run it without a low pass filter, say bi-wiring it from a single amp, the speaker will sound ultra bass heavy, thick and slow. My speakers came without an owners manual, so I hooked it up like any bi-wireable speaker.... I was wondering how I was going to give Tony the bad news regarding the sound. Turns out I won't have to. The second voice coil has an impedance of 4 Ohms.

Going from the 92 dB efficient VMPS RM40s to the Reference3 at 88 dB was noticeable. The Gallo speaker took more power, but being an easy 8 Ohm load, I think it was a more friendly load to drive than the VMPS. Unlike the RM40, the Gallo could be driven by anything (even tubes) having 50 wpc or more. As long as one isn't trying to drive the subwoofer voice coil, the speaker was actually tube friendly. Tony was able to put out some serious sound pressure levels in Las Vegas using one of the smaller Rogue amps.

The Reference3 comes with tall and short spikes for floor placement. The tall spikes are for the front of the speaker, while the short spikes go in back. Each speaker comes with a tweeter adjustment switch, with which, one can move up or down 2 dB (I used the flat setting). However, one can also change the spectral balance of the speaker by adjusting the amount of backward tilt. Raising the back of the speaker up moves the mids and tweeter driver forward and up. As you move the rear of the speaker up, the highs become more pronounced and forward. Very small changes can make for large sonic variations. I ended up not adding any height to the rear of the speaker, but I can picture some rooms where the added spectral flexibility could be a benefit.

The footprint of the speaker is narrow, and I expected some unsteadiness (rocking) from side to side. The speaker turned out to be sufficiently stable, as the placement of the woofer lowers the center of gravity enough that it resists tipping to an acceptable degree. Although the speakers look a little odd and alien, my wife gave them a big thumbs-up when it came to room appearance and the so called "wife acceptance factor." She has ended up liking the speakers a great deal, not so much based on sound, as on their compact size and cuteness; she keeps telling me how great they would look in her office.

So often, we as audiophiles, extol the desirability of synergy in a system, but seldom are specific recommendations made. Well, I have a suggestion as respects synergy and the Reference3 loudspeaker. Having used this speaker with a number of amplifiers so far (four actually), one amplifier stood out as far and away the superior with the Gallo; it was the Edge G6 ($3,995). Not lacking expensive power amps of impeccable quality with which to play these loudspeakers (Sierra Olympia, Pass X350 as well as others), it was the Edge G6 that stole the show when matched up with the Gallo speakers. And it was more than a "My, isn't that a nice sound those two recreate." No, it was more like "Oh my, this is incredible. If I could only get all the BFS readers in the room to hear this!" kind of enthusiasm that rushed over me. I thought about great synergistic combos heard in the past like the Crown Joule with the LNPA 150 amps, the Counterpoint Solid Two with the Jovian Pillars, or the Symfonia Opus 10 with the Merlin VSM. Truly special pairings that excelled and crested the very good by being something special and basically inexplicably transcendent. I am of the opinion that the Edge/Gallo combination is very much in the excelling class. I would be remiss, however, were I not to include the fact that the homemade Lowe's speaker cables were very much a part of the wonderful results attained with that amp and the Reference3.1

Sonic qualities
Quite frankly, I expect good sound from Anthony Gallo products. Over the years, certain persons in the industry have proven themselves capable of consistently making quality audio gear regardless of the price point chosen. It's as if they have a "good music gene" that allows them to design equipment capable of capturing the essence of the music, as well as its energy and musical focus. It's probably sufficient to say that some have "it," while most do not. Tony has "it."

Inasmuch as I don't have the necessary equipment on hand to effectively utilize and assess the qualities of the second voice coil arrangement, this coverage will only look at the sonics of the speaker using the standard 3-way speaker cable hook-up. I'm hoping to be able to audition the "subwoofer," second voice coil hook-up at a later time.

That said, this is a wonderful little speaker. Even though the bass lacks the extension of some state-of-the-art contenders, the midrange and highs from the Reference3 makes most of the competition look like pretenders. Listening to this speaker conjures up enjoyable memories of the old Scientific-Fidelity Crown Joule; still, one of the finest speakers that I have ever heard.... but with some added bass energy.

Let's get the bass out of the way: It's good, but it's not great - at least without the second voice coil hooked up. The lower limit on this speaker is about 40 Hz. That's reasonably low for a speaker, but window rattling it is not. What the woofer on this speaker does best is make sure that the lower mids and upper bass do not thin out, or lose their body and presence. And it goes deep enough for most applications, especially in rooms that are not difficult to fill with bass energy (which my room kind of is). If it helps in making a buying decision (one way or the other) this speaker mates superbly with a sub of even modest aspirations; as long as the sub is capable of moving some air below 50 - 60 Hz. I mated the Gallo with a decent sub (M&K) and obtained excellent results, perhaps even better than those obtained with the RM40s. So, I'm talking serious stuff here. The speaker employs no equalization, and with the modest amount of air space for the rear wave, bass extension has no choice but to be limited. It's a physics thing baby! The bass from this speaker will get you by nicely, until you get nutty and want something comparable to the best, then you get a sub.

The finest qualities of this speaker do not reside in the bass. The Reference3 is a lower midrange to high frequency monster. Tony says that the spherical enclosures for the midrange drivers are responsible for the special performance levels these speakers attain. That's probably true in part. But I can't help but think that what one hears is a combination of things. The series crossover for example. Common to speakers utilizing series networks is a coherence and dynamic spontaneity that parallel networks can't really match (all things being equal). Now, couple that to nice drivers in spherical enclosures (no standing waves), and one of the better tweeters ever made, with drivers closely spaced, all on a boxless enclosure.... and how can you get a bad speaker? I also think that the similar dispersion patterns of the drivers help tie the music together, resulting in a more coherent wavefront. Do I have measured proof of this? Nope. But one listen to this speaker with good ancillary equipment in a familiar sonic environment and a moment of truth arises. A moment that causes one to assess the accuracy of all speakers heard before from the upper bass up, and if this kind of natural precision is your cup of musical bliss - grab it.

The Reference3 is good enough that a person not steeped in bias immediately knows, upon a single audition, that the speaker has taken a giant step toward musical truth in some very significant ways. Save the (in comparison) insanely expensive and ludicrously impractical Pipedreams, this speaker is so pristinely phase right that imaging and placement comparisons to anything I've heard become moot. In that regard, I am tempted to decry this speaker the grail which many seek. It portrays depth, not in layers, but in one continuous lay of the land. Boundaries and delineations that artificially divide the front from the middle from the rear are not there. Ambient information flows like sprays from a watering spigot as it fills and fills-in the sonic landscape in a seamlessly, fluid fashion. Ambient information and decays are neutral and complete to the point of making the test of transition from direct to reflected sound a non issue so perfect is the blending. I've heard single driver, crossoverless, tweako loudspeakers not be nearly so naturally whole and room filling. It is soothing to the senses to hear a reproduction that refuses to divide the music into segments at the crossovers and then attempt to put it back together as a singular entity at the drivers. Even the purest speakers fail to measure up in this regard. Yet it is this characteristic of the Reference3 that strikes me as being the finest of the fine (at least from the upper bass up through the treble).

Tone quality and detailing with this speaker are superbly balanced. Other than the RM40s when perfectly set-up, I have not crossed paths with a speaker so capable of striking the right equilibrium between string and wooden box, or voice and chest. And it does this so easily.

I'll mention one last thing, and for some, this might be considered a drawback. With my ears approximately nine feet from the plane of the speakers, image height did not exceed the top of the speakers (36 inches). Moving back from the speakers resulted in some extension of the image height, but only a little. To be honest, the strengths of the speaker so far outshone this aspect of the reproduction that it detracted from the performance not one bit.

Doing a quick comparison to the VMPS RM40, I have to say that the Gallo is a more coherent sounding design with fewer discontinuous moments. It's highs are also better integrated with the midrange On the other hand, the VMPS has greater dynamic capabilities, is more exciting energy wise, while being a tad more revealing of micro detailing, something I attribute to the wonderful planar drivers it employs. And yes, the VMPS has superior bass depth and power.

Conclusion
Not to jump to conclusions (heh, heh), but I think the Nucleus Reference3 has the potential to be a classic in the truest sense. Not since the Vandersteen 2 has a loudspeaker come on to the audio scene with such assuredness of success. Not since the Vandy has a speaker so outpaced the competition in terms of quality and value at its price point as has this Gallo loudspeaker. This is a very special speaker, especially when used with the Edge G6 power amplifier, the Lowe's speaker cable and a quality subwoofer.2 We, as audiophiles, lament the demise of the affordable product, yearning for days long ago when state-of-the-art didn't mean mortgaging one's home to own it. Quit your complaining. Loudspeaker value and performance has been re-defined and made affordable with the Gallo. The necessary sonic compromises that are assured when paying a tenth of what some deem necessary for optimized performance are present in this speaker, but are so uncannily hidden away that serious effort has to be made to cull them out and describe them accurately. Still, I know that this is an even better speaker than the original Reference from Tony; and I'm not sure that I have yet unearthed all this speaker is fully capable of doing.... Next month, a further comparison between the Gallo and the VMPS.

1. I gave some very specific instructions regarding the building of the Lowe's wires, please follow them. I've already had two calls telling me how well the cables perform in audiophile systems, only to find out during the discussion that reversing the direction of the positive and return had not been done. Follow all the instructions and you may not need another speaker cable - ever.

2. The subwoofer thing may be moot (though I've grown addicted to this speaker and the M&K), if one can find an outboard low pass filter to be used with second woofer voice coil. I'm hoping Tony will send something in that regard very soon!

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