Gallo Review from Bound for Sound

Balls of sound

Tasty, but will these speakers rock or roll?

The original gallo micro system has been widely regarded as a landmark surround sound speaker package for years, combining cmpact,funky design with great audio performance. This new version offers titanium drivers in an effort to make them sound even sweeter.

Audio quality is superb, with the new drivers seeming to add even more clarity, depth and detail. On a dialogue-heavy movie such as Stander, the actors' voices are projected clearly, with little of the muffling you often find. Equally, in the film's early riot scene, surround effects zip around with great energy, giving a feeling of sitting right in the middle of the chaos. The subwoofer isn't a real heavyweight in the bass department, but provides fast-paced sound that fits very well with the satellites.

As with most small sub/sat packages, this one falls down slightly with music, as the subwoofer has to work far too hard. If you only listen to tunes at lower volumes then it's not too bad, but you will notice a difference at higher wolumes, where there's a distinct lack of mid-range. Tracks such as Wires by Athlete sound a bit too strained and thin.

The design, which has become iconic, is still much the same - the sats are cute little spheres, about four incles across. The only visual difference is that those precious tiny titanium cones are now protected by metal grilles, rather than the old fabric coverings. Even the sub looks a little different, like a big section of pipe.

As a discreet 5.1 system, there are no products that can touch this in terms of performance or style - and it's a distinct improvement over the old version. You can get better sound for the money but only with bigger, uglier boxes. So why not flaunt it?