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Gallo Acoustics Reference 3.5 Loudspeaker (TAS 209)

Gallo Acoustics Reference 3.5 Loudspeaker (TAS 209)

Improving the breed is the imperative that drives high-end design. But few meld high concept and superior sonics into one as organically as Anthony Gallo of Gallo Acoustics. Defying box-speaker clichés, Gallo is known for its spherical loudspeaker creations for both home theater and high end, and has polished and popularized the orb-look to an out-of-this-world standard. Its flagship, the Gallo Acoustics Reference 3.5, is a smart revision of the popular and critically well-received Reference 3.1. Like its forebear it’s a four-driver, three-way floorstander that’s virtually baffle-free. Though it takes a keen observer to note the evolutionary changes between Gallo’s latest and the Ref 3.1, virtually every element has been honed and refined. The silhouette of the Ref 3.5 remains playfully interplanetary, a combination of Droid-like invention and college-level astronomy project. The construction of the Ref 3.5 appears deceptively simple. Lacking the traditional box cabinet it’s almost skeletal in appearance, with its three uppermost transducers clinging near the top of a raked, black-powder-coated, aluminum spine which in turn merges along and around the sealed, side-firing, canister-loaded woofer directly above the bottom plinth.

In terms of the driver array, the Ref 3.5 employs Gallo’s patented CDT 3 piezoelectric tweeter—also known as a Cylindrical Diaphragm Tweeter. It covers the 3kHz-and-up range and is positioned between a pair of sealed, 4” carbon-fiber midranges that sport newly machined stainless steel midrange bezels specially coated and optimized for vibration reduction. The cluster is fully time-aligned and like the original performs crossover-free above 125Hz. The largest improvement is its custom ceramic-coated aluminum-cone 10” woofer, which is lighter and faster and goes deeper. The Ref 3.5 is designed to be wired in two possible configurations—via standard single-wiring or, for the last word in bass extension, by using the second set of binding posts in concert with Gallo’s S.A. subwoofer amplifier and integrated active crossover/bass EQ ($1000)). This setup activates the woofer’s secondary voice coil via a low-pass filter. Optimally it will add 10Hz more extension—good enough to expand response into the true-subwoofer 20–30 cycle range.

A brief word on the CDT. Unlike a conventional dome tweeter, this transducer doesn’t operate via voice coil and magnets. Instead a matching transformer passes the signal across the conductive surface of the diaphragm—an aerospace plastic membrane known as Kynar that is polarized with a pure silver-coating. Its advantages are its very low mass and huge surface area and a nearly 180 degrees dispersion, as compared with a more typical soft dome.

As before, the aluminum chassis is filled with Gallo’s S2 air-density treatment. Not just the commonplace fibrous damping material, S2 offers a volumetric efficiency that effectively encourages drivers to respond as if they’re seeing a larger enclosure. The composition of the plinth has been modified, as well. It’s made of Garolite, a resin laminate that is both dense and inert, which Gallo reports further damps resonances. Rather than spikes or footers beneath the base, Gallo has added a viscoelastic gel material that also helps decouple the Reference 3.5 from the floor.

The system played contentedly on about 100Wpc, but eagerly gobbled up all the 200Wpc power the Audio Research DSi200 could throw at it. Sensitivity has been modesty improved and is listed at 88dB with a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, but the speaker doesn’t seem quite that efficient in practice. Heavy-duty, long-throw woofers in small-volume enclosures need power to keep them chugging along, and the Ref 3.5 makes no bones about that fact. Bottom line—the more power the better.

Open Door Policy

It may seem counterintuitive, but there’s a surefire way to glean a great deal about the general tonal character of a loudspeaker—leave the room. That is, listen to it while doing other things elsewhere. It’s a test I routinely enjoy, using a good piano or jazz quartet recording. More often than not if I hear a certain sense of liveliness, weight, and warmth, and get the subliminal feeling of phantom musicians playing in a nearby room, those very same impressions are reinforced when I actually sit down for a serious listen. Predictably, the Gallo with its wide-dispersion tweeter and open design excelled at this casual test. And what I heard was a speaker that plays with a full deck of sonic virtues. It conveyed classic yin-like performance where smoothness, warmth, and darker shadings prevailed. This was not a hot, dry or aggressive speaker on a tonal rampage to extract every ping, squeal, and snap from the margins of a recording.

Its tonal balance is relaxed and full-bodied, especially as it attends to the crucial lower mids and upper bass. These are the octaves where many speakers prune away dBs in order to elicit details, and manufacture a focus factor that’s as momentarily tempting as it is ultimately regrettable. If you regard the sound of a concert grand piano as sacrosanct like I do, it’s an untenable trade-off. Obviously someone at Gallo enjoys a concert grand or a strong baritone voice because the Ref 3.5 tonally nails them.

Bass response is uniform and tuneful, with good pitch and dynamics, and in my room it was rock-solid-flat into 40 Hertz region with copious usable response a bit further down. But the REF 3.5 is not a bone-rattler in the Magico V2 or KEF 203/2 sense of the word. The Ref 3.5 is not a massive speaker. It’s designed to be compatible in reasonable settings, but even driven by a muscular integrated amplifier like the ARC it runs short of breath and dynamic energy wavers slightly—something I noted listening to the talking drum patterns rather too-sudden decay during Jennifer Warnes’ “Way Down Deep.”

Its ease with micro-dynamics, air, and dispersion are revelatory in this or any price range. Much of the credit is due to the CDT; its hemispherical dispersion and surface area convey a blissfully smooth and broad soundstage. As I listened to the complex multitracking, delicate acoustic guitar flourishes, and thunderous drum timbres sweeping across the deep soundstage during Dire Straits’ “Private Investigations” from the newly remastered Love Over Gold LP [Warner], I noted how the entire room seemed to energize and breathe as a single organic element, completely free of box enclosure colorations, baffle reflections, and inter-driver artifacts.

Spatial relationships define the Ref 3.5 like no other factor. It does not lock one’s head into a single listening alignment. Actually it exhibits traits more commonly found with pure omni-radiators. It called to mind the MBL 121 I reviewed a few years ago. I loved that speaker, but had reservations about the omni-directional radiation pattern that I felt often added more information to the soundstage than could have existed in the recording itself. There is one crucial difference which to me improves the Ref 3.5 over that vaunted and frankly beloved German omni. The Gallo brilliantly balances a pair of competing imperatives. Namely image specificity and its more flighty twin, acoustic immersion. Jennifer Warnes’ title track “The Hunter” is a perfect example of how it places the images of a string quartet, each instrument in its own orientation defined by distances fore and aft as well as side to side. The sense of the unwavering image as it relates to the immediate air and regional soundspace has never been bettered in my listening room. To my mind this can only occur when the loudspeaker is not signaling itself out as a source. The result is a speaker that’s easy to listen to for lengthy stretches, graceful, full bodied, with brilliant soundstaging and dimensionality and musicality.

The new woofer may not be the fastest one I’ve heard of late, but its rich meaty bass response allows it to impart the full resonance and bloom off the skins of Russ Kunkel’s languid drumming during James Taylor’s iconic track “Fire and Rain.” However, at the same moment, if you listen closely it will register that Kunkel is striking the snare with brushes not sticks—which back in 1969 was a technique reserved for jazz players not rock drummers. This is the sort of balancing act—low-level detail and dynamic energy—that time and again saw the Ref 3.5 scoring major musical points. As a personal aside, a thumbs up to this particular 180-gram reissue of Sweet Baby James. It was mastered from the original analog mastertapes and sounds superb, far better than the original U.S. Warner pressing. In many ways it’s more comparable to the fuller and extended British orange-label pressing

A couple of carps and cavils. On a cut like “The Finer Things” from Steve Winwood’s 12” single [Island] or Linda Ronstadt’s “Blue Bayou” [Asylum], there’s a short rise in the upper harmonic region of the vocals that accents articulation and adds traces of sibilance. Similarly, the cymbal crashes during the Winwood—a repetitive accent used throughout this track—sometimes loses the full residual bloom, as if reflecting too much leading edge gleam and not enough of the fundamental timbre.

My other kvetch is the lowered acoustic ceiling when reproducing large acoustic venues like the Troy Savings Bank from Laurel Massé’s Feather and Bone. True, the Ref 3.5 is not particularly tall but during symphonic performances it felt as if the shades had been drawn down slightly over the full musical landscape. Although much improved over the original Ref, I could still hear that height sensitivity remains a factor. Since I listen to speakers in a smaller room, it would be likely that this anomaly would be less of a factor if the Ref 3.5 were positioned at a greater distance. But this is also a characteristic of D’Appolito-inspired groupings of mid-tweet-mid drivers—a configuration that tends to focus music along the listener’s horizon, reducing ceiling and floor reflections by restricting vertical dispersion. On the one hand, it does focus vocals and movie dialogue, but, on the other, it weighs against achieving grand acoustic scale and ambience.

Like a mature vintage wine the Ref 3.5 walks in the footsteps of its predecessors and surpasses all of their achievements. Gallo-watchers will note, however, that the price has also increased significantly in the nearly five years since the 3.1 was introduced, placing the Reference 3.5 squarely in the sights of competitive efforts from Sonus faber, Revel, and Magnepan. But that doesn’t diminish the level of achievement. The Reference 3.5 is a sure-footed, disciplined, and musically involving speaker that executed virtually all that I asked of it. Minor quibbles aside, the Ref 3.5 deserves an unhesitatingly high recommendation. And if deep, carefully, crafted soundscapes really stir your imagination, then experiencing the Gallo is an absolute must.

SPECS & PRICING

Drivers: 3” CDT, (2) 4” mid, 10” woofer
Frequency response: 34Hz–20kHz ±3dB
Nominal impedance: 8 ohms
Sensitivity: 88dB
Dimensions: 35” x 8” x 16”
Weight: 47 lbs.
Price: $5995/pr

ANTHONY GALLO ACOUSTICS
20841 Prairie Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311
(818) 341-4488
roundsound.com

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
Sota Cosmos Series III turntable; SME V tonearm; Sumiko Palo Santos, Ortofon, 2M Black; JR Transrotor Phono II; ARC CD5, ARC DSi200, EAR 834; Synergistic Tesla Apex, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse; Audioquest WBY interconnects; Synergistic Tesla, Hologram, Wireworld Silver Electra & Kimber Palladian power cords.

By Neil Gader

My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.

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