Anthony Gallo Nucleus Micro's, a brief look

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Originally posted by Ian J


Who are you trying to kid :D

You're right. I have vowed with myself to stop coming here many times before and it never works. Maybe I need a more interesting job, or for them to take away my internet access.
 
Eric, sorry to blather on about the Eggs, but I am very interested to know why they 'didn't do it for you'. I'm close to making a decision about speakers for my AVC-A10SE (which currently just handles my music). The Micros are very appealing and I'm reluctant to compromise just because the Eggs are cheaper - I tend to keep kit a long time and the extra expense of the Micros would be quickly forgotten. However, the Eggs seem highly regarded and I don't want to pass them by without giving them a chance. 'Demo them' I hear people cry. Well, yes, I did hear them a year ago at my local Audio-T by hitching a ride with a friend (who ultimately chose the Mission flat-panel jobs), but frankly I don't find demos very effective. I believe the Eggs were fresh out of the box, the choice of demo material was awful and the sound was too loud for the room. So, back to your thoughts. You will have listened carefully, in near to ideal conditions, with a range of music and soundtracks, through excellent equipment. What I would like to know is how clean and friendly the Eggs sounded at moderate listening levels - I really don't like LOUD or HARD - and whether you think they would work well with my Q-Bass 50 REL sub. Feel free to point me in the direction of another review if that would serve as well.
 
Originally posted by Mr Pleasant
Eric, sorry to blather on about the Eggs, but I am very interested to know why they 'didn't do it for you'.
Hi,
When I said they didn't do it for me, I was in fact being very polite (sorry egg owners). I found them dreadfull and I really feel thats its actually unfair to compare the Eggs to the Gallo's, thats how big the difference is. With respect, if you are going to keep the system for a long time, I suggest its even more important to make the right decision.
Regards
Eric
 
Just a quick note to say thanks to Uncle Eric for his splendid service.

My two orders were dispatched to me quickly and safely (packed in 'E' and 'S' lettered polysterene packing chips :eek: )

My stainless steel gallos and black sub sound fantastic together, look great and were very easy to setup - even for a female novice like myself!

Also thanks to everyone who posted reviews of the Gallos on avforums - they are spot on!

Wing
 
Hi Wing,
You're very welcome. Glad you love your Gallo's and I know you will have many happy years of listening pleasure.
 
Uncle Eric,

Having auditioned both the Gallo's and the egg's in my room, I find it hard to see where your coming from when you say the eggs were dreadful. That is simply an absurd statement. The eggs better the Gallos in many ways.

The Gallos really are a variation on Bose. When you first hear them they sound great but they have a very bright sound compared to the eggs. There is a hole in the midrange which the sub has to fill in which means the sub becomes directional.

The eggs on the other hand have a much smoother presentation which doesn't grab you straight away like the gallos but on closer inspection give a much more natural and insightful presentation. The eggs actually have a midrange which the gallos cannot begn to match.

Now it depends on what your preference is. Personally a brash hard sound is very wearing to me and the eggs have a much more detailed presentation.

It is important to tell people what you like may not suit other people and that all speakers should be auditioned in the home before purchasing.

Before I get flamed, can I just point out that my audio system (not HT) is a full blown Naim active system which is very hard to better for clarity and power.

So I prefer the eggs because they are speakers I can drive hard without making me grind my teeth and they to me thay are much more insightful.
 
Originally posted by giggsy
I just point out that my audio system (not HT) is a full blown Naim active system which is very hard to better for clarity and power.

So I prefer the eggs because to me thay are much more insightful.
Funny that you should use quality kit like Naim with Eggs :devil:
As for your "insightful comment, again I find this strange. Kefs Eggs are amongst the worst speakers for the money I've ever heard. But then again what do I know;)
 
Originally posted by giggsy
can I just point out that my audio system (not HT) is a full blown Naim active system which is very hard to better for clarity and power.

I thought this might be a wind up but then the Naim bit, makes sense now. :D
 
Thought I would get flamed.

It just goes to show, horses for courses.

The NAIM kit is separate to the eggs. I use a Denon AVC-A11SR
for HT. What I was trying to convey is that the Eggs are better at revealing detail and at soundstaging than the Gallos beit in Stereo or 5.1 (IMHO).

Also each room has it's own acoustics which bring out different traits in speakers. It seems to me that everyone is going on hearsay and jumping on the Gallos bandwagon. Also most speakers sound excellent when auditioned on there own. Only direct comparison will tell which is better.

The Eggs have been around for over a year and it sounds like people are reasy to stick the boot into a quality product.
 
Why mention you Naim kit then if you didn't use it? :(

I have been using Gallos since June. Close friends have the KEFs. I am much more amenable to the Kefs than Eric but there bass is iffy at best. In a direct shoot out NO ONE prefered the eggs.

A UniQ fan.
 
Hang on a minute:eek:

Is this the way to greet a new forum member? Not exactly cordial is it?

I have been looking at getting a small sub/ sat set up for my living room, my main listening room is now two channel. I have read the thread with great interest and am on the point of calling to place an order for the Gallos. But just as I was thinking "where are all the glowing testimonials from happy users?" this post came up.

Eric clearly knows his stuff and I would be interested in listening to the Micros, but come on guys. How do the power buy purchasers find their new aquisitions? Eric obviously has a vested interest in the Micros as he is a dealer and whilst I don't doubt his integrity for one minute, I would like to hear other opinions.

Just because a new guy offers a different verdict does not mean the you have to hang him from the nearest Gallos (sorry:D )
 
Originally posted by giggsy
That is simply an absurd statement.

Originally posted by giggsy
The Gallos really are a variation on Bose.

Originally posted by giggsy
Personally a brash hard sound is very wearing to me and the eggs have a much more detailed presentation.

Originally posted by giggsy
The eggs actually have a midrange which the gallos cannot begn to match.

Originally posted by giggsy
I just point out that my audio system (not HT) is a full blown Naim active system which is very hard to better for clarity and power.

Originally posted by giggsy
So I prefer the eggs because they are speakers I can drive hard without making me grind my teeth and they to me thay are much more insightful.

If he had posted that he had less than perfect results and prefered the KEFs, I don't think any one would have bothered too much. This always happens. Other posters might have asked additional questions and helped for the newbie to get even more out of both KEFs and Gallos but instead we got all of the above. Some irrelevant and some well ************* highly questionable at best.

Eric may have a vested interest. Gordon also sells them at SS (but he rarely posts on stuff he sells without being asked first). Nic R has NO vested interest here, despite popular opinion he is not in the 'trade'. He started this whole Gallo thing and makes no money out of his postings, in fact it takes a significant amount of time and money. Surely that is independent? He did it for the love!

How many testimonials do you want?

Love you final line, hang him from the nearest Gallos :)
 
Ok, I accept I am new to these forums but I am not new to Hi-fi or home cinema.

The reason I mentioned the Naim's is because they are a reference point. Something I have on hand to compare against there and then. How many of you have actually auditioned kit in your home ?

I don't say the Gallos are bad, they are different, like Bose is different. Some people like that but don't lecture to me that they are the next best thing to sliced bread because they are not for everyone, no speaker is.

All I am saying is DO NOT buy speakers on the strength of other peoples opinions and don't take it for granted they because they say it is wonderful that it will actually be the best for you. I am trying to give you some decent advice.
 
Originally posted by giggsy
All I am saying is DO NOT buy speakers on the strength of other peoples opinions and don't take it for granted they because they say it is wonderful that it will actually be the best for you. I am trying to give you some decent advice.

But why? Many people here, who aren't as experrienced as you, have followed the advice of the likes of Eric and have had great success. They love the product they have bought (following advice) and have been more sucessful in the purchase than their own naive attempts to spot the good from the bad.

Picking it yourself isn't always a great receipe for success and many can vouch for here. More often than not it can end in an expensive disaster. It might be great fun but everyone isn't necessarily very good at this, especially in a 1 hr demo under pressure from a salesman.

This is dogma from the 80s, the solution for everyone is different, if we followed the 80s dogma, we would have all ended up with Linn / Naim systems. Luckily some of us had taste. ;)
 
Beekeeper you don't discard reviews. They will generally put down bad products. But when you have narrowed down your choices you either audition or you take aleap of faith. I never said listen to it for an hour in a dem room, I said listen to it in your own home.

And by the way, all the Linn equipment I have ever auditioned has never been very good. If I jumped on the bandwagon as you say I might have ended up with Linn stuff when it was in vogue.
 
I have to agree with giggsy. I found the Gallos too bright for my taste, but as I did not demo Kef's eggs I cannot make any comparison.

Not all Linn stuff is bad. I'm quite fond of my LP12 :)

Brian
 
Originally posted by bjd
I have to agree with giggsy. I found the Gallos too bright for my taste

I did not demo Kef's eggs I cannot make any comparison.
Brian

Brian, may I ask what you were comparing them with. Don't forget, these are very neutral speakers. Due in no small part to their resonance free enclosure and lack of crossover, they simply do not have a flavour as for example some of the warm and woolly B&W's or Missions.
 
Originally posted by giggsy
Uncle Eric,
I find it hard to see where your coming from
Do you now. Ok, can you see where these industry guys are coming from?

The Perfect Vision (These guys a sort of well respected :D)
Issue #31 July/August 2000
"Its gracefully spherical shape, the softness of its silhouette, and its comical softball size made the Gallo system a crowd pleaser"
"So utterly disarming to the eye and ear that people would sit before it, listen to music and never guess they were the source of the sound."
"This single driver satellite performed exceedingly well, favouring neither male nor female vocals"
"Almost scary in its ability to disappear out of the soundstage and remarkable in its ability to convey nuance and detail"
"The powered subwoofer is a gem, as fast as quicksilver and as dynamic as a vial of nitro."
"Bone crushing dynamics of the Das Boot variety-the Micros were still outmanoeuvring those depth charges at over 95-dB levels!"
Stereophile Magazine Stereophile Website
"The amazing Nucleus Micro filled a seemingly empty and untreated room with big, bold sounds." - Kalman Rubinson
"The price/Performance Ratio Award had to go to Gallo. The Micro produced a far bigger and better sound than either their diminutive dimensions or their price tag would suggest." - Lonnie Brownell & Richard Rosen
"Gallo blew me away with their Micros...The sound from these speakers was amazingly big and dynamic offering some of the most realistic production I've heard at a show." - Robert Reina
"Everything fell into place, so much so that Rick felt it offered one of the best sounds at the show. The portrayal of the piano was one of the most lifelike they'd heard. Consonant with the most revealing systems elsewhere at the show." - Lonnie Brownell & Richard Rosen
IN A WORLD RIFE WITH IDENTIKIT SPEAKERS
JAMES BROOMFIELD IS GLAD TOO SEE AN AUDIO COMPANY WITH SOME BALLS


There might be a few strange looking sub and satellite systems around, but in any company the Gallo Nucleus Micro systems would stand (or rather roll) out of the crowd.

That's because the Nucleus satellites are four inch spheres, available in many colours. which look like ornamental paperweights. Their size suggests they've been designed to be almost invisible in a home set-up but, when attached to their stands, they¹re cool enough to command some attention.

For shelf mounting, small rubbers rings have tow important functions. Firstly, they stop the spheres rolling off the shelf and secondly, they isolate the speaker so that vibrations aren't passed on and the sound remains untainted.

It must also be said that the Nucleus spheres are best suited to a small room. Handling 100W of power makes the balls punchy and loud but they don't disperse a wide enough sound to create a coherent surround effect in larger, more spacious environments.

The subwoofer, while being small, does resemble an industrial vacuum cleaner. A squat, black cylinder that is actually two units stacked, the subs amplifier and crossover are housed in the upper portion with the driver firing downwards out of the base. It's an unusual, if not exactly pretty, design that you might want to keep on display purely for curiosity value.

The spheres have miniature binding posts on the rear, although the wires supplied are small gauge, solid core copper.

Wiring up poses some options; you can go the normal route, wiring each satellite directly to an amp and taking a line-level signal to the sub. The alternative method is to route a speaker level signal for the front stereo into the subwoofer and then out to the speakers in the normal way.

This method allows the sub's crossover to cream off the low frequency signals and leaves the sat's with the high and mid-range work. This method is preferable as the physical size of the speakers makes them better suited to the upper ranges. Asking a single three inch driver to cover the full sound spectrum is no small request. You run the risk of having to compromise performance at both ends of the scale. To Anthony Gallo's credit, these satellites are incredibly capable but there¹s no harm in having the subwoofer back up the front stereo pair.

Using this method then, we auditioned the Gallo Nucleus system with Driven, another in our extensive 'bad film, great sound' catalogue.

The satellites impress straight away with the accuracy of their effect placement, particularly so when you consider there's no dedicated tweeter to spot the high-frequency sounds (the most noticeably directional). Their clarity is also a joy to listen to, even when pushed to high volume. That said, the centre channel can be a touch forceful with voices and this becomes more diverting the longer you listen. It's a matter of preferences but this reviewer found himself longing for something more subtle after spending a while with the spheres.

The real star performer here is the subwoofer assembly . It slams out tight , precise bass without ever overpowering the satellites. It can do restrained too, adding an ambient rumble that creeps up on you when you¹re not expecting it. As a counterpart to the Nucleus spheres' highly directional effects, it's perfect. The price does make the purchase of these speakers a definite lifestyle choice - for £1,250 you can buy a decent set of full-sized cabinet speakers. However for those who have a fair bit to spend but lack the space (or, more importantly, a tolerant spouse) to go for the big in-your-face ones, the Nucleus system is a wise and stylish buy.

Soundstage.com - full review text
"The perfect apartment speaker - an ideal balance of style and substance extremely good at the price. The micro is the best looking and sounding speaker system of its type that I've auditioned."
"Resolved instruments with proper weight and impressive detail. Voices sound surprisingly real. Rendered bass guitar with excellent definition and attack."
"The satellites and subwoofer integrate very nicely and sound like a cohesive, single unit. Never edgy or hashy and always highly listenable."
"The subwoofer sounds tight, fast and controlled, it can really shake its bottom end and boogie with excellent rhythm and drive, which brings realism to the music."
Doug Schneider
e-town.com - Micro System | Micro (solo) | MPS Subwoofer
"It's damn near impossible to reconcile the big, bold, articulate sound I'm hearing from these orange sized speakers"
"When compared to anything near their size, these guys are in a league of their own"
"I was jazzed by their imaging capabilities...these tiny speakers are capable of throwing an ultra-wide, yet razor sharp soundstage...Delicious tactile details abounded, drums and percussion felt very alive and real"
"Bass is startlingly deep, taught and rhythmic...Mid Bass definition was frighteningly good."
Steve Guttenberg
Beautifully made, five finishes and each is gorgeous
I was impressed by the speakers' overall balance, excellent midrange and remarkable coherence
Exceptional neutrality and detail, low level and ambient information is heard easily
Deep, powerful, yet highly tuned bottom end, a combination of amazing detail and truly thrilling impact. I dig this subwoofer. I dig everything about it: the way it looks, the way it sounds, the brains behind the design, the whole kit and caboodle.
Performs beautifully, looks awesome, highly affordable-my discovery of the year
It's nice to see small companies achieve great results by thinking smarter, one of the coolest looking and best sounding sat/sub rigs there is Wayne Garcia etown.com
EnjoyTheMusic.com
"Looking good is one thing, but do they deliver the sonic goods? In two words You bet!"
"What you get is a glorious middle-frequency where the heart of most music exists."
Steve Rochlin
 
Thanks to Nic Rhodes audiophile extrodinaire, heres how it all started for us on the forums,




Originally posted by Nic Rhodes
KEF eggs are very popular out there I think they are a very interesting product. The bass needs serious work and there are a few other short comings but they are popular, especially with those with wives.

Now I think KEF realise they aren’t a ‘complete’ product and hence a mark 2 is on the way shortly (a very KEF thing by the way, loads of Mark 2 products!!).

Well I had read about Gallo speakers in the states for ages. I think it might be the same Gallo who used to play with valves, Altex and Lowther drive units for Sound Practices. Well I got to hear them the other day. I think they may offer a serious alternative to some out there.

The speakers are being brought in to the UK by a non hi-fi company (GPS supplier I think) and will be placed in only about 30 specialist dealers. What I heard certainly places them in the seriously interesting category. I really fancy a set my self.

Gallo speakers are a 4 inch sphere with a 3 inch full range driver. Exactly as it sounds. It has a single full range drive unit which means no crossover. This brings HUGE gains in my book. The sat make a decent stab a full range (claimed 80 hz to 18khz, but seemed more like 120hz to me) Basically all you need, very good for a single drive unit. Efficiency is claimed at 89 dB / 1W but seemed higher to me, 91 /92 dB / 1W. Very easy to drive. . There are matching passive and active subs. The 5.1 active set is about £1300 and a pair of balls (+ passive sub) £300 / 400 I think, can’t quite remember. They come in eight colours (bronze, matt black, canery yellow, gloss black, wine red, snow white, coballt blue and standard Stainless Steel.) There is a elegant wallflower speaker stand, wall mount or a rubber gromet stand (honest!!) which holds the balls.

The sub isn’t really a sub more a woofer module so you can still add that gut wrenching Servo15! Basically we are talking a sub / sat combo here.

Now the good bit The sound. The speaker is so tiny is easily fits into you hand but the sound…. It does some things REALLY WELL, and I mean class leading. The metal ball means no internal resonance or diffraction problems. The lack of crossover means great spatial resolution and coherence (better than UniQ). Huge soundstage with excellent imaging in a tiny ‘designer’ package. Well matched and tonally coherent and cohesive sound stage. Works with music and films. It will win many friends.


Sound is big and makes The Perfect Sound recommended components list. (Active sub is Best Buy). $1500 in the states

I really liked what I heard and am borrowing a set for further evaluation.
Check it out……

Originally posted by Nic Rhodes
These babies will trash Kef eggs. Much much better

Originally posted by Gordon, Convergent-AV
At StereoStereo we like to keep trying stuff to make sure we are offering the best sound for your pound. Ian decided to have a look at these and the distributor brought them in. I have to say that I took one look at them being unboxed and left the room laughing, went to Alan and asked what on earth Ian was playing at wasting a morning getting these in......Then...

After they were set up and Ian had mucked around he asked me to go and check them out. Ian left the room, not having said what he thought about them. I put on some music and some films and my jaw HIT THE FLOOR. I was astounded, amazed in fact. What a sound from those little things. They do limit high frequencies which I think is one of the reasons they sound so pleasant. Seriosly considering getting rid of my cheapo B+W's....
Gordon


Originally posted by THX 1138
I casually walked into Lintone Audio in the Metro Centre today, This to those who don't know is a very large shop and they are dealers for Tag, b&w, audio fidelity et al, you know expensive brands and that(although they also had Bose, he he he:p ).

As I walked past the Tag area, they had a pair of B&W CDNT ? the big floorstanders at £2k. They sounded beautiful, but i kept walking past and into the AV room. While in there I happened to mention I was interested in replacing my Boston THX speakers with something a bit more musical, and gave the short list, B&W CDNT 1 and centre (£1.3K) the M&K S85s and Centre(£1275) and I also mentioned I was waiting to hear the Jamo D6 & D7 THX LCR's, and the Gallo Micros.

"Ah, The Micros" said the salesman, "we have a pair set up over with the Tag stuff", "Really" I answered racking my brain to think if i had seen them. So we walked back to the B&W CDNTs and right enough next to them were two gallos on flower stands and the little Round sub. "Jesus," I thought, these are smaller than i was thinking. I began to think Eric and Nic had been playing a joke on us all, and starting to doubt what had been said in these boards. The B&W's were playing at quite loud volumes and sounded brilliant(as they should at £2k). The sales man up plugged the bannas from the B&W's and plugged them into the small Gallo sub.

Let me explain the layout of the shop to those that don't know, the hi-fi area is twice the size as the AV area, and is about 100ft x 50ft. It is not very well carpeted and has flat walls. I was begining to doubt these little things would sound very good in here.

And yes my fears were correct, these little things sounded terrible, no middle or bottom end at all playing Guns and Roses of the Dab tuner, BUT hang on a minute the salesman is going back to the sub, and is switching it on. Nothing! He had switched the Dab tuner off. "Right whats your favourite type of music" said the salesman, "ER put anything a bit rocky or whatever, i'm not fussed",i said, by now dejected that these were going to suck big time.

A few minutes later the salesman came back loaded a CD into the CD transport.................................Bloody hell!!!
It can't be I thought, so i walked over to the Gallos putting my hand over them to make sure they were actually playing, these little gems were just filling the entire area with rich, powerful, extremely detailed sound, and that sound stage was just so wide, but at the same time extremely focussed.

I stood there for a few minutes, the grin on my face getting wider and wider, "Turn them up a bit" i said trying to get them to trip up, volume now at very loud levels, no distortion, no screaming upperend, just blissfully balanced sweet sound. By this time another person was standing next to me, i was still staring forward towards these tiny speakers, as was this other male, staring with grins. a few minutes more passed........."there good aren't they," said this voice next to me, never turning to look at him i Replied "Yes". This other male walks forward and he puts his hand over them, just to check we are not being cheated. He walks back again, standing next to me. I then walk forward and check that the B&Ws are actually unplugged and none of the Rels next to the little Sub are working, they are not, I walk back again, backwards never taking my eyes of these little gems. We just stand there, huge smiles accross our faces.

The main star, the SUB, jesus this tiny little thing was pumping out loads of mid and bottom detail, the salesman switches it off again, and bang there goes the soundfield, on again and so are the grins.

Then this little gremlin appears on my shoulder, "These things are better than your Boston THx LCRs", is the thought running through my head. I gulp and get a bit of male machoism, I can't possibily replce my big Bostons with these? They are tiny Lifestyle like speakers. But another voice is saying to me that these are better than the S85s i had just listened to earlier that day, No they cant be, can they?

The truth is, I am scared! These things are brilliant, and i mean that, I have heard some of the best and these things, for the money are unbelievable. But how can I possibly put these in my dedicated room, its just not natural, is it?

If you have not heard these yet then be warned, unless you want to part with money stay away!!

I am now seriously thinking of Buying these for the Dedicated room and running them with my new Velodyne CHT15. But then again this other voice is saying NO. But thats just because they are small, and it still feels un natural to have small speakers.

I think I might need some time in a dark room ro get over this experience today.


UNBELIEVABLE!!!!:eek: :D


Originally posted by Gordon, Convergent-AV
Eric,
I completely concur about stocking equipment based on performance. SS chose to take on the Gallo's not becuase they looked cute (although that's a bonus) but because they offered superior performance to products we already had down at that level.

They are a good product. Whether they are good value depends on whether their performance meets your minimum threshold of enjoyment. To find that out you need to listen to some. Get over to your Gallo stockist, or Eric's now!
Gordon
 
Not enough opinions for you???


Originally posted by Nic Rhodes
I opened this thread with dread but knowing what I know about the Gallos and how good Eric is at this stuff I shouldn’t have worried. Eric and others are now finding out what Gordon and I have known for a while (and many non posters on this board if my PMs are anything to go by). Many of us are picking these speakers on performance, satisfying a fussy audiophiles like me, but they look cute as well as an added bonus. In may ways it reminds me of Tag, who said, good sounding equipment need not look crap!

Bring people up to speed I now have 5 balls running at home and they have displaced 5 Q15s in my small set up. Re the sub, it just does what it is designed to and is so small / cute / amenable to stereo sub operation. The 5.1 set up works really well with an additional sub at a later stage. A sort of 5.1.1. High level connection via Gallo sub to L and R and then you add the HGS 18 for the LFE!! This works well if you can hide the HGS from the wife!

I said in my original stuff on this and I haven’t changed my mind on this but if small sub is required, this is where my money would be (outside of the Sunfire / Velodyne HGS 10). Don’t expect 15 hz but it is just right in what it does. It will satisfy most and as I have said already, the enthusiast who wants more can add a LFE sub at a later stage.

People must remember I am a fussy bugger looking for excellence in everything. I don’t praise many things openly but when I do they are generally ‘a bit special’. This is what the Gallos are. They make music and films fun, very few things do that now days……………

Don’t forget you can build your system bit by bit to spread the cost…

Gallos are a very capable speaker, it is an answer to many enthusiast prayers.

Eric thanks for your review, most interesting. I can tally many of you comments with my observations. High resolution, imaging, clarity, spatial information etc etc As I have already said these speakers have abilities that few speakers can match, they have strong strengths and minor weaknesses.

A breath of fresh air in the AV field.
:)

Originally posted by Mark Goldberg
Well, thanks in no small part to Eric, looks like I'll have to eat my words. I had a proper demo of these speakers yesterday and was quite amazed. Hats off to you Eric, I don't think I would have bothered had you not posted your thoughts.

Originally posted by Nic Rhodes
It has replaced a 3 x Q15 setup for me though most of mine have Ref 4 drivers . :blush:

I see NO reason why a sub / sat sytem can't compete with bigger speakers, the hard bit is the bass, it is just no one has done a good one to date. Perhaps the closest is in AV where M and K push smallish speakers and subs for great performance but they are Gekko so we boycott them now. ;)

There are huge technical advantages in the Gallo approach, people just need to understand the product and get over this lifestyle tag / bose comparisons / comments without hearing them thing. Those that make the effort will just enjoy the music:)


Originally posted by THX 1138
My opinion of the Kef eggs, they are alright but are very overpriced for a not so great return in sound quality, this is when compared to the Micros.
Check out the Gallos Micros. I heard these recently and was blown away by the quality of these things. They are not lifestyle speakers like the Kefs, but first rate mind blowing speakers, that at the same time keep the wife/girlfriend happy.

Originally posted by Wilbur
My girlfriend and I had the good fortune to visit Uncle Eric last night (thanks again Eric) to hear beauty versus the beast (M&K pro set-up head to head with the Gallos).

Having read the other threads about the Gallos I hadn't imagined that they could be so close to the £9K package as everybody else was saying - particularly as I already auditioned them once at a central London dealer and was distinctly unimpressed.

I was wrong.

I lost count of the number of times I had to ask - so is this the M&Ks playing now...?

The highs were superb and the bass clean, tight and mean in all the right places (ok, not as mean as the Velodyne but I swear overexposure to that thing has to knacker your eardrums!). Most impressive of all (and the area in which I was disappointed last time I listened) was the midrange - Sailing Away by Styx played in Stereo sounded incredibly crisp and airy - difficult qualities to reproduce in the track at the best of times. When it came to movies, the SAM / F-16 sequence in Behind Enemy Lines was frightening - I've got to get that DVD to watch with the Gallos back at home.

Set up correctly, these speakers seem very difficult to beat - if you've had a listen already and been disillusioned I would seriously urge you to listen again. It's the spherical revolution and I gotta get me some and join the front line!!!


Originally posted by Charlie Whitehouse
Yes I did go along with Eric to the Gallo room. I would have gone there anyway, because that was one of the few products there I was really interested to see/hear. I wasn't dragged, other than willingly!

I wasn't prepared for the sheer volume level in that, let's face it, small room. It was difficult to credit that that much sound could come from such small enclosures! It was pretty much jaw-dropping.
I you want lifestyle speakers with great WAF (I hadn't realised how ****ing small these balls and the sub are!!!), forget BOSE, these Gallos are well worth a listen. :D

Originally posted by Nic Rhodes
The Gallo are a 'bit different' in what they do. They are certainly no Bose or ANYTHING like them. They are a quality bit of kit. They may not compete with say a full blown Nautilus sytem but I for one think they are one of the few systems I would like / have at home. I am a fussy bugger and don't suffer 'fools' gladly in speakers. Most speakers come and go through my place but the Gallos were purchased.

I always think a great guide of kit is, if StereoStereo (Gordon Fraser's employer) is prepared to stock something. They sell the Gallo. They are prehaps the best dealer I have come across to date, certainly knowledge / kit / service wise.

Basically the sound you get bears no resemblance to these tiny balls. They are well worth trying to find an outlet. JonnyG from this site I am sure will help with contacts if people are interested.

Don't underestimate these balls. These balls have balls.:)


Originally posted by Brad_Porter
Had the privilege of having Uncle Eric around for coffee and a system set-up check this morning, which, as you would expect, has instantly squeezed every last achievable ounce of quality and energy out of my M&K system. Super. Many thanks to Eric for all his time there.

At the same time he also bought some life-style looking speakers round that he wanted me to listen too. The Anthony Gallo Nucleus Micro’s.

Setting the front three speakers on top of my trusty S-85’s, we listened to a demo disc, which Eric had supplied and chose a movie DTS track and music DTS track to listen too, both titles, for the life of me, escape my memory.

These 3inch cylindrical speakers (which bear a strange resemblance to Billy Crystals animated character out of Monsters Inc.) sounded extremely good and an impressive sound stage was formed, even despite that fact that they were not all level nor equidistance from the listening position! In comparison to my M&K’s (which we had been hammering for most of the morning) it was unbelievable that such small speakers could be a very close comparison. Unbelievable.

Not everyone can have huge floorstanders situated in there room or afford to spend £3,000 on a speaker system. This will make budding enthusiasts turn away as they believe that micros systems cannot sound impressive. These speakers almost defy the law of physics and, upon hearing them, I believe they should be extremely high up on anyone’s audition list if micros are your chosen route. Mixed with the fact that these lovely looking ‘balls’ come in 8 different colours, there’s no reason why they won’t blend into your room and almost disappear.

Don’t believe me? Give Eric a shout. He asked me whether the little beasts are worth the money against my £800 a pair M&K’s S-85’s. The answers without doubt, is yes.

Just one more thing, these babies coped with my 3802 at reference level and did not have any issues whatsoever. Power handling, looks, brilliant sound and style. All at a very good price.
 
And finally to surmise,
Anthony Gallo speakers can in no way be compared to Bose.
Bose, spend many millions of their budget on a constant flow of brainwashing and a very small part of their money (by comparison) on R&D as regards to their products. They are so inferior to Gallo’s that I really feel its unfair to mention them in the same breath. As for Kefs Eggs, my opinion is that these are nothing more than Bose clones riding in Bose’s hanging onto Boses shirttails and riding on Boses slipstream. They actually sound inferior to Bose and believe me that’s not easy.

Yes I have a commercial interest. BUT, I only back winners. Thats been the philosphoy of my business from the start. If there was anything to beat the Gallo's at the price. Believe me I would be on it and it would be in the forum power-buys quicker than you could say free range. Its that simple.

Here is a brief history and the background of Anthony Gallo himself, where he came from, his objectives and views in the companies own words.


Anthony Gallo was born in 1963 and from an early age he had an interest in the sciences and would take apart just about everything he could get his hands on. At around age 13, he began to become hooked on loudspeaker design. His first experiments were with electrostatics at age 14! "Absolutely, I got shocked a zillion times, I was always awed by their transparency and purity. The dynamics however were always short of my expectations."
Anthony then moved on to working with ribbons." I took apart an old radar tube called a magnetron. A magnetron has about thirty pounds of Alnico V. After removing this huge magnet I started using it as the basic magnetic circuit for my ribbon designs". Once again he was hooked on their speed and transparency but "they were very hard to drive and limited in dynamic range, not to mention the myriad of cavitational resonance's created by the pole pieces and various reflective distortions. By that point I was determined to continue on my search for the Holy Grail of tweeters. I started buying every dome available in the US but none even came close to satisfying me".
Then, in the early 1980's an electronics magazine issued an article talking about the uses of Piezo film and the potential for audio applications. "I threw the magazine aside for a few years but in the back of my mind I knew that I would some day work with this material." In 1987 the first version of the CDT (cylindrical diaphragm transducer) was born. It took nine years of research and development to get the CDT to its current status. During that time Anthony worked for Panasonic where he was a commercial video engineer. He also started and ran a thriving video repair business, "I ended up selling the business along with my cars and everything else I owned to continue research on the Nucleus and various patent expenses."
The Nucleus started out as a six piece system. "It took special movers to get it from one sound room to another". It utilise state of the art, wooden cabinet technologies (constrained layer damping, extensional damping, walls laminated in varying density sheets of lead and elastomer and had no parallel walls. Each channel weighed in at over 300 pounds)." I was told by several people in the industry that it was the best speaker they had ever heard, but that I would never sell any as it would have cost over $15,000 and this is not practical for a start-up company.

I started trying to find a way to preserve the sound while saving money on the only component I could, the enclosure. The problem was coming up with an equally nert enclosure. It had to be either very, very massive, or incredibly rigid. It could not have any parallel walls and must minimise diffraction. These were my main criteria. Coincidentally, the enclosure with the best diffraction characteristics was also the strongest structure known, the sphere. I found that the speaker did not need mass and in fact the less mass used the better it sounded. Ironically enough, the 1.5 pound 12" diameter sphere that was used in the Nucleus blew away the 300 pound monolith in terms of transparency and lack of cabinet coloration".
In 1993 when Anthony had sold off the last of his possessions Gary Pelled came along. Gary was a lighting engineer specialising in energy conservation via efficient lighting and design. He was working with the owner of a small facility in the Bronx. While discussing mutual hobbies with him, Gary mentioned that he liked audio equipment. The owner said "oh, you should go say hello to this guy in the back, he is renting some space from me and he builds speakers². Gary went to the back of the shop where he met Anthony for the first time.
Anthony had the satellite portion of the old wooden Nucleus system hooked up and Gary was immediately awed by the sound. "I wanted to buy a pair and told Anthony that when he was ready I wanted one for a discount price. I knew right away that Anthony and I would become friends, we had the same hobbies and interests while growing up and most of all we both were entrepreneurs and honest hard working guys".
As the months passed Gary would call Anthony and offer him business and marketing advice when he called to see when his speakers would be ready. It became apparent one day that Anthony had run out of money to continue his research and bring the Nucleus to market. He told Gary that he had considered placing an advertisement looking for an investor. "I asked Anthony why he did not ask me to invest. He told me he that since I had my own business he didn't think I would be interested. I decided at that very moment that I would invest in this technology and devote half of my time to forming a speaker company with Anthony². Gary eventually had to give up his original business as Gallo Acoustics took over all of his time.
As Gary tells it, the progression of events is summarised as follows: "We began by working together literally at the living room table. We listened to the behemoth Nucleus, which looked sort of like a Watt Puppy on steroids, and dreamed about ways to deliver what we were hearing to the world. It was around that time that we hit on the spherical concept. You know, you always hear stories about companies that start out in a garage or a basement, for us, it was a big deal when we were able to rent out the basement of Anthony¹s brownstone in Brooklyn, NY and just get out of the living room! We moved into the basement, mind you it is a 100+ year old building, and the dust down there was deep enough to ski on. There was also an old coal shoot, we liked that, and a boiler that broiled us all summer and put out enough fumes to do permanent damage all winter. This is one of those basements that have the hinged steel doors on the sidewalk. You had to open them up and climb down these steep moldy steps just to get down there. Whatever was on the sidewalk, rain, snow etc., would seep into our lab, it was a real challenge. If you forgot to duck on the way down your head hit the steel trap door. In any case, we built some work benches and we were off building the first generation of Nucleus. It did not take long for us to gain critical acclaim for our sound at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and other trade shows. It did take time to get people to accept a large sphere in their living room. It was probably a year and a half down there before we rented a studio apartment around the corner.

It was there that we switched from the polyethylene cabinet to the spun aluminium one. We felt that we could gain market acceptance if the product looked ultra modern. If it had to be bizarre looking at least make it ultramodern so it had a chance.

The idea worked and the Nucleus Reference and Solo models quickly ramped up to around 35-50 thousand dollars per month in sales. Two things happened at that time. One is that we made another move, to an empty garage in the neighbourhood that had five thousand square feet of floor space and some offices (there are still tire tracks leading up to the wall of the production and sound rooms we built in there). The other is that we met Don Fried, our financial backer and third partner. Don took the reigns as CEO and began giving us the guidance we needed to become a real consumer electronics manufacturing concern.
It was not all rosy however, as the high end industry basically began to collapse. Home Cinema became the new buzz word and the dealers did not want to hear about another high end speaker that cost 2,500 or 4,000 dollars the pair (especially a big round one). We saw the change coming and continued to service the audiophile community and the hobbyist's world wide that sought out the Nucleus Solo and Reference with a passion. We also happened upon some various sized spheres from one of our vendors and decided to investigate an ultra compact home cinema system. It made sense to us to use all the tricks that we learned while pioneering spherical technology. Most notably the ability to get high output from small cabinets with no coloration.
We came up with some prototypes and called Don in to New York to discuss strategy. He took one look at the Micro prototype and said ³we are sitting on a fortune". The decision was made shortly thereafter to halt everything and focus all of our energy and resources on the Micro. We always knew we could bring back the expensive gear later. It also fulfilled Anthony's lifelong goal of a high end speaker that everyone could afford. I was happy to be making a speaker my friends could finally afford. As the Micro began to take off, we opened up the facility in Los Angeles. This gave us the ability to do research in Brooklyn and also ship to the East Coast from there. We could also take advantage of the good weather, inexpensive warehousing and extensive manufacturing base on the West Coast.
 
In 1999 the S2 Nucleus Micro was launched to great critical and commercial acclaim.
Anthony Gallo Acoustics products are now sold in over 30 countries worldwide.
Anthony Gallo
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Where our spherical technology came from.....
This section provides an overview of where our spherical technology came from. It details our heritage as a manufacturer of ultra high end, cost no object loudspeakers. When you're auditioning loudspeakers, what qualities are most important: Ethereal trebles? Effortless dynamics? Holographic imaging? Powerful bass? Until recently, music lovers had to choose between the purity and transparency of planers or electrostatics and the accuracy and output of dynamic systems.
Then, in 1994, Anthony Gallo Acoustics changed the way we listen. Here was a speaker with a 12" diameter that weighed less than ten pounds, yet combined electrostatic purity with big system volume capability. And while reviewers have unanimously praised the Nucleus series as a breakthrough in speaker design, we're even more pleased with the reaction of the toughest critics of all - high end consumers.
Since 1994, we've heard our speakers described as "breathtaking", "futuristic", and "strange." But whether you think our cosmetics are stunning or bizarre isn't really important to us. Everything we do is judged according to a single, simple goal - achieving the highest fidelity possible. It would have been much easier for us to design and build a traditional box-type enclosure with conventional drivers. But why would we? A number of fine companies already offer these products. We know how to build such speakers, and how to make them look beautiful, but they could never have delivered the type of performance we demanded. In our attempts to advance the state of the loudspeaker art, a fresh approach was needed.
Despite their numerous shortcomings - low efficiency, large size, compromised bass and volume output - planar loudspeakers were long prized by audiophiles for their "boxless" sound. Therefore, our first challenge was to eliminate the two major causes of box coloration's, namely, enclosure resonance and baffle diffraction.
Before we could define the future of loudspeaker design, we had to reach into the past. Back in the 1940's, Olsen realised that a spherical enclosure provided, by far, the most linear frequency response, the lowest diffraction and absolute elimination of resonance-generating internal standing waves. In order to deliver boxless sound from a dynamic driver, we eliminated the box.
Why Use A Sphere?
The Nucleus bass cabinet begins life as a solid aluminium disc, which is then spun into a hollow, 12" ball. (In the case of a Micro satellite or subwoofer the disc would be steel for the purpose of magnetic shielding.) The spheres are then placed in an electrolytic bath, which forms a hard shell that actually becomes part of the metal. This anodising process gives our enclosure the mechanical properties of ceramic, one of the most acoustically inert materials on earth. The combination of spherical geometry and anodised aluminium construction makes this enclosure virtually resonance- and diffraction-free. Similarly, the properties of heat treated and powder coated steel gives the Micro the same enclosure characteristics.


The Unknown Driver
As most audiophiles know, a loudspeaker produces sound by causing the surrounding air to vibrate. But while it is commonly understood that woofers, tweeters, and midranges perform this function, we must also recognise the contribution of the cabinet, which is set into motion by the back-waves it has been designed to control. These resonance's add their output to the sound and, in effect, cause the enclosure to act as another driver.
As described above, we have taken great pains to eliminate the sonic signature of the enclosure. Still, any cabinet - even ours - will generate some vibration. Therefore, our spherical bass module was not only designed to minimise resonance, but to prevent the remainder from interfering with the music.
In a conventional enclosure design, resonance's are controlled by bracing the interior, thickening the walls and adding damping materials. Unfortunately, these techniques also add mass. The cabinet stores this mechanical energy much like a capacitor stores an electrical charge, and releases them out of phase with the music signal. The inevitable result is a blurring of subtle details. By contrast, the Nucleus spherical bass module not only eliminates internal standing waves, but due to it's ultra-light construction, reduces energy storage to insignificant levels.
Compared with any other dynamic loudspeaker, the Nucleus series provides greater intertransient silence, and a more complete rendering of fine harmonic and tonal information.
A new high in high frequencies
Anthony Gallo Acoustics' crowning achievement is our incomparable tweeter - the Cylindrical Diaphragm Transducer (patents pending), or CDT. Universally hailed as the finest high frequency driver available, the CDT accomplishes a number of seemingly contradictory goals.
With a surface area of 24 square inches, the CDTs' diaphragm has approximately the same output potential as 32 one-inch dome tweeters. But because our driver needs no voice coil or motor assembly, moving mass is negligible, providing unmatched transient response. Power handling is virtually unlimited, yet the driver is extremely efficient. And since this driver presents the amplifier with a purely capacitive load, it blocks low frequencies without the need for a crossover. Most importantly however, the CDT delivers ruler-flat frequency response from 2,500 Hz to beyond audibility across an unprecedented 330 degree axis of horizontal dispersion! Off-axis response remains identical to the on-axis measurement across the driver's entire radiation pattern. For the music lover, this nearly omni-directional output means that perfect imaging is not limited to a small "sweet spot" directly between the speakers, but extends to the farthest reaches of the listening room.
How does the CDT work?
Unlike conventional dome or cone drivers, the CDT uses no voice coil or magnets. Instead, the signal is passed across the conductive surface of the diaphragm, which attempts to expand, while the cylindrical shape of the driver supplies the necessary restorative force. Despite its avant-garde engineering, the CDT is astoundingly simple. Fabricated from Kynar¨, an aerospace plastic, the diaphragm membrane is coated with pure silver - the best conductor known to man. High purity OFC (oxygen free copper) wire leads are silver soldered to each end, and the finished assembly is tightly wrapped around a variable-density, woven polypropylene core, which provides complete attenuation of the driver's backwave. Housed in its custom made aluminium enclosure, our tweeter is completely impervious to electrical or mechanical damage.
No crossover is the best crossover
In all multi-driver loudspeakers, the woofer, tweeter and midrange must be blended for smooth response. Designers routinely accomplish this task with complex filter networks known as crossovers. Unfortunately, even the best of these circuits introduce phase and time distortions, and force the delicate music signal to pass through a host of electrical components. Once again, Anthony Gallo has developed a superior solution.
Through rigorous selection and treatment of the woofer, in conjunction with a tweeter which rejects low frequencies, Nucleus series loudspeakers deliver smooth, linear output without a crossover. In fact, only a short piece of high quality wire stands between each binding post and woofer solder tab - the simplest signal path possible! For the first time, the seamless purity of the best full-range electrostatics is available in a small, efficient and highly dynamic package.
The Micro accomplishes this task with a similarly elegant solution. Utilising our patent pending S2 technology, the Micro can use only a single full range driver to cover the entire frequency range from 100 Hz up. This is the critical vocal range and the area where box designs and crossovers cause the most damage. Thus we have found an inexpensive way to create the same transparency and detail once available only with the CDT at much higher cost.
We hope that you now have a better understanding of where the Micro came from and why it will outperform similarly sized conventional technologies. The Micro is capable of delivering very detailed and holographic sound, in a word realism. The Nucleus Micro maintains our high end heritage and utilises all we have learned during our first seven years of research and development.
 
Well said Uncle Eric But could I just pull out a couple of points.

It must also be said that the Nucleus spheres are best suited to a small room. Handling 100W of power makes the balls punchy and loud but they don't disperse a wide enough sound to create a coherent surround effect in larger, more spacious environments

It's a matter of preferences but this reviewer found himself longing for something more subtle after spending a while with the spheres.

Pretty much what I have been trying to say. Every environment is different.

I have no problem with people buying from you Uncle Eric and I have nothing against you (why should I have).

Would people buy films because other people said they were good or would they watch them first and make up their own minds ?
 
The micros need a crossover to sound any good. They use the crossover within the Sub. Every speaker needs a crossover, no speaker can successfully drive the full frequency spectrum of 100Hz - 20Khz without distortion, especially a speaker measuring 3".

You can drive them straight from the amp but they do not sound very good.
 
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