FOREWORD

I had a premonition. This doesn't imply my opinion was preconceived, but sometimes (ok, a small number of times) I have precise intuitions. I had a good opinion and quite a bit of curiosity about Anthony Gallo and his speakers; not that I have listened to them before this review, but I remember reading about them in a review, by the renowned Gian Piero Matarazzo - consultant for more than one Italian speakers manufacturer - in the Suono magazine, when it was edited by our Bebo Moroni. The peculiarities of the original Nucleus series, what tore them apart from the rest of the speakers in the market, were the fact that no wood was used, those strange curved metal stands, the fact that they used Dynaudio woofers and midwoofers - a great plus in my book -, that omnidirectional cylindrical tweeter, and the spherical form of the enclosure (obtained by forming a metal disc), the closed volume loaded midwoofer and the reflex loaded woofer. During the rest of my life as a quasi DIY-er music lover (how can I call myself better, as even if I felt like building my music reproduction machines, I often ended up in getting someone else to build them for me?) I met the (more or less) spherical construction some other times. Without even trying hard, I can remember the Uovo Silente and Otto Volante projects, published by the Italian Audio Review magazine, and an interesting description of the spherical enclosure and its advantages, in terms of diffraction reduction and standing waves control, in the famous reference textbook "Loudspeaker Design Cookbook", written by the father of loudspeaker systems self-builders, Vance Dickason. Browsing around in the manufacturer's site, I've had the chance to appreciate the somewhat exaggerated and almost amusing, to these European eyes, way to present the promoters, or the minds behind the company. (Anthony Gallo is portrayed as a kind of genius, and I have no doubt about the fact that he is, provided with as fine hearing as to be able to tell wine vintage by the sound of the bottle;-)))) When I was told that I would have Anthony Gallo's latter creations in my possession, I had a premonition: their arrival in my system wouldn't go unnoticed, and I would have suffered of withdrawal syndrome once they were gone.

THE GALLO MICRO SATELLITE AND MPS 150 SUB SYSTEM
The evening the speakers finally arrived at my home, thanks to the kindness of Art And Music, their Italian distributor, and not before some shivers caused by the delivery company, I thought it was Christmas - it wasn't. As I opened the box, big surprise. I had no idea of what to expect, but my amazement when I saw its content was complete. Impressive and unusual. Anthony Gallo builds the system under review, constituted by a pair of Nucleus Micro satellites and the powered MPS 150 subwoofer, and also a system comprising five satellites and the same sub, geared at home theatre or multichannel audio. In the site mention is made of a passive sub system, which is nicer aesthetically, but I doubt it is as good sounding. Even if I perused the manufacturer's site (www.roundsound.com), a strongly recommended experience (I particularly like the appearance of the home page, with a composition of planets and metal satellites) I wasn't prepared for the real life appearance of the system. I frantically completed the unboxing, and I assembled what came out. I was expecting something different from the pair of speakers populating our homes, but I had no idea of the initially visual and tactile difference, which later would turn in sound difference. The satellites, two sheet steel lathe formed spheres, the dimensions of a big grapefruit, with a front grill to conceal the drivers, are totally resistant to assault, no screw, no external opening. The surface is embossed black, but polished metal or different colours can be specified. On the rear of the enclosure there are two small binding posts, and a hole to which a steel pin, covered in rubber, is to be screwed onto; this is used to fix the satellites to the slender but sturdy and elegant steel stands. As I would discover later, when I carefully removed the grill, there is only one driver, a wide band speaker with a plastic cone and rubber suspension, that is specified by the manufacturer as having a frequency response extending from 200 to 18000 Hz, much to the disdain of the advocates of supertweeters, complex crossover networks, high or low order, to divide those critical frequencies, the ones to which the human ear is most sensitive, between different drivers. The internals, and I cite what the manufacturer specifies, is filled with stuffing material. Those stands I was writing about are really simple. A curved pipe to which, as described before, the satellite is fixed at one end, and a metal circular base, about 20 cm in diameter, is fixed at the other end. To the base you apply hemispherical transparent rubber footers. Inside the support pipe the satellite connecting cable is routed. The cable is peculiar, as the rest is. It seems to be plain-jane red-and-black cable; it's really a solid core, pure copper one, carefully selected to connect the satellites to the powered sub in the best way. The satellites can also be placed, using an o-ring (provided in the box) on a level surface, let's say a shelf or a desk, and, since they are completely screened, they can become part of an exceptional Hi-Fi PC.

The sub is built in a completely different way to any other similar product I have experienced. First of all, the electronics are separated from the loudspeaker's volume. This is another variant to the powered subwoofer built in a single enclosure, or to the externally amplified subwoofers as the Sunfire. The appearance is that of a 30 cm high, 27 cm in diameter cylinder. But the cylinders are two, one above the other, and they are metal built and as resistant to assault as the satellites are. The uppermost cylinder encloses the amplifier, the controls (level, phase, and crossover frequency, so all that's needed and nothing more), the input connectors (two gold plated RCAs through which it can be connected to a preamp, or the alternative, sturdy binding posts, through which it can be connected to a power/integrated amplifier), the AC power connector (an IEC fused socket, so it's possible to upgrade the power cord), and the output connectors (a line output and the speaker level outputs to which you can connect the satellites, and a stereo jack output). The lowermost cylinder, supported by four footers, also cylinder shaped and about 4 cm high, houses the driver, a beautiful treated paper driver, with a plastic dustcap. The suspension is made of rubber, and it's about 25 mm. The driver is about 20 cm. The connection between the two cylinders is, quite surprisingly, provided by a short cable terminated with gold plated jacks, quite similar to those used in guitar amps. The user manual is complete and easy to understand - alas, it's not yet translated in Italian.

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