THE LISTENING TEST
LThe listening test was performed in my house, in a slightly live room, with normal furniture. The system is formed by a Marantz CD16 CD player, an Aloia Green Young 50 hybrid integrated amplifier (a product sold as a DIY kit), DIY bookshelf speakers (Vifa midwoofer, Morel MDT33 tweeter, solid wood enclosure, DIY stands), DIY interconnects and speaker cables. Initially I positioned the system at the opposite end of the room to the one where my system is sited, so as to be able to switch from my reference speakers to the Gallo system just by connecting and disconnecting the speaker cables. Subsequently, I didn't switch anymore and the Gallo combo remained connected to the system. How can I define the object of this review? Another planet? To tell the truth, I was quite sceptic, a preconceived notion determined by some negative concepts which are commonly held in quality hi-fi fans circles. The first of these notions is that sub-sat systems are not "audiophile". Then the principle that separates are better, and, as an immediate consequence of this principle, the fact that co-ordinate systems (of whichever kind) don't work. Completely wrong. If well set-up, the Gallo Acoustics system is able to show a clean pair of heels to many a traditional speaker system. The soundstage is large and deep. I had some non audiophile friends listen to the system, and the aspect they always noticed was, obviously not expressed with sentences like "excellent soundstage", the ability to reconstruct the original event and the one to place instruments in space. The frequency range is reproduced with ease, without sacrificing the extreme ranges too much. I think I can reassure those who think that a high frequency response limited to 18000 Hz is a hindrance to fidelity. The system, instead, shows a good balance between lush and detail. The low range is earthquake like when called for, still keeping an enviable articulation. I listened to some records with a quality I wouldn't have thought possible. Pat Metheny Group's Imaginary Day shows all the colour and the warmth the group is able to communicate. While Live Around the World isn't one of my favourite Miles Davis records, it is played with a foot-tapping punch. Classical music reproduction is involving, almost moving (and "moving" is a word I reserve for the live event). I played, between a lot of others, the Furtwaengler conducted Beethoven cycle, an experience that, thanks to the excellent sub/sat integration, lets the extraordinary art of the German conductor pass through with no desire of listening to a better recorded , but less musically interesting, cycle. In Night on Bare Mountain by Modest Moussorgski, the bells at the end of the composition are as far as I have never experienced with other systems. Because of its bass extension, and of the coherence of the wide band satellites, Anthony Gallo's system is well sounding with every musical genre. But it doesn't attain this by glossing over: it doesn't transform bad recordings in good ones, as it should be expected by a quality system.

The colors of Gallo Nucleus

SUMMING UP
The very good sound reproduction I found out about is to be tracked back into some project details that make the Gallo system different from other speaker systems. The use of a really good wide band driver (Gallo, in his site, is very expansive on his patented S2 technology) enclosed in a cabinet that makes the system a good approximation of the ideal point source, enables it to reproduce a wide, large stage. If care is taken in placing the speakers in the listening room, and set up is performed with attention, the reward is an excellent global result, helped by the obvious synergy found in components by the same manufacturer and using the same technology. The fact that there is no crossover to interfere with the frequency regions where the human ear is most sensitive allows a great transparency and ease in the reproduction, and in particular in that of human voices. I listened even at inurbane levels, and the system didn't ever get more fatiguing. At the end, it was hard to let "my" Gallos go. During the time they were in my house, music has always been the main character, and that's what I ask to a music reproduction machine. Its not parameters, poor performances, but emotions and the ability to evoke the sound event. And these interesting objects are surely able to do all of this, at a realistic price, well clear of the excesses of that kind of high fidelity which seems to be anything but intelligent and smart.

<<< 2/2