To Wes Marshall,
I've just read your write-up of the Gallo Nucleus Reference 3.5, a speaker that I have been considering. I was pleasantly shocked to see you mention that you own ATCs. I had Active 50s, and then Active 100s, for a frustrating five-year stretch. I was never able to get them to "sing" in my room, whether fronted by an all-Naim system or with other components. Whenever the speakers were moved more than a couple of feet into the room, the bass got very uneven; when closer to the front wall, the speakers sounded veiled. I knew there was great sound lurking in there someplace, but I was never able to get it out. Had all sorts of Mana supports for a while (the ATC importer was also the Mana importer, and he set everything up for me during a lengthy visit at one point), but that didn't do the trick either. At the moment I'm running a pair of active PMC AML1 stand mounts. They do OK in the room, but lack the scale I'm after, not surprising for small two-ways. If I could wind the clock back ten years, to before I landed the ATC ASL50s, I'd probably still have loads of Naim and speakers like the little Reynaud Trente's (only larger!) that sounded utterly gorgeous when I heard them months after the ATCs arrived. Since then, as the Brits would say, I've "lost the plot."
Could you give me a quick comparison of the Gallos compared to the ATCs? I'm one of the relative few in the US who's had actual experience with active ATCs -- but I've never heard any Gallos! Neither of the two purported Gallo dealers in Seattle even stocks the Strada, let alone the Ref. 3.5.
Jim Levitt
The ATCs have been a constant source of pleasure for over a decade, more than twice as long as I’ve owned any other piece of equipment and that includes collecting good stuff since 1973. The reason is they do "sing" for me. Based on what I read in your note, it seems that defining "sing" may be a substantial issue for you.
I’m sure you understand that whenever you buy a speaker, you have to appreciate its tradeoffs. Do you want to have the speaker knock the breath out of you every time a bass drum gets thwacked? Or do you want to have the speakers completely disappear while relentlessly showing every gradation of a master’s touch on a Steinway? You can’t have both. You can come close. Very few large speakers can get close to the disappearing act (the Gallos can). The ATCs give outstanding response to the bottom note of a stand-up bass, but they are hopeless when trying to rattle the walls on a 16Hz organ pedal. The reason I bought the ATCs, and why I still have them, is their phenomenal transient performance. Whether it’s the delicate rasp of a bow on a violin, the pluck of a fingernail on a guitar string, or the pop of a mallet on a xylophone, the transients are perfect. I count that ability very highly. Others want something else.
The audiophile next door to me loves what he refers to as the pounding, chugging and slamming of the Bruckner-to-Shostakovich time frame. He uses a pair of Genelec monitors and a Gallo subwoofer. But, and this is vitally important, he has those monitors set up the way they would be in a studio, i.e., close and wide at perfect ear level above his desk with the sub at his feet under his desk. So he gets a convincing soundstage, Genelec-style clarity, and the impact of the sub, albeit only in the bottom octave. He sacrifices some of the impact in the second and third octaves, but that low-end stuff keeps him happy. So there are two different versions of "sing."
Obviously, in the bass, a large room and a small speaker add up to a rapid drop off in bass power. The important issue for something like the spectacular PMC AML1s is they actually respond quite far down, but they do not and cannot create visceral impact. Not enough air is moved. That is not a deal-killer for most engineers, because in a studio (the theater for which they are intended) the important issue is to have low enough noise and distortion that the recording or mastering engineer can hear everything that is going on in a mix.
I use Digidesign monitors which are built by PMC and based largely on the AML1. I love them for their ability to disappear, leaving a wall of music. I also love their snappy transient response. For eight hours each day, I use them to listen to either recorded music or my own music, but I do it as they were intended. They are in a nearfield arrangement, at 30 and 150 degrees, pointed with the tweeter axes crossing just behind my head as I type, and directly at my head when I lean back to rest, about two meters from my head.
My ATCs are in a room that is about five times the size of your room. Most of that difference comes from a very high ceiling. In any case, there are no boundaries anywhere close to the speakers other than the front wall. The speakers are 11' from me and form an equilateral triangle. That’s still a bit far for midfield monitors, but I am trying to cover two seats, whereas in a studio, they are only trying to cover one seat. One way to make sure that professional monitors work for you is to use them in the way they were intended. That means keeping them away from boundaries and close to the listener. That’s when the "singing" occurs. Speakers aimed at the home market also have a single best placement, but they are usually not meant to be as close as monitors.
Regarding your last paragraph, Anthony Gallo makes some very nice-sounding speakers using myriad 4" drivers. It’s the Reference 5LS, another idea worth pursuing.
You obviously have both the money to enjoy great speakers and the intention to use it, so, I have one important question. Why not get on a plane and go to places that carry what you want to hear?
Good luck and lets us know what you do. . . . Wes Marshall
