Been listening to these for a little while now. once broken in, finding the best place for them is tricky(don't bother before break-in).To sum up-they are very fast, with excelent detail, smooth sweet treble and very tight bass down to about 32Hz. Imaging and soundstaging is spooky. They are *slightly* analytical but mate well with tubes, since they are not difficult to drive, and are completely non-fatiguing. If you can deal with the looks(I like em), and the rest of your system is up to snuff( they will tell you if it isn't in no uncertain terms), give them a try. I consider them an incredable buy, and easily embarrass speakers costing a lot more-If one needs more bass or slam, you can get the reference speakers(extra bass balls)-I didn't feel the need.

Been listening to these for a little while now. once broken in, finding the best place for them is tricky(don't bother before break-in).To sum up-they are very fast, with excelent detail, smooth sweet treble and very tight bass down to about 32Hz. Imaging and soundstaging is spooky. They are *slightly* analytical but mate well with tubes, since they are not difficult to drive, and are completely non-fatiguing. If you can deal with the looks(I like em), and the rest of your system is up to snuff( they will tell you if it isn't in no uncertain terms), give them a try. I consider them an incredable buy, and easily embarrass speakers costing a lot more-If one needs more bass or slam, you can get the reference speakers(extra bass balls)-I didn't feel the need.

Soundstaging, imaging, tweeter

Bass, but in a minimonitor, who cares.

Okay,

I am an original owner of a Gallo Nucleus set. I have one of the original, polyethelene single wire (not bi-wire or cap modified) Gallos. In fact, I probably own the only prototype version that can not be "tuned" with caps or biwired. My speakers are currently placed on sand filled Target stands with Gallos supplied adaptors.

Throughout the years, I never had the desire to actually "trade" in my Solos for anything else. I thought about it, but I never found a better speaker. B&W stuff is OK, but for the money, my Gallos are hard to beat because of that 340 degree tweeter.

The Gallos are pretty close to an ideal "apt" speaker as you can get. They do not produce the killer bass that might get you evicted. (Remember, they should be considered to be mini-monitors not full range floorstanders.) However, the the soundstaging is scary. Treble is good, but with bad recordings very nasty. It is a revealing speaker, and it can be real brutal to sibilants. In other words, the Gallos can be real revealing of bad stuff up the chain.

Overall . . . Imaging is sound. Soundstaging is sound. Because of the lack of deep earth shaking bass, they can sound bright. They work well with Creek equipment, but I have recently moved into home theater vis a vis a Fremer recommended Onkyo 575. Really bright now, but I am messing with cables to adjust the overall brightness. (The system's brightness might also be due to the Panasonics A110 built in feature of downgrading the PCM to 48 instead of 96 I also figure that I need a good subwoofer now to adjust the tonal palete.)

For the money, there is no way to achieve "electrostatic" or "planar" sound without giving up your livingroom space for a Maggie or Martin Logan. Gallos are the only option if you like planar like imaging, but want to look out your windows. Most of my friends are always astonished by my "eye balls" disappearing act.

I know the recent version of the Solos are better. In fact, I am probably one of the few die hards with a polyethelene version, but it is a speaker I chose to hold on to.

If you like imaging and soundstaging, the Gallos are the set. If you like a "warm" sound, I would say Vandys. In terms of minimonitors, I don't know of any speaker that betters the Gallos.

Customer service is a strength with this company. Gary is a good person who tries to help everyone who owns a Gallo product.

Current system configuration
Receiver: Onkyo 575 (previously Creek 4240SE)
Speakers: Gallos Solos
Surrounds: Gallos Micros
DVD: Panasonic A110
Cables: Kimber 8TC and PBJ (to be changed soon)

Similar Products Used:

Polks before

I've owned the Solo now for about 2-2.5 years. There are speakers that are better, but these do SO many things well that I absolutely love them.
The look was the first thing to draw me to Gallo, and I bought a pair of the original Ref's unseen/heard, after only briefly hearing a plastic-ball Solo. Great sound, perhaps a little dry, but the bass that came out of them, and also the treble and imaging, was excellent.

Moving to the aluminum Solo's moved up the sound several notches higher. Gone was the dryness I heard in the mid's, and the top was even more airy and extended. And the bass from these small spheres is incredible for their size ! As with the old Ref's the imaging was superb, amongst the best I've ever heard.

Tonally, these bring the music right to me. The biggest complaint I'd have (and it's still very minor) is a certain lack of dynamic "realism" in the midrange. I used to own a pair of Legacy Classics with the Kevlar 7" midrange driver, and comparing that to the Gallo's showed some subtractive nature of the Gallo's dynamics (noticabe mostly on closely miked piano). But again, this is a minor quibble.

I gave the Legacy's 4 stars overall on absolute terms. Within their price point, though, I gave them 5. I feel the same for the Gallo's.....

So far as I can see, these do just about everything right. Even before break-in they have the best imaging I've ever heard. Definition, tonality, sound staging all top notch. The main thing, though, is that they don't sound like anything. After a minute or two you forget there are speakers there at all, you just hear the music. It was a bit of a stretch for me to buy these and I couldn't be happier. Their look has gotten all sorts of reactions - people are either frightened or enthralled. I can't say the martian eyeball thing is my first choice in aesthetics, but everything about the design is there for the sound, so how can I argue.