Official Anthony Gallo Owners Thread - Page 61

Barry and other Strada owners,

Do you know why the Strada floor stands are the height they are?

I bought a pair of Stradas a few weeks ago but not the tall stands yet.

Did Anthony very specifically select that height for sound quality?

I've currently still got the table stands on them and sat them on speaker stands that are 22 inches high, so about 6 or so inches lower than with the Strada floor stands. I found there is a bit more bass with them nearer to the floor.

Can you tell me if that stand is the best there is? Many mono pod stands vibrate so badly, even sand filled or lead shot filled, the energy they radiate causes a bad effect by interfering with the sound from the speakers. I've used Sorbothane pucks a few times to decouple speakers from stands to great effect. You need the right amount, too much and the bass starts to go and the sound becomes a little muddled.

As the Strada stands are bolted on, there's no scope for such decoupling .

When you put your hand around the the stand, upper part of the stand just below the speaker or middle part, while music is playing, does the stand vibrate at all? Or totally inert and still?

Thanks,

Ian

There a big difference in price.

How much better is the Tr3?

Is it worth the extra money?

Would two Tr1 be overall better than one Tr3?

Would the older bass units just ruin the speed and quality of the Strada sound?

Thanks.

I couldn't comment on whether the Gallo cables would be an improvement over what you have. Since the Gallo cables are better than anything I was using prior they were noticeably better for me and I feel very confident in saying Gallo's cables are a great partner to the 3.5's. But to say they are better than some other high end cable . . . I'd have to defer that opinion to someone with more experience and knowledge than myself.

What is the price for cables?

From a discussion I had with Anthony... The TR1 is more musical than the TR2, but the TR2 has greater output. The TR3 combines the best of both. Though two TR1s may prove to be better than a single TR3.

I held the Stand that the Stradas are mounted to and I did feel some vibration in the stalk. Does this vibration pollute the the sound? I can't say. I do know that Anthony tried a number of different stand structures before he chose this one. Earlier I had the Stradas set in a similar manner as you do now, and I prefer the Gallo floor-stand to that configuration. YMMV.

High-Fi Heaven has them listed at $689

Thank you. This is too much for me, have to find some cheaper cables.

Those speaker cables are more for the 3.5 than the Strada anyway, as they are equipped with a third wire for the 3.5 OPT system.

What speaker cables are you currently using, and what is it about the sound of your system that you'd like to improve?

Barry asks the right question... but if I may skip the requirements section and go straight to the solution by recommending cables from BJC, a forum sponsor: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm

I don't use their speaker cables (yet), but I do use their interconnects and it's high quality made to order product at fair prices.

Styln

+1 for BJC. I use their HDMI cables for my entire system and am getting ready to order a set of speaker cables for my Ref. 3.1's.

My brother uses a subwoofer cable from them in his system and has only good things to say about them. High praise since he's a Ham Radio guy and prefers to make all of his own cables, and really anything electrical he can!

For those interested, here are a few pics of custom speaker stands purchased through Oregondv (www.oregondv.com).

I find they increase height of sound stage, and in my set-up, they get the tweeters above the height of my console furniture, so imaging is much better. They also seem to improve bass response, probably due to better decoupling.

Thanks Barry, I don't play it all that loudly so lower output might be fine. TR1's are coming up on eBay in the UK all the time, I might buy a couple and see how it sounds.

I've been experimenting with stereo bass again today, playing 20Hz one channel at a time from the stradas (not worth doing!) and my big transmission line speakers (well worth doing :-) ). Well, there does appear to be a sense of bass on the side that's playing. I need to do it some more to be sure.

I think it does pollute the sound. Maybe with conventional stands the stand top does a lot of the vibrating and these Gallo ones don't have a top. I guess it has to be one of those try it and see things.

Thanks.

I've been looking for the exact thing for my 3.5's. May I ask how much they charge for these? Is there a specific model . . . was at the website and wasn't sure which stands these are. Many thanks.

Price was $375 plus shipping. The shipping was kind of expensive 'cause the stands are quite heavy (made from 3/8" powder coated steel), and I live in Canada. As I recall, shipping was around $80.

There isn't a model number as these were custom made. I worked with Paul at Oregondv to come up with a design that exactly matched the Gallo speaker bases. I traced the Gallo base on an 11x17 sheet of paper and sent a scale PDF, and Paul did the rest of the design. We went back and forth a few times on the scale drawings until I was happy with the size. You could make the extensions for spikes as long or short as you wish, or change the design to suit your needs.

If you follow the links under "Solid Steel Rigid Mount Speaker Bases / Plinths" to Anthony Gallo Acoustics, you should come to a page with a link "Request A Quote". Type in your details and you should get a response in a day or so.

Tell him AB6EE says hello

Styln

Here's the direct link...

http://www.oregondv.com/Anthony_Gall...ds_Plinths.htm

Can you guys tell me how the Reference SA amp for the subwoofer fits into the picture?

I am looking to build a setup where I can connect the Reference 3.5s to an AVR and then use the preouts to an external amp like the Emotivas. I would then like to slowly expand it to a HT setup by adding a Reference AV for the center and then the stradas for the rear. Will add a TR-3 as well as soon as funds show up

But I've read about the Reference SA amp and unable to understand how it fits into this jigsaw. Anyone want to take a shot at explaining this to me in layman's terms?

If I get a UPA7 for the speakers, how does one connect the subwoofer to the Reference AV amps. Anyone with experiences with the SA amp - thoughts/comments appreciated.

Thanks!

You can use Sub pre-out on the AVR and connect to SA using Y adapter. Gallo ships a couple of Y splitters with the SA. This would give mono bass support from SA. I say "bass support" because the SA really doesn't make that much difference for most listening. You can't run the cross over much higher than 60Hz, or you will muddy the natural extension of the 3.5's. So for most tracks, you really can't tell whether the SA is connected or not.

If you want stereo bass support, you can use Y splitters to send RCA pre-out to both full range amp and SA. I certainly found that a powerful main amp is necessary to get the best from Reference 3.5's. I also found that a good preamp with HT bypass is way better than AVR for music (I am currently using McIntosh C45 as my preamp), and only use Rotel AVR for movies.

If you want to save some money, don't bother with center channel speaker (so long as you can position 3.5's symetrically on each side of your screen). Just turn the center channel off in the AVR set-up. The 3.5's image so well that you would swear there is a center channel. I found that the Strada Center pulled all the dialog to a the position right below the screen, and sounded way less natural.

If you get the SA, you probably won't need a TR3, unless you want to really rattle you windows on movies.

Gallo owners manual for the SA has a really good write-up on all the connection possibilities. You can download from the web site.

Check out this article. It discusses the 3.1 but the principal is the same for the 3.5.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/gallo5/ref31.html

I configured the rear channels on my receiver to bi-amp the fronts and use the pre-outs on the rear channels to drive the SA.

The SA is designed to take a full range source signal, either speaker-level or line level, and deliver low frequency speaker level signals to the 'Sub-In' input of Reference 3.x speakers. It is however more flexible than this, and can do more if needed.

If you have a Processor/Receiver with a 'Subwoofer' output, that output can be used to feed any amplifier that can then feed the 'Sub-In' of the Reference 3.x speaker system. It is important that the 'Sub-In' of the Reference 3.x speaker system only be fed low frequency signals, because there is no crossover on that input, and if the woofer tries to reproduce sounds other than low frequencies the sound of the system will be degraded.

That is an education!

The SA is for the low frequency signals. The sub out on an AVR goes to the SA and then the signals can go each of the Reference 3.5 sub ins

Or you split the sub outs from a regular AVR and use them to connect to the towers.

In most cases this would be way more than enough, but if you want to bring down the house, a TR3 could do that.

If anyone had a TR3 how would that be connected? The SA connects to the 3.5s and does it then have additional sub out connects that go to the TR3 subs if need be?

What if someone connects a TR3 directly to the sub outs of an AVR. Is that more effective than connecting the sub outs to the 3.5s and removing the TR3 from the setup?

Let me know if I am getting this wrong. The Gallos are rather expensive and I want to build a solid setup over a period of time. Don't want to do anything without understanding the ramifications.

Thanks!

Not really. The 'Sub-In' on the back of the 3.x speakers is for low frequency signals. The SA has a built in crossover so that it can be fed a full range signal and output low frequency signals for the speakers. Again, it has more flexibility than this and can do more. IF your receiver/pre-pro has a 'Sub-Out' than an additional crossover is not needed as the 'Sub-Out' is already only low frequencies, so any power-amplifier can be used.


I currently have a TR3 hooked up to the 'LFE' out of my Pre-Pro, and the 3.5 gets just a full range signal to the upper binding posts, with no signal going to the 'Sub-In'.


There are many ways to go about setting up a Stereo/HT/Media System, the way you go about it, has much to do with your 'Audio Beliefs' and the goals you have for your system.
Mine is set-up as mapped out below...

THANKS! Emailed Paul today. Exactly what I was looking for. Would you change anything? Sounds like you're satisfied with what they do for you speakers.

I keep considering adding a SA to my Reference 3.5's but remember that Anthony only initially recommended using a SA with the 3.5's if you didn't have a powerful amp. Since my Belles amp is plenty powerful it's my understanding that Anthony wouldn't recommend the SA for my 3.5's. Seems if I want more bass response I would probably be better just adding a subwoofer (I currently only use the Gallo's in 2-channel listening). Would you agree? Am I correct on this?

No-one has mentioned the resistor trick for the 3.5's 'sub in' connection.

I forget the value suggested. Gives better damping / less overshoot so a cleaner bass? I think it was mentioned earlier in this thread.

Well, if you feel you'd like some more 'Oomph' from the lower frequencies, then the SA is a good idea. My self, I'm happy with the bass response I get out of my 3.5s with out it, and only use the TR3 for adding the LFE to movie sound-tracks.

I ran my 3.1 speakers with the resistor, but didn't feel any desire to do so with my 3.5s. I had used a Mills 15 Ohm MRA12F wire wound resistor.

[quote=barryecohen;19604730]Well, if you feel you'd like some more 'Oomph' from the lower frequencies, then the SA is a good idea. My self, I'm happy with the bass response I get out of my 3.5s with out it, and only use the TR3 for adding the LFE to movie sound-tracks.QUOTE]

FWIW - I wanted some extra oomph for movies but didn't feel the SA was a good value as there is almost no music that plays in the lowest octave, around 22hz -34hz, and the SA seemed like $$ overkill just for movies.

I hooked up a pair of Parts Express SA 240 subamps, which provide over 200W to the subamp inputs on the 3.1. I feed them with the sub-outs of my processor and set the SA-240's built in crossover to 200hz and let the processor handle crossover duties at 40hz.
Nice to be able to feel subsonic bass, but again, that's mostly for movies. I have only heard/felt the subs work on music with synths (Satriani- Engines of Creation SACD) and big drums (Salonen Rite of Spring SACD), and some acoustic bass recordings (any Ray Brown SACD). I am sure some organs would as well, but, not my cup of tea.
I got the sub amps on sale for about $109 a pop.