Thanks for the show coverage.
Can anyone else comment on the Gallo Strada system on the Mapleshade stands?
I would love to have a chance to hear these but maybe I am missing something.
I have not seen many comments and the earlier ones were not all that positive.
Anyone else?
Thanks
Late getting to the party. Been working overtime.
My impressions of this system are mixed, but on the whole, better than what others have posted. When I got into the sweetspot, and relaxed, and closed my eyes, this system just disappeared completely. There was no reference as to the speaker locations whatsoever. The soundstage was as wide as the room and instrument/singer locations were excellent. Great depth to the stage and wonderful imaging. Listened to several of my own cds as well as some of Pierre's.
On the downside, I felt the sound was "dry", to be sure. I attribute much of that to the Cyrus cd player. I have auditioned that player in my system and had the same impression. Also, it would be nice if they would mod an amp with a little more horsepower for the gallos. I don't listen at high levels anymore, but it was running out of gas. In the set-up he had last year with the Sonist speakers, their efficiency was a better match for the amp.
Obviously, a Pierre set up system is going to require a dedicated space in almost all situations. No one with pets or small children could have this set-up in the family room, and you have got to be willing to sit near field. Something many are not interested in.
This straight line arm was in the DC DIY room. I was told it is only $700:
This is the air pump for the air bearing linear tracking tonearm (I think... I had something that looked like this when I was in college, but that is another story) :
Other random notes:
Daedalus: Very nice sound, very helpful, did good job with room setup, happy to play anything they or a listener brought, neutral and detailed, presentation compromised somewhat by the rather beat-up old laptop he was using which was probably on its last legs and had a bad habit of quitting mid-song.
VPI/Berning: Overly active presentation including directing the audience as to what sound qualities they were going to hear. I have been an audio nerd for 40 years and right or wrong will make my own judgments, thank you very much. Just play some g**d*** music please. The Surreal full range single driver speakers had serious colorations IMO and had little in the way of dynamics. If this is typical of single driver systems I don’t understand what people think is so great about them, although they were in a rather large room. The magic beans that they were moving on and off of them while I was there made no difference I could detect. Much better octave-to-octave balance and blending from any number of multi driver systems. My least favorite room. New “entry level” VPI table looked good though.
Woo Audio: Droolworthy room for a headphone geek such as myself. Lots of great “cans” to try out and very helpful staff. Senn 800’s and Audeze LCD2’s (both of which I heard for the first time) impressed me. Also showed an unusual little minimonitor-sized omni speaker (forget the name but want to find out more.
The Tidal equipment in the Audio Note room sounded fantastic, as it should considering you cam buy a nice home in some parts of the country for about the same money.
I agree with much of this post, including the great diy turntable. Also thought the Surreal speakers sounded very colored. One of these days, I'm gonna have to hear the TAD full range drivers.
the sonist concerto 4's were ok, but i am not sure they were $5800 ok. the demo'er was saying how well they could do w/the 5wpc glow audio amp he was using, and that might be true, but i bet they would have done better w/an amp of at least 10-15wpc. and, i would be interested in hearing their more affordable offerings. for $5800 (or for any price) i wanna be drawn in, and it wasn't happening.
the living voice auditorium speakers were another speaker, that like the sonist, seemed ok, but did not really grab me and make me wanna listen. i was actually really wanting to hear these, as i have read so much about them. i am not exactly sure which model they were, but w/the "obx" outboard x-over, i know they're a min of ~$10k - serious coin. maybe it was the room, or maybe it was the fact that none of the beautiful tubed electronics in the room were connected to the speaker, but it was simply uninwolving sound.
doug s.
I thought the Sonist speakers sounded very good, even for the retail cost, but were held back by that $850 amplifier. That's no way to show a nice speaker just to prove it's efficient.
I was anxious to get back to the Border Patrol/Living Voice room, as I thought it was one of the best sounding last year. 30 seconds into the first cut, I asked what the problem was and the rep (Garry?) said he'd been changing the set-up all weekend trying to get it sounding better, but to no avail. His room last year had the system on the long wall far from the corners. This year, on the short wall it sounded bloated and uninvolving. He said all the electronics and the speakers were the same pieces he brought last year. He was disappointed and frustrated.
Have you ever had that experience when one day your system sounds perfect, then a couple days later you turn it on and just want to sell it and get a Bose radio?
