Anthony Gallo reference system copy

Mine will be similarily different.

One reason being I might use full range coax to simplify design.

In principle it shouldn't perform too indifferent than some 3 way designs having two separate cabinets, one containing the HF, and one large one for SW. file:///C:/Users/sourk/Downloads/bw_pursuit_perfection_m.webp


They just look wildly different visually =) I happen to like them, initally hated them. Never forgot how they sounded when a friend put them on the largest McIntosh integrated.

https://galloacoustics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/reference-sa-manual.pdf

I'm still in the idea throwing around stage. I might also use a typical midbass and tweeter of some sort up top. Powered by a 4ch Nad Bee with mini dsp combination. The SW will also have there own separate active crossovers and power source.

The subs I'm going with unless it changes are Dayton Titanic version 3.0.

They work good in tight quarters, question is how good.
 

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I will be interested to see how this project progresses if you take it any further.

A few months ago I was mulling over building a replica of these. Like you, when they first came out I didn’t like the design - almost 2 decades later I love it.

AFAIK the tweeter will be difficult to replicate. I was wondering about using a small full range driver instead with supporting woofers above/below. Gallo themselves do use single full range drivers in many of their speakers.

As for the the bass drivers/subwoofers, making a circular enclosure will be interesting - I did wonder about cake tins! Alternatively, large MDF circles stacked might work or I could possibly get an engineering company to fabricate a metal drum of some sort. Spec-wise one of the shallow SB Acoustics 10 inch subwoofers would seems to be a good option - they are designed to work in very small enclosures. These would be powered by separate plate-type amplifiers mounted away from the speakers.
 
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"I will be interested to see how this project progresses if you take it any further."


I will be collecting parts and purchasing some along the way, that could work with them. How well I have to find out. I thought of a bunch at the same time I don't want to stray so much they you wouldn't recognize them. Because I do like them. And there is room for slight errors that would go un noticed for the most part. Even if I try to be meticulous I screw up plenty.

I was throwing around an idea to use open baffle on the top although. With some type of full range might simplify. I have very little to no crossover knowledge after the basic stuff.


"when they first came out I didn’t like the design - almost 2 decades later I love it."

Word for word, I concur. The look of them definately grew on me. As I was hearing them through very large McIntosh integrated. I was blown away by how they performed.

The woofers are peerless, wich I have had plenty of because I do like them, and vifa seas and coming to be Dayton in a couple areas.

At a closer look you will see there isn't a whole lot to the Reference Dallo construction wise. There are much more difficult box designs I wouldn't even attempt, they are way more complex and out of my rhelm to pull off well.
 
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With some type of full range might simplify. I have very little to no crossover knowledge after the basic stuff.
IIRC, at least some of the variants operated without a crossover for much of the frequency range. Apparently the woofers were tuned/designed with their natural upper roll offs In mind. The challenge to me would be designing a top section that could down to circa 100hz from a compact assembly. I’m sure it’s doable but it will require some thought.
 
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I will be interested to see how this project progresses if you take it any further.

A few months ago I was mulling over building a replica of these. Like you, when they first came out I didn’t like the design - almost 2 decades later I love it.

AFAIK the tweeter will be difficult to replicate. I was wondering about using a small full range driver instead with supporting woofers above/below. Gallo themselves do use single full range drivers in many of their speakers.

As for the the bass drivers/subwoofers, making a circular enclosure will be interesting - I did wonder about cake tins! Alternatively, large MDF circles stacked might work or I could possibly get an engineering company to fabricate a metal drum of some sort. Spec-wise one of the shallow SB Acoustics 10 inch subwoofers would seems to be a good option - they are designed to work in very small enclosures. These would be powered by separate plate-type amplifiers mounted away from the speakers.
Stepped circles is one option. Another I have used 6" industrial carboard tubes with 1/2" wall thickness. Adequate and suitable for mid range drivers. The industrial tubes intended purpose is to support poly bag material in the printing industry. Anywhere from a few hundred lbs to a few thousand lbs. Its considerably stronger than anything that's available commercially.

Another advantage of the tubes is they take wood veneer great, its easy to roll on when applying it. When done well it looks just like substantial wooden post. Lasty there are also the poly-platic tubes with unrestricted sizes. But not the greatest in terms of finishing options. It might be limited to paint. They use it at Troels and simply leave it green (an ugly green).

In metals every dimension under the sun is available, as usual for the added cost. Aluminum is not difficult to work, it works like wood in some ways. Its not unrealistic from a cost perspective. But being characteristic of metal its not thee most acoustical friendly material. Metal can tend to sound pingy or invite brightness when it becomes exited. Some type of reliable lining such as dynamat or otherwise would be required. Personally I think the carboard would be a better option. I could probably source you some possibly if you went forth on such a project.

Or some type of open baffle that will stray much from the original design. That can make or break it.
 
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Stepped circles is one option. Another I have used 6" industrial carboard tubes with 1/2" wall thickness. Adequate and suitable for mid range drivers. The industrial tubes intended purpose is to support poly bag material in the printing industry. Anywhere from a few hundred lbs to a few thousand lbs. Its considerably stronger than anything that's available commercially.

Another advantage of the tubes is they take wood veneer great, its easy to roll on when applying it. When done well it looks just like substantial wooden post. Lasty there are also the poly-platic tubes with unrestricted sizes. But not the greatest in terms of finishing options. It might be limited to paint. They use it at Troels and simply leave it green (an ugly green).

In metals every dimension under the sun is available, as usual for the added cost. Aluminum is not difficult to work, it works like wood in some ways. Its not unrealistic from a cost perspective. But being characteristic of metal its not thee most acoustical friendly material. Metal can tend to sound pingy or invite brightness when it becomes exited. Some type of reliable lining such as dynamat or otherwise would be required. Personally I think the carboard would be a better option. I could probably source you some possibly if you went forth on such a project.

Or some type of open baffle that will stray much from the original design. That can make or break it.
Thank you for the information ref the tubes - very useful - I will look into it.

Having done a bit more research is see the original speakers used the Peerless XLS-10. I've also noticed that the driver section of the Gallo MPS 150 uses the same driver and superficially at least looks like the same unit. These do come up for sale used from time to time and at least the driver can be replaced with a new part if it has failed. Just a thought.

I might be over simplifying but to me the Reference speakers seem to be a combination of the MPS 150 driver section below with the Strada top section all mounted in one floorstanding enclosure. The simplest (semi DIY) option would be to acquire these sections and then build the stand to support them.

I'm seriously tempted but I've just finished my open baffle build so I might have to wait a bit😉
 

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I believe the later Gallo has XLS12. I see different versions pop up FS, I had just missed some with cash in hand. And a capable amplifier. I have no shortage of ideas if it comes down to building my own version

If I ever do go with some tailor made Gallo Reference, I won't be able to resist cracking them open to check them out inside.

Compliments on several points for your OB system Alex.
 
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I'd like to keep my thread going. In the mean time I'll be taking some hiatus time away from physical activities. I fell on my most used arm twice in the same week. 1st a stupid cage driver cut me off (while not even looking (she was obviously too busy playing honk along with some other car to her left rear) I was directly beside her passenger window as obvious as the sun yet she failed to even see any of what happened/ caused as she drove off, still laying on her horn at her horn buddy.

The 2nd time was simple driver error. I was treating a road bike like it was a MTB basically. Hopfully there is no permanent damage in my elbow where most of its concentrated.

I just have some images with a speaker mounted and other small details. I can still pick up on the r&d side in the meantime.

I also located a source for spheres, they are spun on a lathe through several steps. They make them in two halfs then they get fused together. If they sound like a good idea the look a lot like the real thing. Modding in some kind of baffle for them looks doable.

It would be nice to mimic the Reference aesthetics as closely as possible. If its going to be done at all. Not to create fakes, as more like a tributary compliment. Besides, the appearance of a lot of plywood will be a dead give away. A nice one imo. 5x5 real baltic ply should be mandatory.
 
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Sorry to hear about your accidents and hope you recover as soon as possible. It’s especially frustrating when the person causing the accident is being a complete idiot and even worse when they drive off with no idea what they have done!

Ref the spheres, that sounds like a good source to get something custom made to your specifications. I also agree that the ‘cabinet‘ itself, to make the project worthwhile, needs to be done as well as possible.

I’m sure you’ve probably read it already but the 6moons article linked below gives some useful information regarding what went into the 3.5 version and how they differ (largely the crossovers/filters) from using a Strada/TRD setup.

https://6moons.com/audioreviews/gallo9/ref35_2.html

Thanks for the complements ref the OB system. A lot of research went into it. The SB full range provided a solid foundation but each additional woofer ‘section’ moved the game on and helped address OB issues in the bass. It was important to use woofers with relatively low FS and pretty good sensitivity but all the elements seemed to have combined to give pleasing results, at least to my ears!
 
Sorry to hear about your accidents and hope you recover as soon as possible. It’s especially frustrating when the person causing the accident is being a complete idiot and even worse when they drive off with no idea what they have done!
They take someone out and often don't even know it, or know but often times suspects run. Hit and run accidents shot way up over here in a decade. The accidents are expected the way people behave, J walking, bad driving habits, the massive inflex of new citizens annually. Ive been to other major cities, every place has different driving styles, what looks like haphazardness is more like organized chaos. But when you mash thousands of new people and styles all together in one major city, in short durations, its sure not. And its a separate thread entirely.
Ref the spheres, that sounds like a good source to get something custom made to your specifications. I also agree that the ‘cabinet‘ itself, to make the project worthwhile, needs to be done as well as possible.

I’m sure you’ve probably read it already but the 6moons article linked below gives some useful information regarding what went into the 3.5 version and how they differ (largely the crossovers/filters) from using a Strada/TRD setup.

https://6moons.com/audioreviews/gallo9/ref35_2.html

Thanks for the complements ref the OB system. A lot of research went into it. The SB full range provided a solid foundation but each additional woofer ‘section’ moved the game on and helped address OB issues in the bass. It was important to use woofers with relatively low FS and pretty good sensitivity but all the elements seemed to have combined to give pleasing results, at least to my ears!
The moon articles are helpful. Such an endeavor may take longer than I suspected, but that's ok.
 
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.."baffle step will be very high, good luck..."

As you can imagine its almost non existant. I'm not sure if its even big enough to be called a baffle but its true.

You'll see exactly what I mean with the woofer mounted. But with new metal and veneer, if anything it will look nice. BTW thanks for the k.

The used pot seen better days, its badly checked around the edge from the chefs spoon. Along with some other bad battle scars. Its too gone so its simply unacceptable for such a time consuming project.

I haven't settled on a version.

The latest are sure beautifully done, as well. I even like their line array's. Colour me not crazy about LAs, usually.

In the mean time I will get a template started for the main structure. Or the upright as I started calling it.
 

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I almost forgot. Behind the to be speaker terminal plates, somewhere back there resides the crossover. I could either build in a void with pre determined dimensions, or leave the material solid and cut it out sometime after the lamination step? Both should work just as well. I'm a little unsure how to alter mine. Since those are metal and my main will be constructed of plywood there's bound to be discrepancies here.

I kind of like the idea of a countersunk SS plate to hide the crossover parts, the pos / neg posts will simply bolt to that.
 
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Ive been thinking of these more lately. Ive a bad habbit of starting too many things audio related and otherwise.

I have some pretty sweet dayton 8" full range that I think will go nice in them. But I have not decided how ill mount them, open or closed using' you guessed it stainless steel cooker of some kind. The buck store is a gold mine with cheap well made/ finished choices. You cant tell once its a speaker hehe. I made a killer air pan on a well dressed v8 engine the same way. Ppl who do oogle on it cant tell what its from but ask,where can I get one of those lol. Its nice tho.

Atm im progressing with adding more subs. Two sealed two extremy tunful 8 inch PRs. Two sealed 10s. Oogling a couple more amps, and can use a different DAC more my taste and must have tons of in/outs. So far my digital meshes quite good to supurbly with analog. Almost all of my bass sources are analog. But its working great so far.

I reasured a personal thought of using pairs of different size subwoofers. I get a nice smooth response doing so. But a lot is credited to sealed systems. Unless in a grand big space or personal theatre you want to go with sealed sub systems. Ill never go back to vented.

Im putting the cart before the horse again.

In the forefront I will work on finishing one Gallo tribute and a second..

Tempted to also try the ultimax 8 in the alloy bucket because its better suited for that than my 10s wich was the original plan.

As multi ways active 10s will look better and hit adequate hz to work in multi ways better than subs. With a bunch of heavy eq it could work. That sub is not even necessary or desired anymore. Bass is pretty well tuned and punchy as hell but Im not finished yet. But its also tight and resonance free. A mic to do some pulls is coming too. Curious to see what numbers the room is actually making.

Bouncing back to the Gallo build. I have a super nice finish plan and wood choice. "EBONIZING" You get yourself some 0000 steel wool, some white vinagar and soak em in a closed maple jar. Then apply it like paint. It works good on deep large grain patterns like oaks. Its so simply yet achives a beautiful result if your into black finishes such as I am. Then a couple coats clear of preference. Im thinking flat.

The veneer must be low key and black like real Gallos. Same as the real ones wich look stunning. What are the latest 3.2s? The blacked out beuties. Gallo did a killer job with them, absolutely killer.