Can speakers be both "big" and "accurate" ?


I've got a small dilemma on my hands and I think I need some outside influence. I've been upgrading my old college stuff (you don't wanna know), and now have a Sonic Frontiers Line1, Bryston 4BST, Rega Planar25, etc, etc. Don't want to get into a discussion about interconnects, please. I've got a 14'x18' room, firing down the long end, and am in the market for speakers. I have auditioned various different types and brands of speakers- I'm not hung up on a name as long as it works with my Line1 & 4BST. In all of my attempts, I haven't yet heard a set of speakers that can do "BIG", as in "fill-the-room-with-sound-big" (or "stupid-loud", as I've sometimes heard it described), while AT THE SAME TIME be "accurate", "detailed", etc, etc, like a mini-monitor. I've got a set of B&W CDM1-NT's in another system, and while I like their clean, accurate sound in that smaller space, they just don't do it for me in the main system. I'm thinking larger floor standers to get the "big" sound thing, but I also want the details and "there" there when I listen to accoustic jazz. Are these two things mutually exclusive, and if not, suggestions? I'm budgeting around $3k. Is this realistic? I really appreciate your time reading this! Thanks!
subcoolman

Showing 1 response by steuspeed

Try Gallo Reference speakers. They are no longer made, but there is a set on Audiogon for $1850.00. If you want to engulf your room with sound, these will do it! Bass output is more than you would expect out of two 6.5" drivers (26Hz). The speaker has no crossover. The woofers are weight damped to match the natural roll off of the tweeters. The round enclosures have no cabinet diffraction and inherently do not sound like boxes. The unique CDT tweeter emits sound 320 degrees and is very fast like an electro-stat. They throw an amazing soundstage and are very accurate and detailed. You will feel like you are “in” the jazz club, and with your amp they will go “stupid-loud” if you want.

Proper set up requires that they be out in the room and well spaced out to work. The best seat is typically on an equilateral triangle. Off axis listening is quite good, because there is no high frequency roll off from either speaker unless you walk behind them. I run mine with tube pre-amp and 35 watt solid state mono blocks. They should work nice with your set-up. Use the spare cash for a sub if you really want to go low. I set mine on the lowest cut off 35Hz and 24db per octave for the last bit of bass extension. Feel free to E-mail me for any additional information.

http://www.roundsound.com/cdtspecs.htm

Stewart