Strada Speakers
How do you rate Gallo’s Strada speakers?
I rate the Strada speakers at 10+ —that’s simply because I’ve compared them to the two most highly regarded and expensive monitor speakers in high-end audio, respectively $15,000 and $30,000 a pair. The Stradas, floor-mounted on our custom ultra-rigid stands, simply outperformed both of them in every respect that matters, whether for music or soundtracks. The Stradas had beautifully articulated, punchy bass with not a trace of boom, the fastest and most naturally resolved midrange I’ve heard, flawless speech and vocal clarity with spot-on timbres, and endlessly extended treble that was smoother and airier than the best of the electrostatics.
For what types of installations are these speakers best suited?
The Strada is ideally suited for installations where customers want truly world-class, natural, detailed, and musical sound quality, but can’t stand to have their music or theater room dominated by six-foot tall Darth Vader monoliths. Very recently, for a costis- no-object architectural showpiece home, I designed a five-speaker Strada system with two TR3 Gallo subwoofers that gave movies and audiophile recordings far more nuanced, transparent, and dramatically dynamic sound than the best of the 300-pound megaspeaker systems I’ve heard. The client and his interior architect were extraordinarily pleased with the unobtrusiveness of the elegantly diminutive, 13-inch-tall Stradas, and staggered by the huge sound they produced. At the other end of the cost spectrum, I’ve provided home theater systems with extraordinary bang-for-thebuck, based on two Stradas at the front and three Gallo A’Divas for the surrounds.
Describe the feature set of the Eliminator Series.
Needless to say, the single most extraordinary feature of the Strada is that, at $2,000 a pair, it delivers sound quality at or beyond the level of the most exotic $150,000 speakers. At least as amazing is the ability of this almost-tiny speaker to deliver deafening volume, whether orchestral crescendos or stadium rock. And, for many of my customers, the decisive factor is the ease of integrating the quiet elegance of the Strada into any showpiece room, whether modern or traditional.
What would you like to see changed or added?
The only Strada improvement I’d love to see is the addition of a piano black option plus a few elegant designer gloss colors like grey, white, and cream.
PRODUCT SPECS
Built on the design blueprint of the company’s Dué AV loudspeaker.
Based around two five-inch spherical mid-range enclosures
Similar midrange and top-end performance of the company’s Reference 3 system.
Power handling: 89dB sensitivity, 80Hz- 40kHz frequency response
Available in two tweeter configurations to maximize treble coverage.
THE REVIEWER…
Mapleshade’s Pierre Sprey (http://shop. mapleshadestore.com/) first worked on home installations around 1990 as part of his 25-year quest to perfect the live quality of his company’s CD productions. In addition to Mapleshade’s role in radical wire design and maple/brass vibration control systems, Sprey says that he has derived a lot of satisfaction from showing clients how to build a first-rate home theater system that can also deliver uncompromised two-channel music of audiophile quality—and providing the electronics and speakers that make that possible at modest cost. He has been using—and extensively tweaking— top-of-the-line Gallo speakers ever since the early 1990s.
IN HIS OWN WORDS…
“ Nothing beats the deep satisfaction of hearing a customer call up and say, ‘I can’t believe how much more I’m enjoying my music and my movies since you changed my system.’”
