Shiny—As In New

Anthony Gallo has long had a reputation for wresting top dollar performance from small packages, but we've always wondered if he secretly hankered to go big. Anthony Gallo Acoustics' $15,000/pair Reference 5LS certainly answered that question.

The 5LS is 78" tall, but only 7" wide (and 10" deep). The "LS" in the 5LS's model designation stands for "line source," and the forward-facing array consists of seven of Gallo's CDT tweeter and eight 4" carbon-fiber midrange drivers. Gallo claims that alternating the two drivers eliminates the phase and dispersion problems encountered by other line source designs.

Twelve rear-firing 4" subwoofer drivers move as much air as a 15" driver, Gallo claims, but "with speed and transparency that no larger driver can equal."

The 5LS has no crossover other than a first-order low-pass filter and can be bi- or tri-amped, although "any capably designed amplifier can drive them."

Gallo played Rutter's audiophile evergreen Requiem Mass and it was as impressive a performance as I've heard under show conditions. The image height and depth were impeccable and, yes, those 4" woofers do move an impressive amount of air. This is a speaker I could spend time with.

COMMENTS
Jeff Joseph's picture

Hey,Has Anthony lost some serious weight? He looks svelte, no?Jeff

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