The Gearhead: Gallo Acoustics Nucleus Reference Speakers

It’s hard to ignore the visual similarity of these speakers to ancient diving helmets, but I tried my best as I set them up on a pair of McIntosh MC-501 mono amplifiers for testing.

Now, I didn’t need to use such lofty amplification to test these, but knowing the pedigree of Gallo Acoustics’ first major product, the Nucleus Reference speakers, I really wanted to power them with something nice.

It’s both surprising and I guess not surprising that you don’t see more spherical cabinets in speakers. Spheres tend to produce a significant resonance based on the diameter of the enclosure, and they certainly look like they’re hard to manufacture, especially in large quantity.

However, once the main resonance is dealt with, what they do offer is almost no baffle at all, and a very smooth transition from forward radiation of sound to 360-degree radiation in the bass frequencies. No baffle means stellar imaging, and that is what these speakers do better than almost any I’ve ever tested here at The Music Room.

All in all, for such a strange looking design, I’d put the sound of these speakers up with some of the finest I’ve heard. The transition from bass to treble, i.e. the crossover design, is natural and notably coherent. “When you look this different, you have to sound better,” reads Gallo’s marketing at the time of these speakers’ original release. I can only close my eyes and agree…. remarkable on all accounts.