Anthony
Gallo Acoustics (AGA) has announced the release of its new Nucleus®
Reference AV and Reference AV Center loudspeakers. The new speakers,
based on AGA’s award-winning Nucleus Reference 3.1 design, can be used
in a variety of ways, but are specifically engineered to augment
flat-panel and high-definition televisions. Because AGA has a vertical
(Reference AV) and a horizontal version (Reference AV Center), end
users have a choice of using three of the same type for a LCR
configuration, as well as mixing them to fit installation requirements.
The Reference AV’s can be used in stereo, in multiples for a complete home theater package, or as center and rears in a surround system to perfectly complement AGA’s Reference 3.1's. The Reference AV features AGA’s proprietary CDTII™ tweeter – which delivers unprecedented high-end performance – as well as the company’s patented S2 Technology,which dramatically enhances low frequencies.
Each Reference AV and Reference AV Center is shipped with standard wall mounts, with optional matching cast-aluminum table stands available.
The Reference AV’s can be used in stereo, in multiples for a complete home theater package, or as center and rears in a surround system to perfectly complement AGA’s Reference 3.1's. The Reference AV features AGA’s proprietary CDTII™ tweeter – which delivers unprecedented high-end performance – as well as the company’s patented S2 Technology,which dramatically enhances low frequencies.
Each Reference AV and Reference AV Center is shipped with standard wall mounts, with optional matching cast-aluminum table stands available.
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The dispersion characteristics (> 300 deg. horizontally) are such that the "sweet spot" is HUGE - you can sit to the left of the left front speaker and still hear a very realistic soundstage and even easily hear everything the right front speaker has to offer.
Because the speakers are "voiced" similarly, the transition from Front to Rear and side to side is absolutely seamless. If you close your eyes, you could swear that the piano player is sitting somewhere between the the Front and Rear speakers and is pounding on a keyboard that sits well to the right of the right front speaker.
And yet, if the performance is one that is in an "intimate" setting, you would swear that the performers are playing right there in your living room. You can hear details such as the sound of the singer's lips as they part just before singing a note. As you move about the room, the image stays rock-solid, just as it would at a live show. I have heard new detail and subtle nuances in music that I've been listening to for more than 30 years. Just when I think I've heard it all, the Gallos surprise me and reveal things that I'd not heard in the previous 200 times I listened.
And, because the mid-range and tweeter and drivers are so "fast", instruments that have a sharp "attack" (drums, cymbals, horns, etc.) are faithfully rendered with no "smearing" of the leading edge of the notes whatsoever. This is due to the fact that the tweeter and squawker (mid-range) have exceptionally low-mass and can therefore accelerate and decelerate VERY quickly.
In addition, the speakers really benefit from their lack of a traditional crossover network. This allows them to be both time and phase coherent. There are no "gaps" in the response since the drivers work quite well together and do a superb job of handling the transition of sound from one driver to the next.
As is clearly evident by now, I am quite happy with the performance of these speakers; so much so that I can honsetly say that I'll probably keep these spekaers for my remaining days on the good Earth. And I figure that to be another 30 years or so...
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