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At just over $2.000 prior to cables and speakers, the electronics now were properly matched. Also true, they no longer completely exploited the CDT's treble sophistication. Here a class A amp of Nelson Pass caliber still held reserves even a clever implementation of B&O's very latest ICEpower modules couldn't breach. The mINT's top end clearly wasn't as feathery, scintillating or brilliant. Hence some of the hologrammatic soundstage specificity and sculptural effects stepped down. I expect that this should be a quite common reaction to such price matching. The CDT's potential implies that if you precede this affordable speaker with unreasonable electronics, they will reveal previously untapped performance headroom that goes beyond what one usually expects. (I suspect that the $795 Serbian Dayens Ampino integrated makes for a very cost-effective solution with just the right degree of treble effervescence.)
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But aside from big savings, this particular shrunken chain had audible advantages. Power that was matched on style with the sub amp made for the actually greater textural continuity. And quadruple power of high damping also injected some extra pep into the upper bass transition which particularly with PRaT-style music heavy on rhythm and drive was a welcome bonus.
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That's the perfect cue for the CL-2's second formidable forté. Its transient fidelity is unusually high. Be it spitty staccato from a snotty baritone sax or reedy bass clarinet with their saucy phott-phott smacks embedded in sizzle; complex time keeping from the New York Gipsy All Stars celebrating high-speed Macedonian rhythms; bow-on-string or mallet-on-skin action which separates initial impact from follow-up on a Renaud Garcia-Fons or Manu Katché album; a Flamenco dancer's heel work crackling like wood in a fire; key clacks and other tiny noises... these monitors exhibit a high degree of timing exactitude. And that is directly responsible for that spark-of-life illusion which proper setup can wring from them.
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If hornspeaker dynamics are musical testosterone; and superior valve tone is musical comfort; then precise impulse response keeps us connected with the sounds as they constantly rush past us on the time axis. Confusion in this domain creates perceptional distance. More effort is required to stay glued. As a quality one talks about, timing is terribly abstract. Yet experientially it makes all the difference. To get that, envision classical musicians trying their hand at Jazz. Or an Opera singer going Pop. While these conservatory-trained aces will hit all the right notes, something very obvious will be off. Phrasing. What's missing is rhythmic freedom. In true Jazz where swing is the thing, phrasing and timing take the most delicious of liberties yet never trip up. The fake stuff is stiff and put on. The real McCoy plays it loose and easy. That communicates. So does better impulse response in speakers.
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If all this reads suspiciously like the classic Gallo score card you've seen crossed off in prior reviews here and elsewhere, that's the whole point. The CL-2 isn't merely more classical of appearance, it's the classic Gallo sound - quick, articulate, exciting and vast. Here it occupies the opposing polarity of the classic Sonus Faber sound which was all about opulence. Built for speed vs. built for comfort isn't merely a decision car buyers must make. The Classico II plus CLS-10 is a sporty drive. That the suspension is a tad plusher than earlier Gallos is what I think of as broader 'have your cake and eat it too' appeal.
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On that count, does the CL-2 need the subwoofer in a standard setup like mine? With mINT-caliber control and power, upright bass and realistic expectations, no. Once you desire the weightiness that only comes from the bottom octave and intrinsically bigger speakers, then yes. While the sub clearly adds extension—your choice of music determines how much and what's MIA without it—more relevant in my book is its contribution to overall gravitas and substance. Here the designer's claim that the impulse-optimized CLS-10 may be operated up higher than usual is true if one is very careful on the throttle. Delaying the sub's addition to the monitors for a two-stage deal of half the money now, half later is simply overshadowed by less urgency. That's because the Classico II reaches down far enough to avoid feeling insufficient. I wouldn't have said that about the costlier Strada. And that makes the CL-2 an even smarter if decidely plainer proposition.
On plain and speaking,
these speakers really don't look like much. I actually found them and the sub visually challenged. Getting past that was when the real surprise began. Don't let appearances fool you. Unless you'd rather spend more with Gallo's Reference models. But round is no longer essential or the thing. The secret to the Gallo sound lives in what my two Classico reviews attempted to describe. Kudos to Anthony Gallo for slaughtering his own sacred cow so he could offer more performance for less. That took... well, balls. |
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