UPGRADED STRADA REFERENCE SPEAKERS

When Anthony Gallo invited Pierre to his home to listen to prototypes of his Strada, Pierre knew he was in for a treat. More than impressed, Pierre left the session dumbfounded—and itching to design the perfect vibration control stand to unleash this gem’s full potential. Six months and hundreds of listening tests later, we achieved this goal. The Strada, mounted on Mapleshade's custom-tailored upgrade stand, was simply the best monitor-size speaker we’d ever heard, bar none. That included the $15,000 Sonus Faber and the $30,000 Magico. In our studio, it quickly replaced Pierre's much-loved and tweaked Ref. 3s.

Since then, Anthony has even further improved his original Stradas with a more massive mounting for the mid/bass drivers, upgraded crossover, and Mapleshade/inSound biased shielding for the internal wiring. The current production Strada’s treble is significantly purer than the now-discontinued Ref. 3.1; the soundstage is noticeably more focused, huge and palpable. And the bass, though not quite as deep as the Ref. 3.1, is way more resolving. I now hear bass details in Mapleshade recordings I’ve never heard on any other speakers. Surprisingly efficient, the Stradas play really loud—even in large rooms. Paired with the Mapleshade Ultra-Modified 26 watt Scott amp I use in my studio, they are a marriage made in heaven.

For earth-shaking symphonies, big band or rock, the Strada integrates beautifully with our modded Gallo TR-1 subwoofer or, even better, the TR-3. The transient power, huge soundstage and nuance of the Upgraded Strada and TR-3 simply outdoes the famous megabuck floorstanders from JMLabs, Wilson, Revel, etc. In a recent listening session, Anthony and Pierre were dumfounded to hear Strada/TR-3 integration so good that the treble actually sounded better with the subwoofer on. The secret to the Strada’s magic is not mysterious:

• The cylindrical omni tweeter and carbon fi ber midrange are the new, much-improved versions developed for the just-launched $6000 Gallo Reference 3.5.

• The Strada is exactly the upper half of the Ref 3.5 without the built-in subwoofer, yielding two big advantages: no sound-muddying midrange-to-woofer crossover needed; and no woofer directly shaking and smearing the midrange and treble drivers.

This amazing speaker is not just great value for the money. Pierre considers the Strada paired with our Upgrade Stand sets the absolute reference standard for small speakers at any price—and makes the purchase of any floorstander questionable.

Strada Upgrade stands with toned and black lacquer finishes are made to order and take 6-8 weeks to ship. We require a 50% non-refundable deposit for these items.