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Gale GS401 - what amplifier/amplification could work with it?

Zaiden

Zaiden

pfm Member
Hello PFM,

My friend has a pair of speakers in his bedroom that his parents left there, that have been unused for 30 years or so. They looked pretty nifty with the chrome caps, and we are curious to hear what they sound like.

We asked his parents and it doesn't seem like there's any amplifiers in the house to pair with it.

From my research, it seems they need some serious amplification. And it's a good think I checked - I was almost ready to bring the Onkyo A-9010 (45W) to plug in, which could have seriously damaged them!

I was wondering where could we possibly begin with these?

Would any modern, cheap, Class D amplification be acceptable for feeding these behemoths and getting serious quality out of them?

Would it be preferable to look for amplification from the 70s/80s?

Are there modern Class A/B amplifiers in the 100W+ category that could potentially do the trick?

What should we be looking out for in terms of pairing?

If they've been unused for 30 years, should there be any potential maintenance issues we need to keep an eye out for?
 
Surprised nobody has replied to this yet. I have a good friend who bought those speakers and a Sansui amp (G8000 I think it is) brand spanking new back in the day and has been loving them ever since. Magnificent sound. He'd been having little issues with the amp for a few years. We thought (hoped) it was noisy switches but turned out to be more complicated and sadly got messed up by a hobbyist-type repair guy who really didn't know his way around old Japanese amps. The speakers needed re-foaming and one of the crossovers needed some work. That was done by someone who knew what he was doing and was done well but took many months.
 
There is a very good chance that the foam surrounds on the woofers and midrange have rotted and need replacing.You risk damaging these speakers if you try to play them.
 
Gale 401s are amazing loudspeakers even today, and fetch good prices. So whatever you do, don’t just throw them away.
 
Zaiden said:
From my research, it seems they need some serious amplification. And it's a good think I checked - I was almost ready to bring the Onkyo A-9010 (45W) to plug in, which could have seriously damaged them!
Click to expand...

No it wil not damage them as long as you don't play them very loud. If the amp is clipping it could damage the tweeters.

As others have said, they might need the cone surrounds replacing. Playing the speakers at moderate volume in this condition will do no harm, although they won't sound right.
 
Lots of modern amplifiers are capable of driving these things. Back when they were designed there were fewer amplifiers around that could deal with the load. These days - not so bad. Not soo sure about 'cheap' far-east class D knock-offs - they deserve better!

I have a restored pair and run them with a not-too-expensive Roksan K2 amplifier - plenty of grunt available and no trouble at all.

If you want to get them repaired and restored (it is absolutely well worth it) you should know that there is a specialist chap who does this (Gale speakers is all he does) with ample supplies of spares and so on to get the job done. He even has modern versions of the original stands available if you do not have them- they just look the part. I can pass on his details if you wish - but a quick Google search will probably find him anyway.
 
A friend has had these for so many years, at first with a Quad 405 very bad so next came Naim mono blocks. These were poor as well clipping was the norm or switching off because of over heating. Next a pair of Albany mono amps, better but still not that good. Finally a Gamut power amp which he still has nearly 20 years later. power is the word as they are so difficult a load. Other issues of course with drive units needing rebuilding, stands etc etc but a good beefy power amp is the only way to go unless of course you only listen quietly in which case most amps will cope. I will add that I think they are the most beautiful of any speakers ever made but the performance on the original chrome tube stands can be improved on.
 
As others have said above the surrounds will have rotted and probably the power resisters in the crossover will have failed mine did.You can run them with any amplifier but they only work best with ones that can cope with the difficult load.Not a fan of class D but they can usually drive difficult loads easily.You need to either get them rebuilt by some one who knows what their doing or sell them on, plenty of people will bid for them on the bay, they are worth good money.
 
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