Since it’s NBA playoff time, here’s a sneak peek at a tower speaker that stands about as tall as an average basketball player. Anthony Gallo Acoustics (AGA) is expected to release its Reference 5LS line source loudspeaker in the third quarter of this year, so be on the lookout if your room can accommodate a 78-inch tall tower.

This beauty looks like it is definitely worth showing off, though. It features 12 custom aluminum 4-inch woofers and seven of AGA’s proprietary CDT II tweeters, which have a power-handling, off-axis and response and efficiency that the company claims approach the textbook definition of ideal. The Reference 5LS also has eight 4-inch carbon fiber midrange drivers, each housed it its own 5-inch spherical enclosure.

AGA alternates tweeter cylinders with mid-range spheres in vertical alignment to eliminate the phase and dispersion problems caused by driver offset, the company says.

The 5LS is capable of being driven by a single amplifier and offers the options of bi- or tri-wiring, as well as bi- or tri-amping, says AGA. Its crossover-less design and high efficiency of both the CDT II tweeters and carbon-fiber midrange drivers are matches for low-powered, high-performance amplifiers, the company adds. The first-order low-pass filter used for the bass drivers (The only crossover employed in the 5LS) can be bypassed, enabling the LF enclosure to be driven from the LFE output of a processor, or from a separate amplifier.

Check with www.roundsound.com for details as the product launch nears.

Arlen Schweiger - Editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen writes about home technology installations and product news and reviews for electronichouse.com and Electronic House magazine.