Anyone else still loving Hales Speakers?

@mitchb 

*puts hand up*. Me!

I owned the T5s for quite a while! Definitely among the best speakers I ever owned. I still own the Hales Transcendence T1 (stand mount speakers - two pairs, actually!) and the big very rare T Centre channel. I use them for my L/C/R on my home theater system and I never tire of how utterly gorgeous they sound.

To back up many years: I remember a CES show in vegas long ago and I’d always listen first from outside the room to see how natural or "live" the sound was. Very few rooms passed this test. A room with the big Hales T8 speakers sounded utterly amazing from "outside the room" and even more impressive when sitting in the sweet spot. I’d rarely heard such timbral beauty, such timbral "rightness" combined with utterly grain-free clarity. That’s when Hales got big on my radar. I heard the T8s again at a dealer later and was impressed again at hearing instruments sound so differentiated and like themselves - the silvery ring of a chime, the brassy hiss of a cymbal, the golden tones of trumpets, the woody/reedy/brassy complex sound of a sax.

Eventually I got hold of the Hales T5s and, powered by my Conrad Johnson Premier 12 mono blocks, they sounded like heaven. Huge, open soundstaging, they were imaging monsters, deep rich punchy bass, rich midrange. (I also tried them with different amps, including solid state, but preferred them with tubes).

So why did I ever let them go? Well...for one...I’m an audiophile. That should be hint enough :-)

But more specifically, if I could fault them at all it was that they could sound a little too grainless and smooth, sort of taking the edge even off strings when there should be some more texture and bite, that kind of thing. Also I found them a little bit dynamically restrained, not quite as much density to the sound vs for instance Thiel speakers that I also tried. I actually talked for a while with Paul Hales about this and he admitted at the time that, yes, he felt that was one major area he wanted to improve on, and he had begun embarking on just that: more life-like punch and dynamics. (I believe he started using some horn loading too, and moved more in to pro sound).

Anyway, I moved on to some Thiels, which gave me more of that texture and density I was craving. But I could never totally give up that Hales purity of sound so I bought the T1 monitors and also listened to them in 2 channel, then later used them for the home theater. I loved them so much that, long after they had left the market, I bought Paul Hales’ last pair of T1s that he was using in his office, so I have a back up pair.

More recently, though I still have Thiels, I bought some Joseph Audio Perspectives.

The Joseph speakers use the same (or that is a newer version) type of SEAS drivers as the Hales and they seem to share that same characteristics: a clarity, purity of tone, utterly grainless and relaxed. Though with vinyl and tubes, I get a bit more of the texture I crave. So the best of both worlds.

But, again, I have fond memories of my T5s - some tracks have never sounded as gorgeous since I owned those - and I’m constantly pinching myself at how beautiful, relaxed and natural the Hales sound in my home theater set up. (I also use it to listen to music, especially music videos).

Still using and loving my Revelation threes and rev 1’s and rev center channel all in mint condition. Also still have my T Cinema center channel I use in my big theater room 120 pound center channel. I’ve tried to beat it over the years with the big B&Ws the Martin Logan’s, Sonus Fabre etc. nothing comes close to the Hales cinema center channel. Also have extra grills and matched drivers for all. Also bought a brand new pair of T-3’s still in box never used got a smoking deal. It was from an old customer that had tons of money and just bought stuff and never used it. I remained friends with him was over at his house the other day saw them in his guest room in a corner in the box brand new.I said what do you want for those. Thousand bucks, sold! The only other speaker that I use in my house is Joseph audio pulsar 2 graphene. It reminds me of the T1 speaker Paul made with the excel mid woofer. But the T-1/had problems playing loud the Joseph audio does not it’s an mazing speaker as well. But I will always love my Hales and never sell

Just bought a pair of Concept 5's yesterday, and I am very pleased so far. Glad to see people talking about the brand, hoping I can learn some more about them.

wadia150

Your experience sounds a lot like mine!

I find the Hales T-Center can't be beat (to my ears) at least in terms of it's smooth, natural timbre.  Also, in my system the T-Center and T1s put out enough bass that I don't feel the need for a subwoofer.

Agreed though that the T1s only go so loud before they bottom out. 

BTW, I was so taken by the Hales T-Center, and worried since they were rare and hard to find, that if mine were damaged I couldn't replace it.  So I tracked down a couple of extras!  One of them is actually the original Hales T-Centrer prototype - has no finish on it - which was used to judge all the T-Centers that went in to production.

Pulsar graphene!   I bet those sound amazing.  I've only heard the Perspective graphene briefly and it did strike me as sounding a bit better than my original Perspectives.

My Hales T5’s speakers sound amazing. They are back from repair almost a year now. I love these speakers!