Hales Design Group speakers....how good were they?

Back in the Spring of 2000 I was looking for a new set of speakers to replace my Klipsch Km-4 speakers. I was looking for a pair of speakers that were not so "in your face" and bright as the Klipschs and had better imaging and soundstage along with a more neutral sound. I had been reading a lot about B&W speakers and went to a local hifi shop (Buzz Jenson's)to audition a pair. I think I listened to the B&W 802's or 803's, but I was pretty disappointed in the sound of the B&W's. There was something quite not right with the sound of the bass coming from these speakers (I think I called it 'powder puff' bass at the time. It just didn't sound natural, articulate, or very authorative (lacking slam). I also listened to Energy, Athena, and Martin Logans. All did not impress.

I was about to dispair and leave the shop when the salesguy led me into another room that had a pair of Hales Revelation 1s,2s and Revelation 3's. He put some music on the Rev 2's, but I thought that he made a mistake and accidentally pressed the wrong button because I thought that the Rev. 1s (which were behind the Rev. 2s up on a shelf) were playing the music. That is how good the Rev 2s were imaging. I couldn't believe how neutral these speakers sounded and how seamless the music flowed from the Hi end to the bottom end. I decided that the Hales were the speaker for me. I ended up getting a pair of Hales Rev 3s about a year later from the hifi shop for about $1100.00 after Hales was going out of business (the sales guy actually lived across the street from me as it turned out).

Anyways, I have had the Hales Rev 3s for about 5 years now and will never sell them. That is how much I love these speakers. I love what these speakers do at the low end. You don't just hear the music, but you also feel the music. Loads of tight, refined, and extended bass (down to 28Hz) Actually, I would love to pickup a pair of transcendance 5 or 8s and use the Rev 3s as rear speakers for 5.1 music, eventually.

I have listened to quite a few speakers (Sonus Faber, Moniter Audio, B&W, Paradigm, Klipsch, Martin Logan, Mirage, Pro Ac, etc) and not one has made me want to "upgrade".

Is anyone familiar with Avalon or Von Schweikert speakers? How do the Transcendance 8s stack up against say the Avalon Eidelon?

My current system:
Hales Revelation 3
Hales Revelation Center
B&K AVR 505 Receiver
Denon 2800 mkII DVD player
Rega P3 Turntable
Clear Audio Basic Phono Preamp
Transparent Music Wave Plus Speaker Cables

Cheers,

-Ian

It's really a drag that such a great company went under. What the heck happened?

I didn’t know Paul Hales personally but I’ve been told by a number of people who did that he was quite the asshole. I like his products though and owned the Rev 3 for a short time myself. The problem with the speaker is that the drivers integrated very poorly. Maybe he never studied crossover design in school. It was very easy to hear each of the drivers and the materials they were made from. The midrange driver in particular was incredibly slow sounding. That woofer though was amazing. Bass power, depth and slam were incredible.

An Avalon Eidolon is a lot faster through the midrange but its bass is a joke compared to the Hales Rev 3. The Eidolon isn’t very good at higher spls either. It gets shouty. As for VS speakers, I don’t care for their sound personally. None of them. Ever hear a VR9? If you like your hifi to sound like hifi, the VR9 is for you. The Rev 3 in several ways outperforms the Avalon and the VS and if I had to choose one without consideration for price it’s the one I’d pick. All you have to do is listen without prejudice for price and you will feel the same way.

Leslipton,

Thanks for your comments. That is very interesting that the Avalon Eidolon's bass doesn't stack up versus even against the Hales Rev. 3s. If that is the case then what do you actually get for spending $20K? Are they even worth the price tag then? Same with the VS's. What do you mean by 'hifi' sound, btw.

As far as the tweeter is concerned on the Hales, with respect to being able to tell what it is made of, I think that this may do a great deal with speaker placement in the room. Not properly positioned, the tweeter can stand out and it does sound like a metal dome (I think someone on audiogon pointed this out as well).

I know what you are talking about with the midrange being a little slow. I think this may have something to do with the fact that Paul Hales used a 4th order Linkwitz-Riley crossover network for the Hales speakers. Since he was so keen on reproducing a flat frequency response across the audible spectrum, I think the "slowness" in the midrange was the compromise. I can't say that I really notice it anymore and that it wasn't a quality of the speaker that really bothered me that much. The flat frequency response of my Hales Rev. 3's allows me to listen to music at high volumes for hours without listener fatigue. Along with the excellent bass response, that is another quality of the Hales that intrigued me.