Hales Transcendence 5 speakers endgame?

I suppose one man’s endgame is another man’s entry level.

Hi mitchb,

I have been enjoying my Hales Transcendance 8 speakers for 21 years also.  I have upgraded everything in the system over the years except the turntable and arm.  During this time of improvements I never once thought about changing the speakers.  I mean that this never even crossed my mind as I planned and executed improvements to the system.  Still going strong and impressing me daily.  They do a lot right.  Only concern is failure of parts and what to do if it occurs, or find a replacement speaker.  I do have relationships with local high end dealers and I do take the time to listen to their brands when I do business with them.  Bottom line,I still would not switch unless I have to.  Enjoy what you have.

Had my Hales Signature Twos for 30 yrs.
With three subwoofers these puppies rock!

I love Hales speakers.


The T8s are still one of the best speakers I’ve ever heard (it was my favorite when debuted at CES) and I owned the T5s for a number of years.


Paul Hales had a magical way with those drivers, making such a coherent, lush sound, an absolutely magically grain-free midrange and highs, with incredible soundstaging and imaging. And a timbral accuracy I still rarely hear from other speakers today. They were the speakers that showed me metal drivers could actually sound wonderful.I think they are competitive with anything today and definitely in the "end game" category, depending on the individual of course.



So why did I sell them?


Well...I’m an audiophile. Nuff said ;-)


But to be more specific: the two nits I had with the Hales were that they were so smooth they smoothed away a bit of presence and texture to the sound. There wasn’t quite the textural presence of some other speakers I liked. Also I found the sonic images weren’t as dense and palpable as I preferred.


I found for me a better combination of timbral accuracy, image density, dynamics and texture with Thiel speakers (which I still own).


But I still loved the Hales sound so much I tracked down rare-as-hens-teeth Transcendent 1 monitors and the T- Center channel for my home theater (in fact, bought some directly from Paul well after Hales folded).Best decision I ever made. I’d never give them up as they provide such a smooth, gorgeous, timbrally beautiful sound for home theater. I even bought extras in case any of them break!
Though I still have Thiels (2.7) I also added Joseph Audio Perspective speakers which use the similar SEAS drivers (though newer versions) for the midrange/base, like the Hales.   There must be something about those drivers because they have the same grain-free timbral beauty as the Hales.   But I'm getting a bit more texture out of them as well.