Looking for former Hales System 2 owners feedback

I still have mine w. the Muse 18 sitting in my garage. Currently listening to Maxx IIs. You can see my system page. The shortcomings listed above are all correct. But for the money at the time they were a nice value.

I never really loved mine. Over the years I have steadily moved away from the highly damped sound of Hales and similar designs. I replaced mine with Verity P/E loudspeakers, which are ported. Lately, I've edged back a little by using (in my primary system) sealed subs with Ohms.

I was spread out over 3 houses when I owned the system 2 sigs. The Hales were in my NY weekend home (which was the first I sold), so they were never technically "replaced" as the entire system went with the house. I do remember moving them in (already permanently mounted on ugly black sand filled bases) - they weighed a ton! No question that they were fine examples of their type - I've just migrated to a different type.

Marty

grdient revolutions replaced the hales..i have several systems now, but my favorite 'listen' is on my allison 3's(the last incarnation).

Brf and Jaybo, what did you replace your Hales with?
I do agree that today the speakers would cost a lot more, although I feel that the MB Quart tweet was even in its day, somewhat of a let-down. I personally never looked back once I replaced my Hales with the SF's. The Hales always seemed to me to be poor in the highs and with the SF's that was really confirmed. I never understood why Paul
picked that tweet when he went with very good drivers for the mids and of course nothing really for the bass. If the Sig's had a great tweet, Paul had several options available at that time, I probably would still own them today.

as someone who regrets parting with my Hales, I can say they are one of a handful of brands they gives the listener a 'feeling' that what he hears is just inherently correct. It also is very listenable with any music or media. I currently listen to speakers that I believe are their equal, but hales were heavy, odd looking, a pain in the ass to move, a pain to place, and I would still like to get another pair because they were great, and the comments about today's csts are right....they would easily cost 20k and sound like it too.

I had a pair of the Hales Systen Two "Signatures" (not sure if we are talking about the same speakers) back in 1993 and loved them. Mine were finished in walnut and they were not brown like other walnut speakers. I loved the balanced uncolored sound of the Hales but found the bass to be a tad lean. I later bought the recommended Muse model 18 with the Hales specific personality crossover card. I later sold the whole speaker system because it got out of hand from an esthetic point of view... 200lb per speaker, those huge ugly external cross over boxes, and the HUGE Muse model 18 sub woofer. The Hales/Muse system was replaced by a pair of Wilson WP5. I like the sound of the Hales/Muse combo over the WP5, but the WP5 plus WAF won out in the end. I would hate to see what a Hales Signature Two would cost to manufacture today.

What a great thread Gdodson...:0)

I owned the Hales system 2 sigs for about 13 years. They were a great speaker for their time. I now own SF Guarneri Hommage; which in my small room is a far more resolving and accurate speaker. The G's are way superior in their ability to portray high freq sounds and are much more realistic in their overall portrayal of timbre. Particularly noticeable, is their ability to disappear and throw a much larger image than I could get from the Hales. Frankly, once I inserted the G's, it was like looking through a magnifying glass at the musicians. Everything was far more realistic and real sounding!
IMHO the Hales were weak in the high-end reproduction of air and realistic timbre. They were good at mid-bass and their midrange was also good. The G's are superior in all areas to my old Hales, amazingly and IMHO I feel the SF's are in a different league.