Hello,
I own a pair of Carmel 2’s but have not heard the 3’s. My dealer has delivered a pair of series 3 Hailey’s to an owner who had the Hailey 2.2’s. Here are some of his impressions,
”The series 3 Hailey’s, definitely are an improvement on the excellent sounding series 2. Even more coherent, and the higher level of refinement is quite stunning, and obvious.”
Regarding the series 2 Carmel’s (and Vantage’s), please remember that the tweeter was not the “BilletDome” tweeter used in the Haley 2.2’s and above. In the series 3 Reference YG’s, ALL of the speakers incorporate the new “hybrid Lattice” tweeter. To me that appears to be a two level improvement in the tweeter when compared to the Carmel 2’s. I’m sure that the associated crossover improvements will take the sound to another level. Also my dealer informs me that the new Reference 3 Hailey’s and Carmel’s have one set of speaker posts and will not need a jumper for bi-wiring.
With that being said, I placed an order for the Hailey 3’s and will use my Carmel 2’s as center channel speakers.
Happy listening!
PS. Please do a Google search on Audiophile Junkie and Jay’s Audio Labs YouTube videos of the DC Capital audio fest where the Carmel 3’s were paired with Vinnie Rossi Brama components courtesy of Alma Audio on the East Coast. The results were impressive from what I was told when I met Randall from the west coast branch of Alma in SD, CA.