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Hales Transcendence 5 speakers endgame?

I have a pair of Hales Transcendence 5 speakers which I have been enjoying for the past 21 years. I redid the crossovers with high quality parts and put in Seas Millennium tweeters. I recently upgraded my entire system but I am keeping the Hales as I think they sound very nice. I’ve noticed that the Hales stock only have a resale value of a couple of thousand dollars but I don’t see them for sale often. I consider my Hales, especially modded as they are, endgame. Would you agree? Bottom line is that they sound awesome especially with my new digital,amp,preamp and cables.
128x128mitchb
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,874 posts
 
@prof   I saw the Alexandra speakers at the Stereophile show that year, they were a static display. If I remember correctly, Paul was there and I briefly spoke to him about the speakers. I'm not sure that the Alexandra's would sound any good, particularly by today's standards...those aluminum drivers and the beryllium tweeter would be the problem, IMHO.
prof
3,474 posts
 

Thanks daveyf,
I would have some confidence in the sound of the Alexandra.   Paul was really focused on timbral accuracy and smoothness at that period, and his transcendence speakers - all metal drivers - where a marvel.  I can't imagine he'd suddenly stumble on this design.    One or two who heard it raved.
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,874 posts
 
@prof   I can believe that Paul produced a superior speaker for the time, he did have an excellent ear and was adept at designing excellent speakers. I just suspect that given the technology and the available driver options at the time, this speaker would not be close to SOTA today.
mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
336 posts
 
I don’t know what SOTA stands for but in any case I would imagine that audio speaker technology would not have changed that much in the past 20 years. I could be wrong but the tweeters and midrange drivers in my Hales are still current and available in outfits like Madisound. I changed out my tweeters for Seas Millennium which match the midrange drivers which come with the Hales. I don’t know if the woofers are still available but I bought a pair of spare woofers years ago just in case. I also redid my crossovers with better quality parts and rewired them as well. I think my Hales are keepers.
vinobambino
1 posts
 
Gents,
Anyone wanting to sell their original Hales T3,T5, T8, TCenter Vifa DG26AG-38-04 tweeters please get in touch. They all used the same tweeter. I rebuild the Vida's buy rewiring the diaphragm if its just voice the coil that burned out. As long as dome and surround are not damaged the repair is much better than any replacement using Madisound soft dome diaphragm or a replacement of tweeter with a different model. Once rebuilt and new ferrofluid added they sound identical to original. I can match impeadence to .2 Ohms of a partner tweeter.

These speakers were carefully voiced and changing the diaphragms or tweeters is going to change the magic these spekers are known for. 

Greg
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