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

The final incarnation of Hales was Jason Scott Distributing, who also represented, among others, Electrocompaniet. I knew the owner fairly well, and when he first told me that he owned Hales, in a most nonchalant way, I thought he was actually BSing me. Turns out, he was completely honest with me. However, unlike Electrocompaniet, he didn't push the Hales brand anywhere, and that was their swan song.

I still think the marque is a fine speaker. The sealed box produced some commendable bass, though one needed to partner the speaker with a more gutsy amplifier. Midrange was also nice. The treble was the achilles heel of the sonics, as it was a bit crisp to my ears. Dropping a different tweeter into the speaker, and upgrading the parts quality of the crossover allows the speaker to compete with most sold for under $10K today.

If I had to rate the speaker, it would get very high marks from me. Since this is often a game of status and psychology, a shrewd buyer could pick himself up a pair of fantastic, though no longer fashionable speakers at a seriously good price.

I have been a Hales fan for a number of years. I owned Concept 3's and currently own Transcendence 5's. Liking these speakers will probably depend on your preference for port or sealed enclosures. Hales have been criticized for not having that much bottom end but it's the tight bass that makes them so appealing to me and this is in large part due to the sealed enclosure. How good were they? It's hard to say without knowing listening preferences. I found the Concept 3's could become a bit bright with the wrong equipment but are very revealing and fast speaker. The Transcendence line is smooth top to bottom with a very solid and tight bottom end if not earth shaking. In my system the Hales need plenty of good clean power to sound their best.

One thing is for sure. With Hales out of business I have seen various models selling for a fraction of their original price. Dollar for dollar on the used market I don't see how you can do much better in terms of sound and build quality. I bought my T-5's for a song (no pun) a couple of years ago and can't imagine getting better sound, per my listening preferences, from any other speaker manufacturer still in business for the same price used. My only real concern is spare drivers and parts (Madisound is a good source). If you ever get a pair have a friend help you un-box them. Most Hales models are HEAVY. Happy listening.

In my speakers shopping experience about 5 years ago, I tried to demo as much as I could in the under $20K tier. I purchased Hales Transcendence 8s at around $10K. It was my opinion at that time that to better the T-8s I would need to spend more than double.

Interesting thread.. I have owned the System 2 Signatures for about 15 years. When he came out with them,the system 2 Signatures were the ones that put Paul Hales on the map.
Harry Pearson gave them a mini rave and Robert Harley used them as his reference for many years.
I drive them with a Rowland model 8 and they truly sing; tremendous ability to portray depth, very smooth and incredible mid-bass definition and pin-point imaging are their strengths. Weakness in the reproduction of high frequencies but only in comparison to today's best tweets; also lacking in the bass department. However, I recently listened to a pair of B&W 802 diamonds, which were more extended in the high freq's but did not really blow away my Hales and in imageing and depth were lagging IMHO.
The Hales replaced electrostatics in my system and I think even today they are pretty competetive with speakers up to $8K.

The best sound I ever experience was from my Hales Rev 3.
The system consisted of the Hales, Perreaux amp and EAD Encore pre-amp processor. The tonal balance was some of the best I have ever heard. I had the impression that I was listening to real music and it was addictively pure.
The way in which I can tell if they are setup correctly, is by listening to music and not hearing the tweeter sticking out. Unfortunately they are highly room sensitive and difficult to setup if you want to maximize there potential. I am still trying to improve them in my new home.