I have owned my Hales T5’s for about 10 years now. I first listened to a pair of Hales at K-Lab’s in Tulsa in the mid/later 90’s. I listened to a pair of Revelation 3’s on a Levinson #39 player ran raw to a 200 watt Levinson amp. Listened to a couple goose bump laden songs and Something happened in those moments that galvanized the experience. Sadly the company expired somehow. Rumor was the Audio stores didn’t want an under $10k speaker getting the attention of buyers looking for the more expensive Thiel, B&W, Wilson, Etc.
Years later another audio nerd buddy said he saw a pair of Hales in Tulsa on Facebook MarketPlace. I grabbed a sweaty wad of cash and burned a trail. Perfect Minty pair! Met another Great audiophile guy who should have never sold me his speakers Hahahaha!!
Anyway they are fantastic. I run mostly Apple Music through a Wadia 581i SE player, Raw, through Cardas Golden Reference Balanced cables to an Audio Research D400 MKII to the T5’s via Audio Art cables. It’s very satisfying soundstage. I have had Kef, Revel, JM Lab, Von Schweikert for the better stuff I’ve had in my system and none of the are in the same league as the Hales. I don’t know if all Paul’s speakers of that era have what I have experienced but I Love mine. Won’t be my last pair of speakers for sure but I’ll probably never sell these. Worth more to me than the dollar value they would bring anyway ya know?
My best friend and fellow audiophile who has the audio bug worse than me has the new Focal Sopra No,3’s a Wadia Dac. Pass Lbs Class A Mono-blocks and all Audioquest pure silver cables. And while admittedly his gear is better than mine, It doesn’t take anything away from how much I enjoy my couch, my well treated room and the sound of my amp click on.
Just spectacular speakers. Thank you, Paul