Hales Trancendence 8 or 5 speakers

Hi Doug,
I own a pair of T-5 as well as a pair of T-8. I originally purchased the T-5 after hearing them with Classe electronics. The speakers sounded great, but the solid state crud came through. I have a large listening room and the T-5 didn't quite have enough bass for rock music with a VT-100 amp.
I bought the T-8s and traded up to a VT-200. The T-5s are now in my office. I have to echo everything Frank said. These speakers are great! I auditioned Sonus Faber, Vienna Acoustics and Dunlavy, but the Hales won. I have added a REL Stadium III subwoofer. In my room, the bass falls off below about 38 Hz. The Hales sounded fine with a Mark Levinson 335, but high powered tubes would be my recommendation.
Good luck!

Well, as others have stated, the electronics certainly make
the difference, but I've had my Hales T-5's for about 6
months, and I think they're a great speaker! I purchased
them at a great price since the company went belly up, and
use an Odyssey Stratos and BAT VK-5i pre-amp. I listen to
everything from the Dixie Chicks to Metallica, and I love
the sound my system produces! The only thing I'd trade the
T-5's for would be a pair of T-8's. It's good to know that
replacement drivers are only 90 miles away from my house!
Dave

I own a pair of T-8's, which are driven by two Boulder 500ae's running in mono, and producing a very clean and very black (quiet) 500 watts per side in to 8 ohms. I am using a Boulder preamp, and am using a Meridian 508/24. Cabling is a combination of xlo and cardas, with the speakers connected via cardas golden cross. To say that the sound is awesome is really understating it. I have really never heard such a sound from recorded sources. I have to admit that I was a little concerned about the demise of Hales, but glad to hear the drivers are available for these truly remarkable speakers. I have found them to be completely unforgiving of source material, and that has changed my buying habits a bit. It's not that some material sounds bad; it's just that given great source material this system literally knocks you down with detail and musicality. I'm done buying equipment; all my money will go to source material now; that and tweaks of my room!

Hi Doug:

I own a pair of T8's. Frank did an excellent job decribing the virtues of this speaker. The speaker is uniformly good throughout the frequency range but the one area where it really excels is dynamics. I previously owned a pair of Nestorovics (which I still love dearly) but the T8's are better in this area.

My personal experience is 180 degrees from Junkyards. I find the speaker to be very forgiving, but then the electronics I'm using is rather antiquated (old CJ preamp and threshold amp). Hey Frank, where are you getting you r replacement drivers? Fess up!

I've enjoyed the Hales 5 for many years now and recently one of the tweeters bit the dust. Can someone please recommend some sources for replacement drivers other than Madisound as listed above. (Out of stock)

Thanks in advance!