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Hales owners discussion

We may have lost Mr. Hales to professional audio and the factory to history, but these are still fine speakers. I'm curious how others have their's setup, what tweaks they've found that offer improvements to the sound, etc.

Currently my Revelation Threes are ~3.5' from the front wall and 4.5' from the side walls. This is in a volumetrically large space (330 sq. ft.; volume unknown). Setup in a smaller, rectangular room (215 sq. ft.) they were 4.5' from the front and 3.5' from the sides. Straight Cardas method.

On a raised floor they were better without spikes; on a concrete slab the spikes are a must.

Mine are also toe'd in very little. Maybe 20 degrees. I listen in nearfield, btw. Now they're 7' feet apart and 5 feet from the listener. Before it was a 6' triangle.

Anyone tried anything radically different that worked? Mass loading, cones, etc.?

Oh, for reference my system is SF Line 1, McCormack DNA-1, CAL ALpha/Delta for CD, AP Oval 9, HT ProSilways and Illuminati D-60, plus various cones, weights, etc. What others are feeding their Hales with would also be of interest. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
fpeel
ohlala
993 posts
 
Being a bit smaller than the stock spikes, I do think the Audiopoints have made mine a little more stable. I think your wheel idea is very cool. I would love to be able to wheel mine around the room, especially if I owned the Threes. With the wheels, however, i would bet you will lose some detail and focus. I have mass loading and am not sure exactly what it entails. Because i move about twice a year and the fact that my spikes have scratched my speakers, I really don't see mass loading in my future. Let me know what you do and what happened when you did it. Good luck
stereokarter
185 posts
 
I have Transcendance 5's and will be measuring my set-up (the space is not yet finalized) and will post it. I use Wireworld and Cardas wire, connecting SFCD1, SFL2, Audio Research VT100-2 and a VPI 'table for vinyl. Hales left us in the lurch, though I suspect it was not all his doing. It would be nice to see him re-appear as a cottage industry, like Steve McCormack. I wish I had gone for the T8's.......
junkyard
4 posts
 
I own T-8's, coupled to two Boulder 500AE amps in mono, a Boulder L3 preamp, and a Meridian 508/24. I use XLO for interconnects, and Cardas Golden Cross biwired. There is nothing I have heard in twenty years of the hobby that begins to come close to this sound. Everything sounds real, from acoustic jazz to huge orchestral works, female vocals to trance. Would love to hear from others about suggested tweaks. One thing I think really helps here is the absolute stability of the amps. Boulder rates these amps at 500 watts into 8 ohms, and I suspect upwards of 750 to 1000 watts into 4. The result is whatever the speaker requires, they deliver.
fpeel OP
446 posts
 
What size space do you have this system in, Junkyard? Sounds like a very nice set up.

I often consider trying tube amplification with the Hales, though something like the Sonic Frontiers SFM-160 or VAC PA-160 are the most likely candidates. I really like the flexibility the latter amp provides; looks like it'd be a good first tube amp.
junkyard
4 posts
 
The room is roughly 14 by 28,with a 20 foot vault in the middle of the room. The T-8's are in the room about four feet, and about three feet from each side wall. Toe-in is minimal. I have heard these speakers being run with BAT solid state and tube amps, and they do sound great. I just don't anything gets as "black" as the Boulders. Additionally, these amps are so fast that the dynamic capacities of the speakers are really sharpened.
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