speaker suggestions for modest arcam alpha system

I use B&W n805's with my Arcam alpha 8 integrated and alpha 7 CD and am very pleased with the match. I loved the Signature 805's in the shop but they were too expensive for my budget and I found I really couldn't appreciate the improvement over the standard n805 with my current setup.

Mark - I usually avoid recommending specific components/speakers in this forum because there are so many variables to consider and people have different tastes, etc. However, I did want to touch on the comments made above regarding the Hales. Keep in mind the T5's (Trancendence 5) floorstanding model by Hales was near the top of their line and retailed for about $6k new. Waaay above the price point you are looking at, even used. Hales' lower-priced line was the Revelation series, the smallest of which was the Revelation One, original retail $995. Hard to find used, but they occasionally come up on the 'gon for around $500/pair. Huge value! Hales are not as well-known as many of the speakers mentioned above due to their minimum of advertising and relatively few dealers (only about 50 nationwide at their peak). Hales Design Group is no longer in business :( but since you are looking at used that should not matter as much.

I own a pair of these bought new four years ago and LOVE them. I have them supported on Sanus's "ultimate foundations" with the fountainhead base. The Rev 1's are a ported 2-way, 8-ohm nominal impedance, 87dB sensitivity, 6.5" woofer, 1" tweeter, Cardas binding posts and internal wiring, proprietary crossover.. these boxes are QUALITY inside and out. (The shipping box states "Handmade in the USA"!, Huntington Beach, CA to be exact!).

They just play whatever you can throw at 'em. Like any speaker, they are not perfect, but they do very little wrong. These little guys will "play large" like very few monitors can, and set up properly on good stands will not require a subwoofer for most music. I am not exaggerating. They can convey a "depth" and "power" on music that exceeds many other manufacturer's small-to-medium floorstanders.

Although Hales have a reputation as requiring a lot of power, the Rev One's should play as loud as you would require in your room using the Arcam. That's a nice little amp. The only drawback I can see in your system is this speaker is not bi-wireable, so you could not bi-amp them down the road with the Arcam. You could, however, put more power behind them by using your Arcam as a preamp and buy a more powerful amp (McCormack DNA series, anyone?) and the Rev Ones would eat it up.

Truth be told, I have not conducted a double-blind face-off with the Pro-Ac, et al, mentioned above and cannot compare the virtues/vices of each. However, I did compare them extensively to other speakers the shop carried where I bought my Hales a few years ago (B&W 805's, Canton Ergos, Snell) at similar and even higher price points and I preferred the Hales' sound by a WIDE margin. They are much more refined than their price would suggest. Professional reviews of the Hales Revelation line routinely had to look to much higher-priced speakers from other brands for comparison. I may be biased towards my Hales but I can't help it. All I can say is I have no desire to upgrade!

I got to hear my ProAc's with the FMJ A22 over the weekend, and let me say, it was big smiles all around! Those ProAcs really image like crazy, and while not in the league of my Thiel CS3.6's, the bass out of those mini's was just unbelievable! I am very, very happy with this combination, but I am not looking for different speaker cables. I was going to use a pair of MIT AVt3's (spade to spade), but after hearing bi-wired MIT AVt1's, the difference was very noticeable. However, seeing as how this system is for my office, I don't want the big MIT boxes hanging off the back of the speaker, so I'm on a bit of a quest for a visually unobtrusive, fairly flexible, bi-wireable speaker cable that performs in the league of the MIT AVt1.

But back to the question at hand, I can confirm that Arcam and ProAc is a very nice combination.

Tom.

Thanks everyone,

John z, i don't blame you for avoiding specific component speaker recommendations, but in this case, it's been super helpful...before this post, i was thinking about paradigm monitor 7v3's exclusively (which are significantly better then the v2s imho)...

but now i think i am sold on looking for some used proac tablettes or Hales monitors with a distant third place going to the soliloquy 5.0s (from reviews, it sounds like the 5.0s may not cater to my musical likeings as much as my top two choices)...

one other speaker group that kept coming up in negative reviews of both the proac tablettes and hales R1 were dynaudio audiance 50 (monitor) and 60 (small floorstander) (not exactly sure if i can get them in my pricepoint though)...any thoughts?

also any thoughts on how the proac tablette 50s compare with the tablette 2000s would be helpful....Mark

Mark - right on. I'll admit I'm sort of spoiled living in the S.F. Bay Area. I can pretty much go and "kick the tires" on any gear you could reasonably imagine within an hour's drive or less.. I would never have even heard of Hales had I not lived near their only northern Cal dealer here in Oakland (back when Hales was still in business). I'd probably have a pair of B&W's or Paradigms or similar in my system today if I hadn't come across the Hales. In fact, people who live in the midwest or southeast would have had to drive across two or three states in some cases to audition them at a dealer! I think there is a lot of really good yet lesser-known gear out there that people discover just by doing what you are doing - putting time into researching what's available that will work well for your particular needs/wants/budget, etc..

Anyway, I've never read an overall negative professional review of the Revelation series speakers. Some may nitpick here or there, but overall most agree this is very good speaker. I think they can easily hold their own and even surpass many newer speakers on the market today.

If you haven't seen it, check out the review of the Rev One at www.soundstage.com in their archives (reviewed in 1998). Very close to my experience with the speaker - not "the perfect" speaker, but very, very good. I don't detect the "slight mid-bass hump" to the presentation on music that the reviewer heard, however. That could easily be due to a difference in the reviewer's and my point(s) of reference! They do sound a tiny bit darkerer than the Hales Transcendence series (model Transcendance 1), but that probably has more to do with the poly woofer in the Revelation series vs/ the magnesium woofer in T1 (twice the price at $2k new in '98 vs. $995 for the R1). And the T1 is much harder to drive and requires more capable electronics to make them boogie. But hey, unless you play them side-by-side, fuggetaboutit. That's stiff competition, indeed. I think the Rev Ones are terrific. No two rooms sound alike and that may be more of a factor with this speaker at this pricepoint than any design flaw, as it probably is with many well-designed and executed speaker on the market. There is something about the tonality of the Hales that really lets me enjoy the music! I feel fortunate to own a pair...