A plea for help from my Hales T-8's


Hello group - I am not an audiophile, just a fella who enjoys music and pride of ownership of quality equipment. Someone may or may not remember the handle from a year or more ago - I frequented Audiogon regularly and was able to assimilate the basic knowledge required to put togerher a system with which I intend to grow old. I spent more money than I had business doing, but knew that I would not be taking the upgrade path, and barring component failure, was just looking to assemble my final system. Considering my lack of knowledge and experience, I couldn't be happier, knowing full well that there are many more rungs to the ladder.
Still with me - thanks.

The unimaginable (to me) has occurred. Last nite while dusting I discovered both tweeters on the Hales T-8's have been damaged. One is severe, looking like crumpled tin foil. The other has a quarter-inch dent. Naturally, no one knows how this happened and they were at a loss to understand my infuriation (unfortunately, I am materialistic and the Hales were my one true pride and joy).

Unless something has changed, I do not believe these tweeters are replaceable with like kind, unless somebody has a set of T-8's that have endured some other type of tragedy w/ the tweeters still intact. Does anyone believe
(or better yet, has anyone ever done this) that these tweeters could be swapped out w/ some current offering, without totally compromising the design. I guess the logical first choice would be to contact Ty at Tylers, as I live within an easy commute of his location, to hear his thoughts and learn if he would be up to undertaking the repair.

I guess I'm just hoping that someone who has already experienced this will respond with their solution, but also would appreciate anyone's thoughts on this matter. Thank you very much if you're so inclined.

Components:

Audiomeca Mephisto II CD
Audio Logic M-34 dac
Audo Note M5 pre
Clayton Audio M-70's monos
Hales T-8's

Happy Holidays,
Tom
tburn

Showing 2 responses by dawgbyte

Contact Magisound, from what I understand they have a lot of experience servicing and even upgrading Hales speakers.

I have the T-5's in Rosewood.
I have a very slight dent in one of my tweeters and can NOT hear any difference, degradation or anything that would lead me to believe they aren't performing normally. Would I prefer they didn't have a slight dent? Yes... am I breaking out in a rash about it? No!

For what I paid for them and what I compared them to (Tannoy, Martin Logan, Revel, Paradigm, B&W, Vandersteen, Linn and others)... I think I came out on top, as the Hales seemed to incorporate the things I appreciated the most. The only speaker that significantly out performed them was the Vandersteen 5's.

One of these days ('05) I'm going to upgrade my speakers and when I do they will have a long shadow to overcome, because these Hales have done everything I've asked them to do and more.