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Nice upgrade to Hales T5’s

I have a pair of Hales T5’s with upgraded crossovers and upgraded Seas Millennium tweeters. I actually love these speakers but for the sake of conversation and a possible one day move what speakers would be a nice upgrade to these modded Hales? I just recently had the speakers repaired and measured and they are in excellent condition. I ask for fun as my Hales sound really good but for the hobbies sake what speakers would be a nice upgrade. My amp is a Pass X250.8 and my preamp is a Pass XP-32. I am using a PS Audio Directstream dac with a Perfectwave transport and an Auralic Aries G2.1 streamer. From what I have read Joseph Audio speakers look interesting as do Magico and Vandersteen. I truly do ask out of curiosity as I believe my Hales T5’s to be much more valuable than what I could get for them on the used market. I’ve invested approximately $1500 to each speaker in tweeters and crossovers.

128x128mitchb
mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
333 posts
 

I’m loving my Hales and the upgraded crossovers and Seas Millennium tweeters make for a better sounding speaker.

mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
333 posts
 

I was offered $1500 for my Hales against a pair of Magico speakers. To be honest I feel my Hales are worth a lot more than what I can get for them. I love their sound and I would probably have to spend several thousand dollars to even match the sound of my Hales. I had them looked at and a technician was able to match the speakers the same as each other. One of the speakers had faulty input wiring into the woofer which was throwing off the sound of the speaker. The technician fixed the problem and evenly matched the speakers to each other. The speakers were about $14000 for the pair with the mods I had done to them. I replaced the tweeters with Seas Millennium tweeters and I had the crossovers completely redone with all high end parts. The mods were successful and I ended up with a much better bigger sounding speakers. I think that my Hales T5’s are special and I will keep them. They are certainly worth a lot more than the going rate for stock Hales T5’s.

mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
333 posts
 

For fun I’ve been looking online at the Joseph Audio Perspective 2 speakers but at 25 thousand dollars I will stay with my modded Hales. The Hales are classic vintage speakers at this point and with the mods I have done to them are worth keeping.

jond's avatar
jond
5,654 posts
 

Mitch I think you're making the right move you own the speakers and they sound good to you. And as you've assessed replacement cost for a full range speaker that good would be very high. The only thing  I'd suggest is maybe get out and audition some current offerings and see how they stack up to your Hales.

prof
3,434 posts
 

 

As I've written, I own the Joseph Perspectives (and have heard the graphene version too), and also owned Hales T5s.  I prefer the Perspectives but no way in heck would I personally think the MSRP of the Perspectives are "worth it" over the Hales T5s.   You are so close with the regular Hales T5s as it is, and if you've achieved better with upgrades, no reason for the Joseph speakers.

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