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Hales Transcendence 5’s slight discrepancy

I have and have had a pair of these speakers for 21 years. I had the crossovers upgraded and put in Seas Millennium tweeters. The speakers sound good but I notice that if up close to each speaker the right speaker sounds a bit brighter almost just subtly louder. When in my listening position I get a good central image and I only notice the difference between the speakers if up in front of each speaker. Is this normal or should both speakers sound identical. They are close but subtly different. They sound the same at my listening position. Is this normal?
128x128mitchb
jim204
881 posts
 
Why worry about it if you can't hear it from more than two feet away. Life is too short.
mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
334 posts
 
As nice as my Hales sound they would probably sound better if more evenly matched. I love my Hales and would rather spend money on matching them than replacing them. My Hales may only be worth $2000-$2500 on the used market but they would cost a fortune to match sound wise on the new market. I think my Hales are keepers and I would love to find a tech who would be willing to match them. It is probably just a mismatched cap in the crossovers. My speakers always had this problem which is why I had my crossovers redone and my tweeters replaced 17 or 18 years ago. I still have the original crossovers which is another option but I remember that my new crossovers were an obvious improvement over the stock crossovers.
gregm
3,395 posts
 
Does this happen when you feed both speakers a high frequency sine wave or music?
Sine wave: both your speakers (tweeters) should measure the same.Music: who knows, it depends on the music, the mastering, etc.

I am sure you are aware that one channel *sounding* different than the other does not necessarily mean a faulty component!
BTW, I liked those Hales
mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
334 posts
 
The right tweeter is brighter than the left. I attributed it to amp noise for years but since I got a new amp I notice the same discrepancy. It is light enough to be not noticeable from my listening position but I would like to get it fixed. I don’t know who to call for the repair. It’s probably a weak cap in a crossover. I had my crossovers rebuilt because of this problem and I upgraded the tweeters yet the problem remains.
mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
334 posts
 
With further diagnostics in switching speaker cables at the back of the amp I find both speakers identical! In swapping the speaker cables back I notice that there may be a little “noise” from the right channel of the amp which is normal so the left channel may be slightly cleaner. The discrepancy in the speakers is compensated by slight”noise” from the amp. The speakers are heavy and properly placed so I will leave them alone but ideally I would swap the speakers and the channels would be identical. I don’t have the strength or patience but it’s good to know my speakers are fine.
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