Just upgraded from Boston Acoustics VR-30's to the Hales Rev 3. Rest of the electronics remained the same. What an amazing difference in sound quality. Crisp, clear, not bright like the Vr-30 and fantastic bass. Great speakers and highly recommended to any body who enjoys listining to music.

I dont know if its fair to place this review considering the fact that I heard these speakers straight from the BOX without letting them break in.The sound I got was very poor considering all these positive reviews on this speaker. The speaker was hooked up to a krell at Sound by Singer in NY. they opened a new box because they knew I was cerious about buying a pair of speakers in the 2000$ range. the bass was muddy sounding without any tightness, the highs was very very poor with no airyness or dynamic to the sound. Mids was not there at all and I knew I was missing music on a CD that I brought from home. Considering the fact that most audiophiles say that this speaker is GREAT I probably should of waited a day or so for this speaker to break in. I was more exited listening to the B&W cdm 7es which sounded 10 times better in every aspect. I am wondering if anyone heard a MAGOR leap in sound quality after listening to these speakers for a while when bought new? I will listen to these speakers again because they are in my price range and recieved a good review from stereophile and many others. for now I cant give them more than 3

The speaker I would say needs a lot of fiddling before they sound good.As a note to trance. what you heard is true,these speakers sounds bad straight out of the box. In fact, it sounds like crab. The hales speaker needs a room treated ( medium to slightly high absortive room)
The thing is that these speakers really turns your head round if they are working in the correct place. Otherwise if you're planning something easier to live with, there are for the BMW you mentioned will sound better
remember , youneed to tweak your speakers to let them sound their best.
After you did that to the hales, you'll find that they are probably 5 times better the the cdm's series.

When I bought my Apogee Centaur major two years ago, I tought that they would be the last speaker that I would ever buy. But about a month ago I went shopping with a friend of mine, and I had the chance to listen to the Hales. Well, suffice to say that I was *really* impressed. I really liked the low end of this speaker.
I then compared the Hales with the competition, and Hales has what I like. Strong bottom end, *very* nice midrange. It images like crazy and soudnstage is both deep and wide. Keep in mind that I had a ribbon speaker before, so I was not expecting much from a "box".

I've heard that speaker at two dealers, on different electronics and rooms. One pair had been used for many hours, while the other was "newer". I noticed that the newer pair lacekd in the bass department. It might be a factor of room or electronics, or they were simply not "broken in". I've read other reviews on this site, and to state that there is no bass on this speaker leads me to beleive that the setup, placement or something else was not correct.

I have the demo pair at home, and should receive my own in a day or two. I'll then be in a better position to comment further on this breaking in mumbo jumbo.

Anyway, all things considered this speaker is fantastic. I would recommend it to anyone looking for speakers in that price range. They sound great home (Aragon 4004, Anthem CD-1) and they sounded very good on more modest amps (Anthem integrated 2) and Bryston integrated.

Overall, 4.5 stars for the quality/price factor.

This is my second review here - I was the first one to post on the Hales Rev 3's and I've now owned them for about 6 months so I wanted to post my experiences thus far.
I have 3 matched Rev 3's up front for my HT -- Hales custom matched the 3rd speaker to my other pair at no cost. They keep track of each speaker's response curve and driver numbers so that if you ever need a driver it will be matched to your originals and also so that each pair of speakers is indeed matched (minimizing driver-driver variance). I was very impressed that they did this for me at no extra charge.

I will again preface my review with the comment that I am not a blue blood audiophile. I have auditioned a LOT of expensive equipment, but have only owned higher end stuff since I got this system (about 6 months now). I don't claim to be an expert. Having said that I think Brian (below) is clearly on drugs or listened in a crappy room setup or is just trying to trash the speakers. There is just NO way these speakers can sound that bad.

The speaker itself is -incredibly- flat in response curves (see the stereophile review jan 98) and thus most of the difference we hear is FAR more affected by room position and room acousitcs than by the speaker itself. My room is ASC tubetrap treated and I think I have a bit too much high freq absorption by the sidewalls so sometimes I think the speaker is a little flat on the high frequencies, but this is my room.

The Rev 3's have amazed countless visitors to my home theater and I have been playing reference level DVDs for six months now and only ONCE did I run them out of gas (one scene in Lost in Space when played at 0 db was too much for them). Otherwise they have been superb.

Musically I have begun re-listening to almost my entire collection because I am enjoying them so much more with these speakers (and new electronics as well). I find the voice imaging superb and soundstage to be quite good as well (both the best I have heard in this price range).

My only complaint would be that the bass is not as agressive as I would like. However again my room is heavily tubetrap treated. I have two velodyne subs so I have no lack of bass in my system, but without them I would be disappointed (but them I'm a bass-hound, especially in HT).

Overall I'm thrilled to own these speakers. They are attractive (I got the natural cherry finish), dynamic, and image superbly. I would buy them again in a second and would welcome anyone to come by and listen to them if you in my area. The last caveat is the one I posted before, they are inefficient at 87db/watt so you need some juice to play them well. However they are 4 ohm design, so I'm putting 400 wpc into mine.

4 to 4.5 stars for a little lost on the low end and low sensitivity - otherwise would be a 5.

I also heard these at Sound By Singer when I was in NYC. I agree with the other posted review- What is the big deal about these seakers? They have a dull midrange that lacks detail. The whole sound seems, 'engineered' and un-natural. The new Thiel 2.3 was such a huge leap in midrange content and quality that I would high recommend saving for the extra $1000 before buying a speaker. The Hales Transcendence 5 (also at SBS) was also a large jump in sound quality, but now we are in the $4000 range and I still prefer the Thiel.

For additional information, you can also check out my post on the NHT 2.9 speaker where described the competition. To summarize, I was looking for the ultimate acoustic suspension speaker under $2500, and I think I have found it. I dragged a pair of these home to compare it side-by-side to the NHT, and it was clear to me that I would probably tire of the NHT sound after a short time. Not so with the Hales Revelation 3. The highs were critical yet smooth, without being so crisp that it sounds like speakers rather than music. The bass was extended, deep, and tight. The Hales had a wider soundstage and imaged at least as well as the NHT.
At this price level, these speakers are tough to beat. I was also impressed with the Vandersteen 2Ce Signatures for their value, but I was unable to A/B and I thought the bass was a little "over-the-top".

At any rate, I chose the Hales Revelation 3 and Center. Maybe I'll grab the 1's after my checkbook quits smoking. Anyone who is interested in this speaker should also check out the reviews in Stereophile and the Guide to Home Theater by Robert Deustch.

Paul Hales has done an excellent job offering a dual-duty speaker for audio and home theater. I give this speaker also 4 speakers (stars). The reason why I don't give it 5 is because there's obviously speakers that are superior, but they are in grossly different price classes ($5K and up).

I have had the Hales for about five weeks and am probably nearing the end of my burn-in period. As others have noted, the sound of the speakers changes dramatically throughout this period and a judgment on them is best left until the burn-in is complete. That being said....I have found these to be magical speakers that "work" with a wide variety of classical music. I listen to a lot of opera and the Hales excel at reproduction of the voice, staying relatively coherent even during Wagner!
I have noticed, however, that the speakers are VERY sensitive to placement in the room. I suspect I will be spending a great deal of time this summer moving these speakers.
All in all, I am very pleased. At a little over $2000, they were as expensive as my older speakers and infinitely better and were even better for my source material than the Vandersteen 2Ce Signature. A great deal.

Enlightened Audio Design Transport
Krell 32x D/A
Monarchy SE 100
Home-made passive box
Kimber 8TC

To all those who somehow found the Hales Rev.3's lacking in Bass or havinga bloated bass etc...Please understand that this speaker is a sealed box design, with a sensitivity of aroung 87db rated at 4 ohms nominal impedance
dropping below this rating within the most critical area of the audio spectrum.

From my humble experience in hi-fi , such a design requires a very capable power amplifier to handle this difficult load. Watts alone are not enough.
A good power supply capacitance is also called for.

I do not own these speakers (yet) but I am in the process of ordering a pair
from a highly respected dealer in the United States. At this time I cannot
comment on sound quality etc..but I have thoroughly read its review in Stereo-
phile (February 1998) as well as its Measurements section. However I don't
agree with the reviewer that a 50 or 60 Watts integrated amp(however high its
quality maybe) can competently drive these speakers. I have made this mistake
once before & have learnt my lesson.

So, if your amplification is not up to the task, please do not blame the speakers for lack of bass or for any deficiencies in other areas of the sound
spectrum.

As for the sound quality etc.. I will post another review to express my honest
opinion on this aspect,when I receive my pair, and which I am sure will be in favour of this speaker.

Happy Listening to All

Brian,
Right on brother, the bass in these speakers is simply shallow and overwhelmed by the very forward midrange. Having said that, the speaker's detail and soundstage excelled, and voices/acoustic guitar/piano were reproduced very nicely. I initially thought the highs were too flat, but began to appreciate the smoothness after listening for an hour or so with no fatigue. The Rev 3's just left me at a loss in the bass region though. Can't blame it on the equipment since I've auditioned on three separate occasions in different listening environments with a variety of tube and solid state products, and of course, multiple placements. Classical music is perhaps the forte of this speaker, but the bass/mid-bass is very muddled when listening to rock or blues. Sorry friends, but my Definitive Technologies BP8's can reach down deep and give me the bone jarring recreation of kettle drums, but Rev 3's made them sound like un-microphoned snare drums...

As for the notion that this must be a "bogus post" because I did not hear it your way (i.e., no bass), let me reassure you this is truth in reviewing and not manufacturer-sounding hype like too many of the posts I read on this sight. Final thought, after giving an honest assessment to the music store owner, he agreed completely and asked why I had wanted to hear them in the first place, that "there are many better speakers here for the same or even less money." My sentiments exactly.....