I have to agree with Mike's and Barry's reviews below.The Hales sounded nice but were pretty close to the same money as the Sonus Faber.I auditioned today both the Revelation One and the Sonus Faber Concertinos.As luck would have it,
I listened to the Concertinos first and then compared them to the Hales.This was a mistake because the Hales were simply weaker in all aspects not to mention
significantly more prone to placement problems.I am not bashing the Hales speaker or even saying it sounds bad.All I'm saying is if you are in the market for $1000 bookshelf speakers,you owe it to yourself to hear the Sonus Faber
Concertinos.I believe Paradigm has more bang for the buck(I own Paradigm) but
my next speakers will be the Sonus Faber.On another note-Compare the build Quality of the Hales to the Sonus Faber or even Paradigm .The Hales cabinets make their products look very cheap.

I've auditioned a number of speakers the last few weeks and tried these because of good reviews. They were very disappointing. They were aggressive, with good highs, but were not consistent throughout the spectrum. Parts of the spectrum sounded muddy.
Immediately afterwards, I asked the dealer to put on Paradigm mini-monitors. It was like a blanket was taken off the speakers. They were cleaner, more natural sounding, and all-around better. I followed those with the Paradigm monitor 5, which is a little fuller-sounding, and the ProAc Tablette 2000, which was much more detailed and musical. I think the equipment was a Rega amp and Naim CD player.

For much less money, I would recommend the Paradigms. For about the same money, listen to the ProAc's.

I was looking for an upgrade to my old speakers, and I think I've found it. After listening to the Thiel CS.5 and SCS2, Vandersteen 2ce, B & W speakers, and more, I am pretty much sold on the Hales Revelation One. These stand-mounted monitors are incredible. I took them home for a weekend. Very stable, and wide imaging - not sweet-potty at all. The soundstage is lifelike, and with the right recording, you get a bit of the "beyond the speaker" left and right imaging. The real key here is vocals, though. I have not heard a pair of speakers in the $1-2k proce range have such palpable and satisfying reproduction of voice. The have an extended high-end, but it is not exagerated as I feel the SCS2 is and it is not as laid back as the Vandersteen. The Revelation Three just got a rave review in Sterophile (Feb '98), but for the money ($995/pr)the Revelation One is a steal.

JUST BOUGHT THE ONEs THREE WEEKS AGO. AS THE BURN IN I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH BETTER THEY KEEP GETTING. I'M ONLY AFFRAID THEY MAY STOP GETTING BETTER SOME DAY. IDOUBT IT THOUGH. THE SOUNDSTAGE IS INCREDIBLE AS IS THE IMMAGING. IT'S HARD TO IMMAGINE THESE LITTLE GUYS CAN EVEN PUT OUT THAT KIND OF BASS. BOB AT AVALON A/V TOLD ME WHEN HE SOLD ME THEM THAT "I SHOULD LIKE THEM" . UNDERSTATEMENT. THEY RUN UP AND DOWN THE SCALE WITH MY B&W P5s AND NOW HAVE ME TRYING TO SELL MY B&Ws TO GET A PAIR OF REV ONEs. THEY SOUND VERY MUSICAL. I'VE HEARD MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE SPEAKERS(AVALON, THIEL, ETC...) BUT SOME OF THEM SOUND TOO HARSH (SOME DEALERS CALL IT DETAIL) I CALL IT HARSH. THE ONEs ARE SIMPLY INCREDIBLE ESPECIALLY FOR THIER SIZE. ALTHOUGH RELATIVELY NEW IN THE MARKET, THEY ARE SURE TO MAKE AN IMPACT IN THE FIELD WITH PRODUCTS LIKE THIS. WHEN I FIRST BOUGHT MY B&Ws AND TOOK THEM HOME I WAS EXCITED AND LOVED THEM. NOW I'VE GONE TO A NEW LEVEL OF EXCITEMENT. A CAN'T MISS WITH THESE SPEAKERS.

I recently began upgrading my audio-only system. I listened to B&W 601, 602 and CDMSE 1, the entire Polk RT line, the Klipsch KSF and KLF lines, Mirage speakers (cannot remember the model), KEF Q line, NHT Super Two, Paradigm Monitor 7, Monitor 9, and Reference 20 and 60, and Rega Jura speakers. I initially wanted to spedn around $500, however, the more speakers that I auditioned, the more it became clear to me that the $1,000 price point was where I found tolerable speakers. My choices narrowed to the B&W CDMSE 1 ($1100) and the Rega Jura ($995). I got a price break on the Rega Jura's, so I was happy with this choice until I listened to a friends Paradigm Reference 60s and heard much more air in the highs than the Jura. Of course, the Reference 60 is much more expensive than the Jura and I found this out the day I planned on changing my order from the Jura to the Paradigm 60. My dealer suggested that I listen to the only set of speakers close to my price range (I originally told him $700) that I had not auditioned. I heard the Hales Rev Ones and was blown away by both the depth of soundstage, air, and depth of bass for such tiny speakers. They had a little less bass than the Jura, but the highs were much clearer and satisfying. I purchased a pair and they even sound great with my Yamaha AX-592 amplifier. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a pair of bookshlef speakers to use in a smaller room, although they can probably fill rooms much larger than their size would seem to allow. A must audition for anyone at this price point!

Although there is nothing particularly wrong with this speakers, there is also nothing particularly right with them, either. Yes, they're fairly musical, but the identically-priced Sonus Faber Concertino is much more musical and pleasant, especially for vocals, as well as having better imaging. The Revelation One's are fairly detailed, but the Dynaudio Audience 60 for $1200 (the same price as the Hales if you include $200 stands) is much more detailed yet also seemingly less fatiguing, and has FAR better imaging and dynamics. All in all, I found the Hales Revelation One quite unimpressive, and see nothing to recommend them over other far better speakers at this price point.

If you have a large room and can afford to place these speakers on stands a good 5 or 6 feet from the rear wall, and you listen to music at a loud sound level, these speakers might be for you. I found that at moderate to low levels these speakers these speakers perform poorly. Like many people, I live in an apartment and cannot afford enought space to place these speakers at optimum distances. The bass is deep and fairly clean, but overwhelms the mids and the highs. The highs sound muted and don't start to reach an acceptable balance with the bass until the volume is played loud. These are aggressive speakers and lack detail and refinement. Don't get me wrong, they outperform speakers like the Tannoy M2, and have a beautiful real wood finish. However, I think that they are overpriced given their performance. Speakers at this price level should be able to perform well at all volume levels and should be less affected by room boundaries. Your money would be better spent on the Dynaudio Audience 50's or the Audience 60's which considering the price of stands, costs about the same as the Hales Revelation one.

After listening at length to selections from NHT, Energy and a whole lot of B&W CDM-SE monitors, I decided on the Hales Rev.1's. This included a two week trial period in my home listening room. The fullness of sound is phenomenal! If you listen to orchestral music or opera you will be floored at the tonal response. Be prepared to back off on your sub though, these small units provide excellent low tones, especially if you are setting them up in a smallish room. You will need plenty of power for them, but the rewards are great.

Befre I bought my current (floorstanding speakers) I auditioned a number of bookshelfs. This model, along with Sonus Faber, produced the best sound I heard. Of course, you lose low frequency performance, but the mid-bass, HF, and especially the mid-range are truly first rate. No notable colorations, and the detail is simply amazing. It's as if a veil has been lifet from in front of the drivers when compared to other speakers. I liked it so much that I'm still entertaining thoughts of buying a pair. I can say with close to total certainty that my next set of speakers will be Hales. A must audition for any monitor shopper. Five speakers!

Bought them while having Revelation 3's for over a year. The Revelation 1's are very musical, but for their size also have surprising ability to reproduce natural sounding bass. I rate them highly because they have exceeded my expectation and are not excessively expensive.