Great sounding book shelf speakers,I have a T8 also and a cinema center, I can only compared this to what i have in the same comfiguration like the Sonus faber corcertinos and i like the T1 over all performance,T1 is only my surround speakers same as the concertinos with my Amatis front.Great sounding speakers for what it is in low to mid volume listening driving by Threshold T800 and T2 preamp.

Very transparent,detail yet quiet,bass are deep and tight

problem placing the speakers

I recently bought the trans one from ebay for 1200 and i was shock it sounded much better than my dynaudio 1.3 mk2 se.First or all,the bass tone sound more correct,speed is much faster,dynamic excellent.I have hear things that I never heard from my dynaudio speaker.the timbre shading dynamic contrast very wide.

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Dynaudio 1.3mk2 se

John is right,this is one hell of a speaker.It ever kill my proac response 1.5 in almost every aspect except my response 1.5 have slightly lower bass.What I like most of the Hales Trans.one is the speakers just disppeared.

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proac response 1.5

all the above i mentioned

placement of the speakers

Bought this speaker 4 months ago and can't be happier.Brought it to my friend's place to compare with his JMLab mini Utopia and we'er both surprise it beat the hell out of the JMLab mini.Especially the soundstaging tight focus and the layering.Just by listening to the deep tight bass and the liquid highs plus the textured mid,i think at $1200 is a steal.

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proac response 1.5

Bought these speakers used for $1,000 and I couldn't be happer. They're connected to Cambridge Audio electronics A3i amp, CD4 cd player and T500 tuner. For under $2300 the system sounds 80-90% as good as my primary $12,000 system. The Hale Transcendce Ones image like champs, and provide plentiful bass. Like my Theils, the Hales are holographic, projecting a clear soundstage, as transparent as any electrostatic I've heard. Highly recommended, though at full price I'd have a tough time choosing between them and a pair of Theil 1.5s.

You will not believe the warmth, soundstaging and quantity of bass coming from these small speakers ... utterly astounding! I was immediately won over by them and found them very very listenable ... but then I listened closer. And while I was continually amazed by what they do right, I become aware of an important drawback.
I think they are simply trying to do too much in the way of bass. While full and warm, I detected a certain "hootiness" or bloat to the bass. Perhaps a function of their rear-ported design, or perhaps the midrange/bass trying to reach too low. Whatever it was, once I had identified the characteristic I was constantly reminded of it during my listening.

Other monitor two-way speakers auditioned on my shortlist: Sonus Faber Concerto (5star), Thiel 1.5 (4star), Dynaudio Contour 1.3 (four star) and B&W Nautilus 805 (2star). Associateed equipment included Counterpoint amp, passive preamp, PS Audio Lambda/Ultralink front end.

Due to the characteristic described above, and the not quite up to snuff build quality, I cannot give this my full recommendation:

I have to agree...the Tran. One's mid to highs are very, very good. Sounstaging is excellent. Vocals are incredibly lifelike. My favorite singer, Toni Halliday, has never sounded so seductive. But that damn midbass! I thought Craig might of had a problem with his room, but I listened to them in a large, acoustically treated room, and the closest wall was about nine or ten feet away (sidewall). That boated peak or whatever it was is this speakers only flaw, but it was pretty annoying. I am going to audition them again, and will ask if i can put plugs in the port. I really hope that will help, because every other aspect of these speakers is excellent.
Five stars, but minus one for crappy midbass.

Stunning integration, superb mids and highs

Very fussy about placement

I purchased this loudspeaker about 6 months ago. It does everything well, but it is extremely fussy about where it's positioned. To tame the unruly mid-bass, they require that you place them almost half way into the room from the front wall. Then you have to play with them, back and forth, until you find the "spot". However, the rewards are really something special.

I also originally was disappointed because of the mid-bass peak. However, I ended up finding that the room was at fault. These speakers demand as little interaction with the room as possible.

They also demand considerable power if you really want to hear them open up. Having met those caveats, you can be assured of receiving performance outside of the envelope for $2000 speakers.

Associated equipment:
Metronome Technologie' CD-1V
Audio Research LS16
McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe Edition
Nordost Blue Heaven and Red Dawn cables
etc.

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B&W CDM1

I bought these speakers because of what they do so well-vocals. I like them a great deal. I do however agree with the other reviews, the bass is a little warm and soft. Not a big problem until you play music with a good deal of bass.From the lower mids up, I am in love. Bass is o.k. Will be trading up to a larger Trans in the near future. The Trans 8's are the best speaker I have personally heard, but expensive. Hope the 3' or 5' address the bass problem.