Price Paid:  $4150.00 from Audiogon.com

Summary:
Having been a happy owner of a pair of Hales Revelation Three's, when I saw a pair of Transcendence Eight's for sale on audiogon I had to check them out. I was lucky in that the owner lived within a few hours driving distance from me, so I was able to audition them before purchasing. I liked what I heard, and made them mine.

So, having owned them for several months now, one may ask how are they? Well, in a word, glorious. All of the strengths possessed by my old Revelation Three towers are there in spades with the Transcendence Eight's. The bass is even more controlled, yet it extends even deeper than the Rev. Three's 30 Hz. The midrange magic is still there only with added clarity, but the biggest improvement is in the treble region. Where the Rev. Three's could become a bit edgy at high volume levels, the Transcendence Eight's tweeters ride the high decibel crest like a professional surfer on a killer wave. These speakers know how to rock.

Also, their macro and micro dynamics are stunning--as is their imaging capabilities. It's hard to believe that these big towers can handle sound-staging like they do. But the most important strength exhibited by the Trans. Eight is its synergy from driver to driver. These speakers speak with one voice, and a most neutral voice it is. There is no high end etching nor is there the bloated low end one sometimes finds with bass-reflex designs. Yes. Paul Hales has made me a believer in acoustic suspension. It's really a tragedy that Hales Design Group went belly up.

Strengths:
1) System synergy or balance

These towers speak with one voice. There is no etched treble (ala B & W, Thiel). There is no bloated/one note punchy bass (ala Wilson Audio and many others).

2) Midrange magic

The Trans. Eight retains the Hales Revelation Three's neutrality and adds improved clarity via lower distortion drivers.

3) Build quality

As in , built like a (very beguiling) tank. Yes, they are heavy, but the pain results in much gain.

4) Bang-for-the-buck

At the prices I see for these on the used market, their purchase is a no-brainer. As far as I'm concerned, many of the newer designs still don't match the Trans. Eight's--particularly in the system-synergy department.

Weaknesses:
1) They are HEAVY.

2) The steel grills can be a major pain to put back on. Leave them off.

3) They need a lot of power to sound their best.

4) They also require a large room to avoid over-powering bass. (For smaller rooms I recommend the Transcendence Three or Five systems.)

Similar Products Used:
I've heard the Wilson Audio Sophia's, B & W Nautilus 802's, 804's and 805's. a set of large Thiel's (I can't remember the model), and the Revel Salon's. My prior speakers were Hales Revelation Three's.

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Price Paid:  $4000.00 from Used on Ebay

Summary:
Wow what a speaker. These baby's image like a champ. Images are stable and lifelike. They have proper height and focus. soundstage is wide and deep. voices are nicely fleshed out. did I mention that these speakers disappear nicely. The real strength of the speakers is their natural presentation of voices and instruments. Violins sound like violins. You can hear the hand and sticks impact on drums. You can actually hear the air move around the instruments! These speakers are the real deal. Also, these beauties really shine on tube gear. I am running them on a pair of C-j Premier 8A's, premier 16LS Dodson DAC, sony cdp-x7esd and Cardas Golden reference cables. The sound is gorgeous and stunning. The only thing that comes close that I have heard is the Revel Ultima Studio's which retail for twice the price. Too bad Hales has gone under, I am sure their were a lot of speaker manufacturers glad to see them go!!

Strengths:
Outstanding imaging, dynamics, soundstaging, truth of timbre.

Weaknesses:
do not play as loud as other speakers and are pretty hefty.

Similar Products Used:
eggleston Andra's, Infinity RS1B's

Summary:
Goose Bumps,Chills,Goose Bumps,Chills. All I can say about these speakers is WOW. Best speaker i have ever heard period.

Strengths:
Dynamics,Transparent,very realistic

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Genesis V,Infinity IRS Beta,Legacy Focus,Genesis APM1,Joseph audio RM50si,Odeon,Aerial 10t's, Silverline Sonatas,Sonus Faber Extrema,Carver Platinum,Wilson 5.1,Genesis 1.1

Summary:
For the last couple of years, I have been searching for an upper-end speaker system. I have auditioned the Wilson Watt Puppy, Legacy Whisper, Avalon Eidolon, Vandersteen V, Revel, Meridian DSP 6000 and some others I can't remember. On rare occasion when listening to a speaker for the first time, it is only necessary to listen for five seconds before realiazing that the speaker in question is something very special. The T-8 is one of those speakers. The longer I listened, the more I appreciated what I was hearing.

The overall impression is that the sound is very clean and clear. The speakers develop a remarkable soundstage with rather precise imaging.

The driver integration between woofers, midrange and tweeters is exceptionally seamless. Best of all, the speakers disappear as discrete sources of sound and the music smoothly fills the area around and between the speakers.

The bass is exceptionally tight and clean and very powerful for speakers of this size. Their midrange would be hard to beat and the highs are clear and very detailed. The ability of these speakers to reproduce the human voice is uncanny, especially on solos.

Their sound is not as cold as the Watt Puppys, generally clearer and with better bass than the Whisper, not as dry as the Eidolon (which is no slouch, but needs the megabuck Spectral gear to effectively drive it) and, to my ears, easily beats the Meridian and Vandersteen overall.

The can generate plenty of sound, but do not have the ability to completely take over a room the way some of the very large, very expensive speaker systems can.

Cabinetry was good, but not on a par with the Eidolons (which could qualify for a prominent spot at Smithsonian.) The medium size of these speakers made them somewhat unobtrusive, a valuable quality.

These speakers are a (if not THE) top contender in their price range and compete very favorably with speakers twice their price. If you fail to personally audition the T-8's before you buy any speakers up to about $20K, you will probably be better off not listening to them at all after you have bought something else.

Strengths:
Soundstage

Summary:
I stopped by an Audio shop that I hadn't been to before, I told the staff that I was looking for a new speaker pair in the 8-12k range. Said that because of the wide range of music I listen to I need a dynamic speaker but I have always admired the sound of a good electrostat through the middle.

He sat me down in front of a pair of T-8. Wow... So far, the watt puppies v6 were the closest to getting the resolution of an electrostat, and still are by the slimmest margins (I mean slim) however the T-8 were SO close in this regard but were much more pleasant to listen to... I can't put my finger on what was more pleasent about them, suffice it to say the T-8's were very smooth and non-fatiging. The resolution and detail far surpassed the 802's in my opinion.

Now, lets get down to soundstage. I have NEVER heard any system soundstage like this. This speaker completely raises the bar on all my expectations. I was actually looking for side speakers and seriously considered that someone was playing a joke on me. But, these were the only speakers playing.... It didn't even sound like they were turned on from the listening position. And don't think because it was a wide soundstage that it wasn't precise. I have heard many systems that sound good, but nothing like this.

In conclusion, the watt's have a very slight edge on detail/resolution but are fatiguing in comparison. In every other catagory these speakers beat any other dynamic speaker I have heard under 20k. I have not heard the Dunlavy offerings yet, should be an interesting comparison there.

Bring a good recording when you demo these and you will swear that you are at the session if you close your eyes.

Strengths:
Soundstage, Soundstage, Soundstage

Weaknesses:
I must have missed them

Similar Products Used:
Wilson Watt Puppy v6, B&W 802 Nautilus