Floorstanding loudspeakers — YG Acoustics HAILEY 3

The Hailey 3 is a 3-way passive floor-standing loudspeaker from YG Acoustics, part of a Reference range that also comprises the Carmel 3, Vesper 3, Vantage 3, Sonja 3.2 and Sonja 3.3. The company describes it as a model that mirrors the technologies of the Sonja 3 in a more compact cabinet. YG makes its Reference speakers from precision-machined aerospace-grade aluminium worked in its own facilities, and specialists at its sites in Colorado and in Cambridge assemble each one by hand.

Key specs that matter

Usable output is quoted from 20 Hz to 40 kHz, and sensitivity is 87 dB. Impedance is 4 ohm average with a 2.8 ohm minimum. The driver set is a 26 mm YG Lattice hybrid tweeter, an aluminium-cone midrange driver with neodymium motor magnets and a 26 cm aluminium-cone bass driver whose motor has a very strong magnetic field. Crossover points sit at 90 Hz and 1.75 kHz. Each speaker measures 120 x 33 x 54 cm (height, width, depth) and weighs 91 kg. Standard finishes are silver and black, and other finish options are available on request. A brochure and a 3D model file are available for the Hailey 3.

Engineering and use context

The Lattice tweeter uses a new airframe in a specially selected aerospace alloy machined by YG, and the company states it offers very low distortion over a wide bandwidth with wide angular dispersion. The cabinet uses constrained layer damping in key locations. The crossover is a third-generation Ultracoherent circuit, which YG says keeps relative phase within plus or minus 5 degrees across the range where the output of the drivers is within 20 dB of each other, and it is tuned with transient behaviour, phase slope and driver phase alignment as targets. The parts list names custom-made capacitors, some of them built with pure metal foil, multiple foil resistors and inductors damped against resonance, with layouts computationally optimised to limit interactions between components. The maker notes that the Reference 3 models were developed with new theoretical models, multi-domain simulations and thousands of hours of listening, and it quotes close pair matching.

Pairing

Because impedance dips to such a low minimum, any amplifier chosen should be stable and able to deliver current into low loads.

Alternatives

YG Acoustics also builds the Sonja 3.2, a larger Reference floorstander with dual 15 cm midrange drivers, 88 dB sensitivity and a weight of 145 kg per speaker.