Acoustic Energy and Totem

I have a pair of ae1s and ae2s. I use tubes (Fourier Panthere OTLs) and have used a hybrid amp(Counterpoint Sa20 monoblocks). the speakers love to be driven hard and produce the most natural midrange ive heard. the ae1s have more precise imaging and soundstaging, however the 2s are much more spacious, sort of a small club vs a larger one. I use subs with both and did not like them w/o subs. I am selling my Duntech floor standers since buying the Ae2s.

Johnny,

I've owned Acoustic Energy and auditioned Totem extensively. There are no mistakes to be made, only choices. Both are fairly revealing, especially the Totems, so you will need a decent front end or the flaws will be revealed. I would recommend at least Audio Refinement or equivalent. Good luck.

Celtic66 is spot on, the Ae's will spit out what is put in them, an example is a disc I played last night, I believe it was Tears for Fears, Woman in Chains, (Japanese CD pressing, reissiuse), It sounded so bad I thought there was something wrong with the speakers....I had listened to this song several times before on my Duntechs and it sounded great....thinking I blew a tweeter on the Ae's...I put on another CD, KDLang live by Request, Trail of Broken Hearts...nothing wrong there...the Ae's are produce the source very very revealing yet truthfully.

i owned ae-1's several years ago that i powered with a pair of rowland model 1's ran bridged. ( i also added a pair of entec lf-20's later on -what fun!) one of my sons owns ae-2's that he powers with an accuphase integrated (e-306); he's recently added an ae powered sub, making the monitors sound even better. -cfb