I'm not familiar with Totem speakers so I can't recommend anything! That said when I upgraded my Krell kav 300il I tried quite a few products and the H360 woke up speakers like no similar powered amps did. At the time I was using the salon 1's and the h360 was pure magic. Since buying the hegel 5 years ago I've bought and sold a half dozen full range speakers in the $20-30k(new retail) price and honestly unless you need a tube amp, the h360 is worth the asking price, it doesn't do full MQA though and there's only 1 fixed and 1 variable analog input to go with the plethora of digital inputs.
Anything close to Hegel H360 but smaller/lighter?
So, I’m living in Brazil these days in an apartment with a room a little bigger than 12x12 (maybe 14x14) I’m guessing. I have a pair of Totem “The One” speakers laying in storage there and a Velodyne 12” subwoofer and I want to put these to use. I’m in the US now on a short stay and just bought the Martin Logan Forte simply because it was cheap and I’m getting a buzz to listen to music again but I don’t want to break the bank. Plus, I’m in an apartment so sound levels need to be considered for the sake of neighbors. I knew this might happen…..I’m already thinking about upping the ante a bit and buying a somewhat decent integrated amp and came across good reviews for the Hegel H360 on here - would I get a noticeable sound quality difference if I sprung for this amp as opposed to the Forte. That is, $250 as opposed to a few grand?
Now I see that Hegel is 45lbs and I’m trying to bring this in my suitcase to Brazil and it will be doable if I sacrifice bringing other personal items back with me so, two questions here….
Will the Hegel provide me with a big noticeable difference in sound quality over the Forte ?
Is there another integrated out there that compares with the Hegel but is lighter/smaller?
cheers