Does anybody have Totem Arro's and CJ tubes?


I heard the Arro's at the Hi Fi show and loved them. (I want a floor stander & they fit my budget.)

I am looking to purchase a pair to go with my Conrad Johnson MV-55 45 watt tube amp (NOS tubes - RCA, Mullard, & Svetlanas)& passive preamp.

I listen to Classical & Jazz at 75 db max. Room is 11.5 x 20 x 8.

Dealer is cautioning that my amp won't work well. My feeling is that it should. Does anybody have any experience that would help?

Thanks.
umn
At the show were the Arros paired with a tube amp? If they were, you should enjoy them with your amp.

I have Arros paired with a similar amp and it works fantastically. Not only do I get all the volume I need (somewhere in 90 db's peak in a room similar to yours), but the sound is rich and smooth. My amp is a Sonic Frontiers with 50 wpc from PP 6550s. Based on this, your amp should make a beautiful match with the Arro.

Fwiw, I am perplexed as to why the dealer would tell you such a thing. Is he trying to sell you something else? Does he not like tubes? Maybe it's best to ask him why he's negative about the idea--that is, if it matters to you!

I say, give it a try; I think you'll like it.
You hit it right.
He was trying to get me to go for a pair of Hawks. But they are really out of my budget and I like the fact that the Arro's can be placed very close to the rear wall.
Thanks for your valuable response!
My experience with the Arro's is that they tend to work best with warm-sounding tube amps. CJ would fit that bill nicely. And the best amp I've heard them with was the Jolida 302b (around 45W) tube amp.

A lot of expensive solid-state amps don't sound optimal with these speakers.

In my opinion, your amp should work fine with the Arro's.

The Hawk is, in many ways, a better speaker. It has better "fullness" and bass response, but at the expense of being less flexible in placement and not as good with imaging as the Arro's. And, as you mention, twice the price.

Good luck,

Michael
HI UMN.
I OWN THE SAME AMP AS WELL,BUT USING IT WITH MISSION 753'S.
THE SOUND IS PRETTY DAMN GOOD. RECENTLY BOUGHT THE ROGUE M 150'S MONO'S AND WANT ADVICE ON SPEAKER SELECTION TOO.
GOOD LUCK ANYHOW
i'm using them with a jolida 302a, i've also listened to them on a variety of solid state gear (this is my first tube piece) and found the sound to be different but by no means unpleasant. i do believe my jolida is not the same level of build quality of CJ equipment nor that much wattage, so I'm sure you'll be QUITE happy with your setup as-is. I do suggest totem's speaker wire (at least give it a try, at an approx. $4-5 retail a foot, it's a steal) - 2 runs to the mid driver and 1 to the tweeter should do it.
Thanks for the responses so far.

Dmoffitt: Why did you choose the single wire Tress over Totem's bi-wire cables? I now have Audioquest Type 4+ single wire and wonder how these compare.
Thanks.
I simply happened to have a 12ft length of single tress sitting around and wanted to hook them up and start listening. i much prefer the sound of it over the type-2 I had kicking around and even feel it bests CV-6 (the AQ had more bass extension but the very high end on the tress seem cleaner / less edgy). Wire is SO system dependent tho, I actually preferred the AQ cable until I modded the Jolida, so obviously your experience might vary. Ideally I think I'm going to end up buying some AQ KE-4 or a similar silver cable or the Totem bi-wire (I'm hoping to audition both shortly).
Good thread... Has anyone compared these to "higher-end" monitors such as B&W 805sig, Dynaudio S1.4, Joseph RM7si, Snell K.5mk2, Dali Helco 300 ? I have a MV60 and I'm looking for a speaker <$3K that will do it justice. I've heard the arrows but have not been able to do a side-by-side with any of the above favorites. Note I will be using it with a really good sub so the low-end is not a problem. I'm looking for the best disappearing, depth and space I can find.
I have been interested in the Arro's, but my Cary DJH Superamp has 8 ohm speaker taps, and the Arro's are 4 ohm (and only 87db efficient). I have found that tube amps like a heavier ohm load, or they loose bass weight. When properly matched ohm loads are present, speakers sound well balanced, but when a lower ohm load is present they loose bass and the Midrange jumps out front with a very fatiguing forward sound. Anyone else have this experience?

It was dramatically demonstarted on my Mesa Baron, which had a 4/8 ohm switch which I could use on-the-fly. I had Tannoy D-70 speakers which are rated 6 ohm Nominal/4 ohm Minimum, but read 2.6 ohm at the binding posts with an OHM meter. They sounded great on 8 ohm, anemic on 4 ohm.

Curtis
btrvalik, I think the stuff from totem blows away the 805 (regular, haven't heard the sig). the 805 would have been the next logical step for me to take, from CDM 1NTs but I didn't feel it was enough of an improvement for the money, and preferred the rather different direction the Arro took me in. Now I own Forests and couldn't be happier!!
Hate to move the direction of this thread, but what do people generally think about the Winds? How would they mate with Krell 400ix or 300 mda mono blocks? How would winds compare to the JM lab Electra 946's or similar?
I just revisited my thread and noticed the recent activity.

I love my Arro's and the CJ.
I want the soundstage to be very wide so I called Vince (the Owner of Totem) and he spent a lot of time with me on the phone. He gave me several ideas to try.
Interestingly he told me to move the Arroi's together, to within 4 - 5 feet of each other! This really made things smoother, more dynamic, and opened the soundstage a bit more. Will report back after I implement more of his ideas....

Zorathustra:
Call Totem directly at 514-259-1062. They are really helpful. Vince seems to have opinions about a lot of different equipment that is used with the Arro's.