Dynaudio Evoke 20 vs. Totem Signature One vs. Acoustic Revival Adalante 3

@hilroy48 

Thanks for the suggestion. I have just the normal domestic room treatments of drapes, plants and carpet. Eventually I will be  looking for some diffusors or absorption panels that are WAF friendly. 

@grislybutter 

Thanks for the recommendations. That MoFi speaker has always interested me, I have a fan of point source drivers.

@jpipes 

Thanks for the input and I'm glad to hear you are liking the Dynaudio sound signature.  Any reason for moving on from the Adalante 3?

@robshaw Thanks for the recommendation. 

@soix

I find the Omega SAM speakers picking about amplification. Louis disagrees. I most enjoyed the Linear Tube Audio ZOTL 10 MK2 tube amp that I mainly used with those speakers (regret selling of course). I have also had good luck with vintage Marantz gear. Other amps such as the HiFi Rose don't bring any of the musical qualities out of these speakers. They sounded good in the near field, but music lost it's flow for background listening and oddly, considering that they are high efficient speakers, were a hard drive for the RS520.

The Harbeths were quite detailed, easy to drive, dynamic and very balanced sounding from woofer to tweeter, but they just made the music bright sounding. Mid range just didn't have the meat I am used to and sounded lighter in both timbre and pitch. 

@o_holter 

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have owned tube amps in the past, and like many people, love the sound, hate the maintenance. It is why I moved from an LTA ZOTL 10 tube amp to the HiFi Rose. Next amp purchase might possibly be Naim or Moonriver.

@bluorion 

Thanks for sharing. The Adalante 3 seems to be a special speaker, I am looking forward to listening. 

@nonoise 

I had a feeling I would hear from you, I read your review of the Adalante 3 and I am happy you have found your "it" speaker. Ironically, I came across the link you shared here after I had already narrowed my search down to these 3 speakers. In all honesty, they all sound good. HiFi House by MSound is where I will be demoing the Acoustic Revival speakers at. They don't seem to have an actual showroom with normal business hours, so scheduling a listen has been difficult. I doubt they carry Dynaudio anymore, but with any luck I will be able to do side by side comparisons to the Totem (and maybe a left over Evoke 20).

@gramophone_canada 

Thanks, I will check out the link with some headphones this weekend. 

@bluorion 

I will keep you posted. I am living in Myanmar and will audition in Bangkok, so a home audition is not possible. The price is slightly higher in BKK.

@twhitezzz I have never heard of Watkins. They look at little like a Totem Sig. One with a deeper cabinet. Thanks for the recommendation.

@jpipes Congratulations and good luck on the wedding!

Hi everyone, I thought I would post an update. 

I was finally able to audition the Adalante 3 speaker in Bangkok and the excitement was palpable. They certainly sounded good on first arrival. And even though they sounded great as I played some of my test tracks, it was apparent, these were not the speaker for me. 

I listen to a lot of alternative, indy, classic rock and I guess what might pass as non-audiophile music. Some of the test tracks that I play are specific to see how the system will reproduce distortion and ambient sounds. An example would be Creep by Radiohead. At about 2 minutes in, the song switches to its chorus with a heavily distorted guitar. This still has to sound good, because it really does belong in the song. Unfortunately, on many highly resolving systems (and less resolving systems), you would never play this song again, it’s too loud and forward. While listening to the Adalante 3, I didn’t necessarily want to turn the music down, but I wouldn’t really want to play this song again. There were more examples of this, from Wilco’s Yankee FoxTrot album, to the background rings, whistles and buzzing noises in Phoebe Bridgers’ Scott Street - the speakers highlighted detail without making it a cohesive part of the mix. I found myself listening to the speaker, not the interested in the music. 

At a different shop, I was able to listen to the Dynaudio Evoke 20 for the 3rd time. On this occasion, I was fortunate enough to demo with the same amp I own, the RS520. This speaker works for my ears, as well as with Hifi Rose gear. It’s not as detailed as some speakers I have heard, but the body, timbre and naturalness of music is all there. Neil Young’s live Massey Hall has the fullness and intimacy I was hoping for. Micro details aren’t highlighted to the point of sounding unnatural, but presented in a way to add nuance and texture. Even though the top end might lack some airyness, the delivery is blended in a way that makes this speaker enjoyable to listen to. 

As for the Totem Signature One, I didn’t get a chance to listen this time around. I am skeptical of the aluminum dome tweeter and already kinda ruled them out, perhaps unfairly since a part of me still thinks this might be the better valued alternative to the Dynaudio Special Forty. 

In the end, I did not buy a speaker. The Dynaudio is only available in blonde and black finish in Thailand, neither of which is my preferred choice. 

I also decided I want to demo a pair of Mofi Sourcepoint 8 before pulling the plug on a new speaker. I also believe the Wharfdale Linton speakers might be an audition.

Thanks again for all the advice.