Has anyone heard the Totem Acoustic's Wind?

Hi Jh2os,

Looking at your system, I think we have pretty similar taste. I absolutely love the Totem sound and I think my Hawks can perform well in my bigger living room. However, the Winds got me really thinking about leaving the Hawks as my bedroom speakers, where they perform magically.

Do you think the Wind are worth the MSRP $6500+? It's competing against a very tough crowd at that price point. I don't have a Totem dealer around me so I won't be able to listen to them personally, so I really appreciate your input.

How would you compare them to the Mani2s you had? Can they reproduce a large orchestra/symphony well at loud volumes?

Thanks,

Oh, are there any professional reviews on these speakers? I can't seem to find any...

Thanks for the thoughtful reply Sonance,

I'd love to hear the Wind myself, but I'm currently in college and don't have a car here, and there isn't a Totem dealer in my state...

The only speakers I'd buy without hearing them first is Totem. When I used to live in Singapore, I auditioned the Arro, Hawk, Forest and the Mani-2 signatures. The dealer there was very excited about a pair of Wind he was getting in, but I wasn't in the country long enough for that...

I love every Totem speakers I've heard (all w/ pros and cons of course) and I'm wondering if the Wind will serve me well in my bigger living room (14 x 14 x 18 high ceiling).

If you were in my situation, would you keep the Hawks and add a Velodyne DD-12/15 subwoofer or upgrade the speakers? Adding a high quality subwoofer would cost about the same as selling my Hawk and buying a used pair of Winds.

Any comments would help.

Thanks, I really appreciate everyone's help.

I agree w/ both Sonance and Ghunter.

A quality true full range speaker will be better for music than a poorly setup speakers + sub combination. However, if you're looking at subwoofers such as Velodyne's Digital Drive series, Revel B15, Ultima30, Rel Stadium, etc..., you'll see that a well placed and executed subwoofer will work as well and in most cases, better than a "full range" speakers w/o a sub.

For example, Totem Hawk + Velodyne DD12 combination will produce a very flat frequency responce from below 20Hz to 20kHz. I highly doubt you can find a true full range speakers (Wind goes down to 24Hz supposedly) that can do the same for the same price.

The important question to ask is, do you really need a truly full range (20Hz-20kHz) sound? If the answer is yes and you love the LFE on movie tracks, I think a subwoofer will make a huuuge difference in the experience and more than worth the investment.

It all comes down to personal preferences and needs, but w/ today's quality subwoofers, we really don't need to worry too much about the integration with main speakers. The subwoofer matching technology has come a long way and I believe they've gotten it right now.

Sorry to stray off the topic a bit, but for me, if I had the money, I'd add a quality subwoofer even if I had the Totem Wind loudspeakers.

Thanks Sonance, that was exactly the answer I was looking for.