2. member-reviews
  3. 1115853904

How does Totem do it ???

Category: Speakers

Long story short...after several years of playing the field I've found my field of dreams...in the Forest! Totem Forest's that is. They love Krell amplification and a good CD player, but other than that and decent cables you got yourself a slice of heaven! How much heaven can be had for a system price of $6000...try comparing this system to what I've owned over the years:

Dunlavy SC-V's
Wilson watt/puppy 6's (twice)
B&W 801N
Totem Wind
Maggie 3.6
ML Prodigy

driven by:

Krell FPB 600 and 400CX with arc ls25 or refIImkII

Mark Levinson 334 and 336 with 380S, 32ref and 390S

BAT vkd5, vk5i

ARC VT200

Wadia 860SE

Jinky's...I can't remmember all the gear. What I do know however is just how right the Totem speakers are with Krell driving them. I'm only using a Sony DVP999ES player and all Totem wires!! It's addictive the way Boston Symphony Hall is...simply beautifull to hear!

Anyone else have a similiar epiphany? By the way, the Krell400cxi is mind boggling...all the typical audiophile attributes with clarity and musicality beyond reproach! A steal at $2500 list!
128x128dave_b

Showing 4 responses by rbstehno

rbstehno
1,407 posts
 
how do the winds sound compared to the mani 2's? i currently use the mani's but i am curious about the wind speakers.
rbstehno
1,407 posts
 
i have had many different pairs of totem speakers in the past (arros, model 1's, mani 2's) and currently have all mani 2's. totems produce amazing bass for the size of the speaker, it doesn't matter what speaker it is. take the arro, a 4" bass/mid driver. placed properly, it is amazing. with the other models, you need a good powerfull amp to do the speaker justice. the model 1 and mani 2 need at least a couple hundred watts with more in reserve (more would be better: like a classe 301/401 for example). also, it also matters what you are looking for in the bass dept. if you want home theater boom, look elsewhere. if you want clean single note, realistic bass, you'll like the totems. if you don't have a powerfull amp, the hawks and forest speaker are easier to drive.
good luck
rbstehno
1,407 posts
 
Madfloyd, i would describe real bass as how it would sound at a good live concert. to me, there is a difference in speakers with large woofers (slow bass, long decay times, bloated sounding) compared to speakers with smaller woofers (no lingering notes, fast, delineate each note on the bass or beat of the bass drum). i agree with you that you need weight in the low end, but there is a difference on how you get it. kids with 15" woofers in there cars are going to get more boom than clean sound. i prefer speakers with multiple smaller woofers than with 1 larger one. same with subwoofers. (rel subs are a good example). you get the same low end (weight) but i prefer the speed and articulation of the notes with the smaller drivers. also, next time you go to a good sounding concert, look at the bass players speakers. you will notice it has multiple smaller drivers (10" or less) instead of larger drivers.
rbstehno
1,407 posts
 
i have had my mani's for 5 years now. they need power, PERIOD! i use a 200 watt classe amp for mine which is as low as i would go. but, they sound very nice. a few years a go i took the mani's to my friends audio store and hooked them up to the 1000 watt mcintosh mono's. Unbelievable! they came to life. the bottom end was more controlled. in the near future, i am going to get another classe 200 watt amp and run them in mono mode which will give me 750 watts of power each.
More to discover