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Is a 14' x 21' room too big for Totem Hawks?

I am about to upgrade my speakers. I am considering Totem Hawks and would appreciate opinions as to whether they will provide a good "fit" acoustically with my listening room, music preferences and associated equipment. I won't have a chance to audition them at home beforehand.

My room size is 14' x 21' with 8' ceilings and has hardwood floors, large area rugs and an average amount of living room furniture. The speakers will be situated along the sort wall, about 6 ½ feet apart and 3 ½ feet from each of the side walls. My listening position is about 10 feet from the fronts of the speakers. Unfortunately, the fronts of the speakers can be at most 30" into the room, which means that the speakers will be fairly close to the wall behind them. Most of my other equipment has been upgraded within the last year:

NAD C370 integrated amp (120W, high current)
Sony CDP-CA70ES CD changer (will also buy a SACD player in the future)
Marantz st6000 tuner
Van den Hul D-102 III hybrid interconnects
Kimber 4PR cables (Plan to upgrade these soon. Will likely go to a bi-wire setup.)

I listen to jazz music almost exclusively (vocalists, small groups and smooth jazz) at a comfortable listening volume. Will the Hawks provide a good fit for my situation? If so, what cables should I match with them? If not, is there another model that would work better? Thank you.
9hcp
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Call Community Audio in Philadelphia and ask John. They are both a Totem & NAD dealer. He is a very honest guy who is a music lover.
I heard hawks there driven by Jolida tube integrated, and it was a nice combo in a similar sized room. He had tons of gear around, and setup wasn't optimum, but it sounded nice anyway.

Spencer
bshapperd
84 posts
 
9hcp.

I have a similar sized room where i use Totem Sttaf speakers driven by SimAudio SS amp. The Totems seem to have no trouble reproducing tueful bass which can be a bit much in smaller spaces. Due to the furniture in your room, the tube amp and your listening tastes "bloomy" bass may not be a problem. I have hollow floors and am only able to move the speakers out 30". To combat any overwhelming bass i have stuck the speakers down with blu tack to two 12"x12" concrete slabs, then decoupled them using MDF cups and Oak balls which I picked up at Home Depot for under 12$. This helps tame the bloom considerably on the carpeted floor. I would recommend some sort of decoupling of these speakers; maybe an air platform on your hard wood. I have never tried to fill the bases of the Totems but you may want to experiment.

I found the speakers need no toe in when situated in large rooms but after moving to my current room (similar to yours) I gained best results when toeing them in to 5-10deg.

In regards to cabling; I currently use Cardas Neutral Reference IC and bi-wire Speaker cable. This produces extremely good results. Previously I tried Nordost Blue Heaven to less than spectacular results with my SS amp. If you contact Totem they will suggest you use their Tress and Sinew cables. I can only speak from a SS point of view but, don't do it! The sound was thin and underwhelming. You can do better! Also, I have heard other systems with Virtual Dynamics cables in the system and rather enjoyed the sound. Have fun.
9hcp OP
2 posts
 
Thank you very much for your responses. The folks at Totem said that considering my room and listening position, the HAWKS should be placed about 24" to 30" from the back wall and about 4 to 6 feet apart (with no toe in). Thought you might find this interesting. I didn't ask them about their cables!
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