Most Emotional Monitors - Match w/ Cary SLI-80

all are nice....the rainmaker would be the best for all catagories of music, and the most balanced.

reference 3a is an awesome speaker and can be driven with very low power. in many (not all) it is equally enjoyable as the totem mani-2's...i auditioned them one after the other although in diferent systems, despite costing twice as much i couldn't say the mani's were uncategorically better at all...

the reference 3a definately sounds better with tube amps...i heard it with an 8 watt amp and it could play very loud.

Totems (with the exception of the forest) tend to need a lot of power to come alive...think 100w solid state.

I appreciate the feedback on the Totems vs. Reference 3a. The Cary is 80 Watts, so it sounds like the 3as are the way to go. Interesting to me that the two responses didn't mention the B&W 805s, as I've read a lot of positive things about them.

What about the Tetra 'Kids?'

I have experienced the SLI-80 with the Rainmaker. Am now using Reference 3A Dulcet. The Rainmakers is actually pretty good. I'm not good at judging how speakers sound, but I find the Rainmakers that have better bass, and overall a very balanced sound, while the Dulcets have little more clarity, and is little brighter. Overall they both sound very good to my ears with my sli-80