Nola Contender & Totem Forest comparison?

I have heard both.

Forest with Jolida, Conrad Johnson, and McIntosh. Really liked
the sound, great imaging and vocals; a tad dark, but the sound
was rich and powerful. Good mids helped with the imaging. The
highs were really really smooth (reminded me of the Vienna's,
but with way better mids).

The Contenders were a major disappointment to me. Heard with
McIntosh gear. Bass was muddy, mids were recessed, imaging was
fuzzy and the highs had no sparkle. My experience was 180
degrees different from all the reviews I read (major
disappointment, frankly).

Just my humble, subjective, observations.

The Mac gear driving the Nolas was SS (new integrated with DAC; the gear driving the Totem's was SS, other than the Jolida integrated). Interestingly, the Contenders were placed next to a pair of the new, Focal Aria 926 speakers (same Mac gear driving these). For the same price, I overwhelmingly preferred the Focals. I was listening to rock and electronica. The Focals had way more bass, imaged better, had that sparkly top end that I like (mind you, I didn't find these bright-and I have not really heard a bright speaker in a long time). Neither speaker was using "good" cable, it was by the foot Monster or something.

I found the Nolas to sound lifeless by comparison. I walked in prepared to buy the Contenders (based on all the pro reviews I read)...but found that they just were not incrementally better than my current setup. (certainly not for 3x the px).

Ghost,

when I went to go see the Nola's, I told the sales guy my
budget...he said "I have just the speaker for
you," and then showed me the (less expensive) Focals. I
said, "what are those Nola speakers?" thinking
maybe his payout was better on the Focals...he said
something like, "oh those are Nolas, you want to hear
them?" So, he swapped inputs...I put my tunes on, and
in 5 seconds I was just shocked. I said, "wow, kinda
dull." And he said something like, "yep, not as
good. That's why I didn't bother to show you to begin
with."

This is EXACTLY the type of sales guy I want to do business
with..!! (he had all that reviewer hype that he could have
leveraged, too.)

I do not believe the Contenders would be a step up for you.