I auditioned both the Nola Boxer and the Fritz 7 at the same time (both during their return trial periods), and I returned the Nola Boxer.
I read substantial praise on both, and if either speaker was reviewed, it seemed like the reviewer always said whichever of the two they happened to be reviewing, was *the* bookshelf to get.
Anyway, after having both in-house, honestly, I liked the Fritz 7's a lot more. The Nola Boxer's have a tipped up treble that really fatigued me; my ears would be kind of fatigued after a few songs, and honestly I couldn't "get into" the music. Due to the treble the overall image seemed to be "whitewashed" as well, if that makes any sense at all.
The Fritz 7's, on the other hand, are more neutral towards the frequency spectrum, and lean towards warm. The lows, mids, and highs are all very well integrated to the point where you don't really pick out the individual lows, mids or highs; you focus on the overall sound. Also with these speakers, they really pull me into the music somehow; it gives me that urge of "just one more song" to listen to, late into the night; whereas with the Nola's I was hearing music, but it didn't draw me in to keep listening. I mostly listen to vocally based music, and I'll say I love vocals on these things.
Also, just as a side note, I believe the Fritz Rev 5 which I was also considering at the time, has the same revelator mid/bass driver as in the Totem Hawk, except the Rev 5 has a soft dome tweeter as well.
I read substantial praise on both, and if either speaker was reviewed, it seemed like the reviewer always said whichever of the two they happened to be reviewing, was *the* bookshelf to get.
Anyway, after having both in-house, honestly, I liked the Fritz 7's a lot more. The Nola Boxer's have a tipped up treble that really fatigued me; my ears would be kind of fatigued after a few songs, and honestly I couldn't "get into" the music. Due to the treble the overall image seemed to be "whitewashed" as well, if that makes any sense at all.
The Fritz 7's, on the other hand, are more neutral towards the frequency spectrum, and lean towards warm. The lows, mids, and highs are all very well integrated to the point where you don't really pick out the individual lows, mids or highs; you focus on the overall sound. Also with these speakers, they really pull me into the music somehow; it gives me that urge of "just one more song" to listen to, late into the night; whereas with the Nola's I was hearing music, but it didn't draw me in to keep listening. I mostly listen to vocally based music, and I'll say I love vocals on these things.
Also, just as a side note, I believe the Fritz Rev 5 which I was also considering at the time, has the same revelator mid/bass driver as in the Totem Hawk, except the Rev 5 has a soft dome tweeter as well.