Naim and Totem are a great combination. I had great success with Naim XS integrated and a pair of Totem Arros.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Powering Totem Sttafs and Rainmakers
Hi all,
Just bought Totem Sttafs and Rainmakers (I like 4 stereo speakers in one room, I also like floor-standing speakers on stands so mid-range is ear-level). But my Integra stereo receiver under-compels Totems and anyway the 8 ohm Sttafs & 4ohm Rainmakers will kill the Integra in time. The Nad C375BEE would feed the power hungry Totems and drive down to 2-3 ohms but is it worthless without a Niles or similar switcher? I use an OPPO DVD as my CD player but soon will likely run all my audio / video from my laptop + Moon DAC. Are there tube pre’s and solid state amps that pair well with the Totems that I should consider? Or another integrated superior to the Nad for the Totems? What about cables? Thanks in advance. -Scott
Just bought Totem Sttafs and Rainmakers (I like 4 stereo speakers in one room, I also like floor-standing speakers on stands so mid-range is ear-level). But my Integra stereo receiver under-compels Totems and anyway the 8 ohm Sttafs & 4ohm Rainmakers will kill the Integra in time. The Nad C375BEE would feed the power hungry Totems and drive down to 2-3 ohms but is it worthless without a Niles or similar switcher? I use an OPPO DVD as my CD player but soon will likely run all my audio / video from my laptop + Moon DAC. Are there tube pre’s and solid state amps that pair well with the Totems that I should consider? Or another integrated superior to the Nad for the Totems? What about cables? Thanks in advance. -Scott
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- 11 posts total
I've powered my Sttafs with many different amps and they all worked well. You don't indicate a budget range, but staying in the neighborhood of the NAD there are a number of options. I like B&K amps - and if you want to power 2 sets of speakers a multichannel amp is an option. One of these would be quite nice. (I don't know the seller and have no interest in the sale). Other options - Musical Fidelity A3cr, PS Audio HCA-2. A Dared SL2000a preamp is one tube preamp worth considering in the presumed budget range, but only has 2 inputs. are great.Other Tube preamps I can think of will run $700+, but in the $700-1000 range there are probably some great choices (eg, TAD 150sig if you can find one). In Solid State - staying with B&K and PT-3 or PT-5 are great for the money. |
You posted on a weekend during the summer. Maybe people had better things to do than sit at their computer? Anyhow... I never cared for the NAD/Totem pairing. No synergy to my ears. Several forum friends on a different forum emailed Totem for amplification recommendations and all were told NAD isn't a good match. Can't remember why off the top of my head, but it made sense at the time. The Outlaw suggestion looks good, but I haven't heard it. Arcam, Simaudio, and Bryston pair up pretty well with Totem too IMO. Not sure if you'll get a Sim or Bryston integrated with 4 speaker outputs, nor if you'll find one for your budget if they do, but the Bryston B60 can be found for your budget here. I own one and have nothing but great things to say about it. A good speaker switch box can somehow regulate the load the amp sees with multiple speakers of different characteristics. Not sure on the technical reasons or how exactly they work, but it made sense when I heard it explained. |
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