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Small living room speaker options.. Totem Arro?

Hi,

I've recently moved into a small condo and feel like my LSi9s are just not working so well in this small living room (11x14). These speakers need to be a bit away from the wall and are fairly large in stature. I am also doing much more low volume listening now and feel like the LSi9 works better when at mid volume, otherwise it's kind of a sleepy speaker that isn't very detailed, especially missing much of the mid section when listening at very low volumes.

So what I want is a small form factor speaker that has clear and live presentation at low volume. From everything I read it seems that the Totem ARRO is a very good contender for this job, especially since it's small and loves to be close to the wall, which is where I'd have it for aesthetic purposes. 

My gear consists of a Classe SSP AMP2 (Class D), which is a 200w amp, so I think I should have no shortage of power. My pre is an Outlaw 975 which will probably get upgraded over the next year or two, but for now this is what I'm working with.

Would love to hear any thoughts on the Arro in this setup and any other options I might look into at this price point and size. Again, keeping in mind low listening volume requirement and lively/punchy presentation, although I'm not a fan of "bright"  speakers. 

Should I consider the Totem Staff? I would probably like it's tonality better, because it's closer to my LSi9 in the sense that it's a more laid back speaker. But I am not sure if it will work as well as the arro in low listening volume and it is also a larger speaker in terms of dimensions that also probably would not work quite as well backed up against the wall.

Any and all thoughts much appreciated! 
lietuvis91
213runnin
914 posts
 
The tweeter, and the R&D budget allocated to its design, is no less important to the rest of the speaker.  And a dome tweeter will only go so far and do so much.  The metal dome tweeters in most of Totems lower line up( to about the Hawks)  have various compromises and trade offs to do with a limited budget when a speaker is being marketed in the retail system.  

Totem makes striking choices in voicing each model, and either you like them or you don't.  I found some frequencies over emphasized and just not natural.  But I prefer a flat frequency response, and let the music and the producer make the decisions, and let the speaker not add or take away from that.

We live in the year 2017, and a speaker, these days, that can sound like live acoustic music is actually more common that not.
mdelrossi1
79 posts
 
What did you decide on?
lietuvis91 OP
10 posts
 
I've been traveling a lot since I bought the condo and really haven't been home enough to even think about the furniture or speakers. I feel like I need to get the furniture figured out before I can decide on the speakers.

In short, no decision yet. 

I have to thank everyone for this superb discussion and suggestions. This is really fantastic info all around. :-)
guppy
133 posts
 
 Hello lietuvis91, have you made a decision yet?  Omega makes some very fine monitors both single drivers and 1.5 ways. If you prefer a two way I have used Joseph Prisms and ProAc Response D2's in a small room and both performed very well.
rbstehno
1,432 posts
 
213runnin- you know nothing about totem speakers. The model 1’s still blow away many of its competitors. Same for the Forest and Hawks.  I’ve had many totem speakers in the past and for the $$$ they are very good. They are inefficient and need good power to make them sound their best. I had my totem mani ii’s hooked up to mcintosh 1000 watt monoblocks and they were fantastic sounding. I had the Arro’s in my office and for such a small speaker, it sounded very good, it’s not going to blow away a large Usher or Magico, but for its size, it was amazing.
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