Totem Arro or Sttaf or Hawk??


Hey experts, need some advice on which of the 3 speaker I should go with? My listening room is on a smaller side, about 13x11. It actually looks almost like a square. This would be mostly for music. I listen to mostly classical, jazz, pop and some rock. I really enjoy clean sounds and staging. Thanks for your input.
bigdd
About three years ago I was ready to spring for a pair of B&W 805 Diamonds, can't accommodate a large pair of speakers in my 13x24' living room, but attended an event at my local audio salon (mainly to learn about computer audio), since Totem was buying the drinks that night, decided to listen in to Vince's presentation...and the Totem Fire Monitors knocked my socks off!

A few Saturday's later I assembled a stack of my favorite CDs and headed to the showroom, on a wet, gloomy day it was empty, so I was able to spend some "quality time" with each speaker driven by the same amp I had at home (at the time an NAD M3 integrated). I was just floored at how natural the Totems sounded, had great "sound stage. had great dynamics, voices and acoustic instruments just sounded fantastic.

So I ordered a pair in black.

Since then I've had the hots to listen to other monitors, trying out a pair of Tannoy's, Sonus Fabers, Wilson's and a few other speakers that all sounded great, but not motivating me to change. I've since upgraded the electronics and spent my free cash on a music server.

Looks like the Totems are here to stay!

If you can swing the extra amount to snare the Fire's I'd recommend them highly.
I would go arro with a small rel-0 sub. this sub is a 6.5" driver based sub that is sealed and lightening fast to keep up with the speaker. This sub with dreamcatchers (similar to arro but small cabinet) was amazing at bargain price. I drove this combo with a tube amp and others were amazed at how the speakers and sub completely disappeared. I had hawks and didnt like them as much.

For a little more than Hawks, Living Voice Auditoriums, their lowest on the ladder (didn't want to say totem pole), they are a whole new ball game but you need a good quality amp, not high powered as they are 94db efficient.
The arros performed very well in my small room with a jolida hybrid integrated. Surprising bass for a 4" speaker.
All the other Totem speakers I have had, I would agree about the power demands and have stated this in other forums. I ran my Mani 2's with a 200 watt Classe amp, but they really sounded the best when hooked up to the Mcintosh 1000 watt monoblocks. I was considering getting the Mcintosh 352 amp for a bump in power but after using the 1000 watt mono's, I would have had to go to the 500 or 600 series Mcintosh amps. Totem's are very nice speakers, but I ended up selling all my Totem's and going all Usher which are a little easier to drive plus they have the Diamond tweeter.
I've had the Arros and Forests simultaneously in a prior system.

First and foremost both needed a significant amp grunt (high current and watts) to perform at their max.

However I strongly disagree with the comment that the Forests are easier to drive: quite the opposite in fact.

I had an all Arcam FMJ system that was a bi-amped kit to get the Forests to perform at their best. by contrast, The Arros were not bi amped by comparison, and I second the suggestion that a Simaudio I5 would be a nice match.
I can support what Paraneer and Czarivey have said,

My room is about the same size and I use Arro's with a Storm subwoofer. If you don't listen to bass heavy music (I listen to a lot of Metal), you could probably do without the Storm. Fortunately, I had the occasion to audition all three of those speakers side by side (during a demonstration by Totem's Vince Bruzzese no less) and I preferred the Arros.

I used a Simaudio Moon i-5 with the Arros and it was competent, but they really showed their best when I upped the amplification with my Magnum Dynalab MD-209.
All of them need big power except Forrest that has advantages of all three combined IMHO.
1. No need for large power
2. Stable load impedance
3. deeper bass
4. deeper soundstage
You really need to tell us what amplifier you have. The impedance/sensitivity ratings of all three models are different with the Arro being the most difficult to drive; the Sttaf being the easiest. Everything else you provided, won't matter if the amp is not up to the job first in properly driving a loudspeaker.

Next, the Arro and Sttaf use soft dome tweeters and the Hawk uses a metal one. Big difference in how they sound. One is not better than the other - it comes down to preference. So once we answer the amp question, suggest you audition all three models to find the one that sounds best to you.
You didn't mention anything about your other equipment. I used to own a lot of totem speakers, including the arro's, model 1, and a couple pairs of mani 2's. I thought the arro's sounded great in my den with a low power jolida integrated amp. I used the model 1's in a room your size with Macintosh equipment. I added a Rel strata iii for the low end. I would recommend this setup in your room depending on your amp. I used to have floor standing speakers in the room before the model 1's and it was very hard to get the sound right. When implementing the Rel, it was very easy to get the bass right since it was adjustable. With the floor standers like the hawks(which are excellent speakers in a bigger room), you don't have the room to get the speakers out into the room since its on the smaller size.
Just my opinion.