Totem Arro Vs. Sttaf

I listened to Arro, Sttaf, Hawk and Forest three years ago and bought the Hawks. Having said that I am re-thinking my decision although that is based primarily upon room size/room dynamics and not the qualities of the speaker.

Here is my summary - this is only my experience at a particular dealer and in my room at home and is not meant to be anything more than that:

The Arros are remarkable for their size - in a small room with decent acoustics they are shockingly good. Clean, detailed, airy, surprising bass - wonderful really. Can't imagine many similarly priced "bookshelf speakers" being this good. Maybe the best sounding of the lot to my ears but only in a small space. Can be located close to back wall and that maybe even helps this speaker in some cases.

The Sttafs and Hawks I found to be fairly similar despite using different drivers. Both very musical and by that I guess I mean balanced and easy to listen to. Hawks slightly better in the bass and a little brighter in the treble. Again, both these speakers shine in smaller environments - the Hawks in my large room have useable bass to just under 40 Hz and I have added subs as a result because I miss the lower rumblings when they are not there as it turns out. Also don't think the Arro, Sttaf or Hawk are very "fussy" speakers - at the dealer I placed them close to walls, away from walls, bi-wire, single-wire, expensive wires, cheap wires and could tell little if any difference in any case and I suspect that all three models would sound superb in the right environment with a nice tube amp - indeed the TAS reviewer of the Hawk claimed he "drove them with ease" with a 32 watt tube amp. My Hawks are being driven by a 150 watt Classe. All three models I think benefit from some lead shot in the base.

The Forests clearly had more dynamic range but seemed a little drier to me - could have been lack of break-in at the dealer or an electronics mismatch - not sure - maybe they are just more analytical or true to the source. Whatever the reason they didn't capture me to the point where I was willing to write the check for them.

Hope this long-winded message helps.

Ckoffend - I have a big room (bigger than yours actually) with cathedral ceilings and lots of hard surfaces and I own the Hawks. They sound great in the proper listening position but not everyhwere in the room - a small speaker is not going to "fill the room" with quality off-axis response. The bass extension is not as great in my big room as advertsisd in the spec - the Hawks struggle below 40 Hz so I recently added two subs to fill out the sound and although hard to set up initially, they sound great. I think the Hawks will be fine in your room and even better if you add a quality sub of which there are many at affordable prices.

As for amplification, I have tried a few different things but for my tastes the Hawks sound best with lots of power. I tried a highly regarded 40 watt tube amp too and was disappointed across the board. I do have a tube preamp which really has added a richness to the sound and the 150 watts of Classe SS power provides the oomph the Hawks need.

Ckoffend - the subs took some serious time to set up and integrate. The Hawks I found to be not very fussy to set up. I actually have them fairly close to my back walls (2 feet)and about 8 feet apart, ever so slightly toed-in. I have tried them in many positions and they sound pretty much the same. Definitely add lead shot or kitty litter or sand or whatever to the base - it tightens the bass - but do it iteratively - it's easy to put more in but harder to take out if you put in too much!

For the subs I found it important to find out exactly what my speakers were doing on their own first - ie. where did the bass actually begin to roll-off in my room? Then I set the subs crossover just above that point. Getting the volume right was tougher. Also found that even slight changes in placement of the subs made a big difference. I'm not flat but I'm close on most bass frequencies with the exception of one "hump" at 50-60Hz which is a room issue.