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Totem Hawk a underated "Jewel"

Is it just me or is the Totem Hawk the most underrated/underrepresented speaker in the Totem lineup? There seems to be few discussions on these little gems and I just want to tell everybody that my recent visit to a Totem dealer to demo the YBA Passion Integre yielded a surprise that I didn’t expect. That was of course the Totem Hawk (French-Canadian) hooked up to the YBA Passion (French) and YBA CD Integre utilizing Totem Bi-Wire Cable and Sinew Interconnect Cable. Absolutely flabbergasted with what I heard I consulted a couple sources and read what reviews were published on this speaker. The Audiophile voice did one review a while back and he quotes “Over all, the Hawks are more natural sounding than any other full-range system I’ve had at home” and he goes on talking about the Balance and Integration of the Scanspeak Revelator woofer and MB Tweeter, Overall I agree with all his assessments on the speakers and more. These speakers just sound “right” and I have much experience with the Forests and it is my personal belief that the Hawks paired with the YBA offered me more expressive communication and “PASSION” than any Forest setup I have ever heard. What’s so great is the system was so damn simple; no super exotic interconnects or cables. When people on these forums always talk about that “musicality” and that point they reach when the music communicates with the soul and nothing else seems to be relevant, that point of satisfaction, I experienced that today. I would also like to point out that that the reviewer was actually using Tara and Music Metre cables and had really poor results, so much so that he called Vince to ask what was going on, Vince sent him the Totem cables and he was startled with the magnitude of improvement, Totem apparently engineer’s all there cables to there speakers, furthermore they incorporate all there cables exclusively at shows and exhibits. I purchased the entire setup for a fair price, speakers are breaking in as I speak. Now, to what hobby should I take up now?

P.S. What is everybody’s thought on the Hawk vs. Forest?
slov_dream
bjesien
1,287 posts
 
I tried to sell a pair of Forests to a guy that wanted the Hawks. He says the crossover in the Hawks is 1st order and much better to his ears than the Forest. His take is that even though the Forests go deeper and offer more dynamics, the way Hawk crossover ties together the drivers is most important to him.

Both are great speakers but I prefer the Forests. Ultimatley I changed over to a different speaker.
kiwi_1282001
312 posts
 
I use the Hawks in my second system and think highly of them. They communicate well, have a great mid range and a surprising amount of bass.

To get the most out of the Hawks (due to their inefficiency) i would recommend around 100w of amplification. Surprisingly, the addition of 'Beaks" was also helpful. The beaks can be placed on the inner or outer edge depending on whether you want more focus or a wider soundstage.

Re Hawks vs. Forest - the Forest is clearly superior in the bass arena, but for the mid range i liked the Hawks better. Audiobroke mentioned mid range 'liquidity' which i feel is on the money.
jboatright
11 posts
 
Great TOTEM thread here from '05, '06, '07, & '08.
Anyone have any HAWK thoughts to update the last 12 years?
prof
3,473 posts
 
A local dealer has sold the Totem line for 20 years and my friends have owned Totems.

I find Totem speakers have an initially attractive sound - warm enough in the lower mids and bass, then they get uneven as you get to the upper mids to high frequencies, with dips and spikes that give the sound some recessed spaciousness and then some peaks for added sparkle.
You can see it in virtually all the measurements of Totem speakers, e.g:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/totem-acoustic-signature-one-loudspeaker-measurements

And

https://www.stereophile.com/content/totem-acoustic-skylight-loudspeaker-measurements

And any of the Soundstage Totem measurements too.


Don’t get me wrong, as I said I understand the attraction to the sound. But for me it wears off its welcome pretty quickly as too obvious a trick/coloration in the house sound that I can’t ignore .

jboatright
11 posts
 
Prof ... Thank you for the great points and links.  Do you feel as though the sound has
varied over the years?
For example, does a Totem Hawk from 2003 sound the same as a Hawk from 2018?
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