The design has been around for over ten years with a few minor upgrades I heard the speaker several times and liked them If you heard them and liked them, that is probably the most important aspect in selecting a speaker. Not sure by what you mean about the design being around 10 years? Its a ported 2 way speaker - a design has been around for over 50 years and will most likely be used for another 50 barring any significant breakthrough in how we listen to speakers. I think the Usher and MA's you site are ported 2 ways too. Now the drivers used in the other two are different but not the design. And just because they are more recent models, doesn't mean they will outperform the Hawks. They could actually sound worse to you than the Hawks. I would suggest you listen to these and judge for yourself rather than get hung up on how long a speaker has been around. |
I have Sonus Faber Cremona which were introduced in 2003. SF has gone through several newer models since. I still like the original ones. Over the years, speaker design has changed. Many believe my Cremona are "colored" because they have a slight rise in the treble. But, they sound very good to me. Later versions have done away with the rise and have strived for more detail. To me, the new ones sound too clinical, without the richest of my old speakers.
The point is speaker design does change over time. But, it is up to you to decide which you like best. That is one reason there are so many speaker companies. Different speakers sound different. You just need to pick what you like. |
Totem Forrest has the best value per buck and the best sound in their entire line. |
Czarivey - have you heard the Elements? The Metal, imo, is much better than the Forest, although clearly at a different price point. |
No I haven't heard Elements. I used Forrests with tube amp and solid state amp. In both cases I liked them a lot. For the small difference vs. Hawk it's huge step-up. |
The Elements are something special, but at a different price point. I have never compared Forrest and Hawks. I have Aeros and Sttafs. |
I have a 19-year-old pair of Mirage M5si's that still kick ass. They scale up and down really well with the source material, energize a room realistically, very natural sounding midrange and fast but relaxed treble, bass extension to about 26 Hz, and very uniform tonal balance and dispersion. What's not to like?
When something works very well, it becomes a classic, capable of being competitive for years to come. This doesn't surprise me with an older Totem model because Totem was often ahead of the curve and it often took competitors 5 years just to catch up. |
One point that you may be aware of, Sunnyjim, is that the Totems sound their best when using high current amps due to their low sensitivity and the need for reserve power.
Agree with Czarivey that the Hawk is good, but if you can swing the cash, the Forest is the better buy.
The Hawk is very room dependent, meaning that it is fussy with its placement regarding walls, type of floor. But overall, a good speaker. |
Agree with Lowrider57, even my Arro's benefited from a move from a Simaudio Moon i-5 to a Magnum Dynalab MD-209 and the extra power.
I listened to the Arro's, Staff, and Hawk side by side and picked the Arro's. Fortunately, the room was about as big and cluttered as my "listening room" aka bedroom, aka Home Theatre aka Office, so it worked out well. I will add the proviso that the Arro's lack bass, but what there is is very good. |
First Mr. Parneer, I am not a great believer that older technology has the sonic charm to possibly sound better than newer speaker technology. On rare occasions, that might be true as several members have qualified. Basically, to me that is an old wives tale, If that were the case, then I might as well go on e-bay, and look for a mint pair of the original Advent speakers, or even maybe a pair of the defunct Rectilinear 3A's
However, Lowrider's points are helpful though I have heard them before; that is, the Hawks can be a pain in ass to set-up and very room dependent.This might be also true for the Forest, but I have read fewer complaints about that speaker. Also, I use a Rogue Sphinx hybrid integrated amp (100 RMS) which is not necessarily high current, despite using a variation of class D circuitry, like NuForce, Red Dragon, Bel Canto.
I don't want to start a quest for a new amp with that type of pedigree(though high current amps do provide better performance overall, especially bass) to run either Hawks or Forest. In addition, the least expensive used pair of Forests on Audiogon were I think selling for $2800. I never seen even a moderate condition pair lower than $2300. So no matter how much I like the Hawks, practically, they may be less than ideal sound, or not work for me
In my opinion, Totem's pricing had always been off the charts, and looks like Vince has continued that strategy with the Element line of new speakers. Inflated retail pricing forces resellers to offer Totems at proportionally higher prices which leads many buyers to pursue newly marketed speakers of other major brands |
First Mr. Parneer, I am not a great believer that older technology has the sonic charm to possibly sound better than newer speaker technology. On rare occasions, that might be true as several members have qualified. Basically, to me that is an old wives tale, If that were the case, then I might as well go on e-bay, and look for a mint pair of the original Advent speakers, or even maybe a pair of the defunct Rectilinear 3A's Huh? Where did this come from? I am not a fan of vintage loudspeakers either (Advents, Rectilinears?). The Hawks you asked about are a current model still being sold as brand new. Its just that they have been a model in Totems lineup for ten years now. If its still a new model though, its hardly vintage. So why the comparisons to vintage? You asked about its design. The design is a ported 2 way floorstander. That design has been around 50 years or so and most likely another 50 years. Totem can keep the Hawk around another ten years in its line-up and I would think the model would still be relevant. Its a classic 2 way design. Hope this clarifies the point I was making and good luck in your speaker search. |
While I'm not a fan of the metal tweeters in the Hawks, ScanSpeak Revelator mid/bass drivers are very good sounding. I have the 5 & 7 Revelators in a couple of my custom designs and they are also used as midrange drivers in a couple of new big $$ loudspeakers. Check out the $27K Sony SS AR1 & the Wilson Sabrina @ $17K. BTW- the 7 inch Revelator was in the $18K Wilson Sophie 2. I agree with Dtc & prefer the sound of the older Sonus Faber Cremona & Auditors with the Revelator mid/bass drivers. |
