Totem Hawks vs. Forest

i owned a pair of forests for about a year, and now have a pair of mani 2 sig's, which i have had for about a year. to be honest, i liked the forests better. the mani 2 seems to get overwhelmed by dynamic passages of music, where the forest could pretty much hold it's own no matter what i threw at it. i listen to rock, pop, reggae, jazz, electronic and such. the forest was also easier to drive, and i think it produced better bass than the mani 2. in the $3000 / $4000 range i think the forest is the best speaker i have ever had in my system. in fact, i think a lot about trading in the mani2 sig's and getting another pair of forests. i would recommend the forest to you very highly.

The model 1 is no slouch, but if your musical preference varies like mine, the Forest is the more flexible speaker. I listen to a lot of classic rock, new age, celtic, electronic, classical, jazz and the Forest never ceases to impress me. The Model 1 is superb on vocals, jazz, and acoustic…of all the listening tests, demos, comparisons when selling these speakers the forest always seemed to pull ahead in all departments.

i am also a totem speaker fan. all of the speakers mentioned are very good in their respectable areas. I have listened to the forest and hawks with my equipment and have owned the model 1's for my audio room, arros (for my den), and have upgraded both of those to mani 2's. the mani's are by far the better speaker of the 4 i listed. they have all of the advantages of the model 1's with a true bottom end. the hawks are very nice but give up the lower octave compared to the forest and the forests are easier to drive. with your classe 301 (300 watts and a very nice amp), the mani's would be my pick using the totem or target 4 pillar stands filled with sand or lead shot. the mani's and model 1's need a good powerfull amp to get the most out of the speaker. i would pick the model 1's over the forest or hawks for a more musical disappearing sound but you will give up the lower octave.
good luck

I used to sell totem and own the Forests. All in all the Forest is a significantly better speaker. The drivers have been changed a couple times from introduction, they now use a seas tweeter and ATI mid-driver. Harmonics, rhythm, and overall sound is better then the model 1 IMO. The only speakers that best it are the Mani-2, Wind, and Shaman. You will need much more amplification and better upstream components to extract maximum performance out of the aforementioned. I have my Forest matched up with a Simaudio I-5. Check out my system. The Hawks are nice, but the Forests are a considerable step up IMO.

Note that the Forest is Totem's most efficient speaker. I am VERY happy with 15 to 20 watt tube mono amps.

ive heard both extensively...the forrest is better all around, but depending on your needs ie. if your willing to give up the lowest octaves you find the model 1 to the the best choice, mid-range and up it at least as magical if not more so than the above mentioned speakers, and would be perfect in a small room...also consider power requirements...the forests are very easy to drive in a small room 20-30 watts would be enough, the model 1 and hawks need considerable more 100 watts or so to work well.

Hi Jkw1,

Yes I've heard many Totem Acoustic's loudspeakers when I used to live in Singapore. I auditioned the Hawk, Forest and the Mani-2 sig. all in one sitting, so I have a pretty good idea of what they sound like.

I personally decided on the Hawk after four auditions. The Hawk and the Forest sound very similar to each other and the main reason for choosing the Hawk was that I felt it sounded more... intimate to my ears. These babies really pulled me in and drowned me in music. They are also cheaper and smaller (perfect for my tiny bedroom).

Please look at my system for my equipment info.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vopin&1103273936&openmine&zzSpacekadet&4&5#Spacekadet

For your room however, I'd recommend the Forest. The Forest can pretty much do everything the Hawk can and they will play quite a bit louder. I'm not familiar with your components, but the Totem speakers need a lot of power to really sing, I'd recommend at least a quality 150wpc amplifier w/ ability to deliver high current. The dealer was using all Sim Audio equipment w/ a solid state power amplifier, which was a wonderful combination with the Totem loudspeakers.

I'm not sure exactly what drivers the Forest use, but I don't think they've changed the design since its introduction. The dealer told me the Hawk was newer design compared to the Forest.

Hope this helped. Good luck,