Totem Model 1 Vs. Hawk

The Model 1 is a great solution from its form and function standpoint. Its extremely compact, dynamic, sports great range and power handling. The Model 1 is typically at home in smaller to medium sized rooms. This speaker is picky. Thankfully – it is not the most difficult speaker to set up in the Totem line. You will need to experiment with distance from the wall and with distance apart. The Model 1’s respond very well with high powered tube electronics, although they are known to perform very well from the likes of McIntosh solid state, Bryston, Sim Audio, and Plinius. There are a plethora of other brands out there that match perfectly well. As large as these compact speakers sound, I found they still sound like what they are at the end of the day – a small two way. While versatile, I found the high end tilted a little high for my liking which is why I favor it with darker electronics.

The Totem Hawk is a much better speaker in every way shape and form. Unlike the Model 1, the Hawk prefers large to real large rooms to attain comfortable breathing room. If your room is medium to small sized… (no more than 16x16 or so), you just won’t be able to fully appreciate what these speakers are capable of. The Hawk is also the most difficult speaker in the Totem line to get right. Some friendly pointers would include positioning it along the short side of the wall in your room – experiment with distance from the wall (two feet or so), and taking a larger step up in electronics (upper tier McIntosh tubes, Lamm, upper tier BAT) et all. The Hawk will give a much fuller and genuine presentation than the Model 1. Its smoother, better with ambient music, and of course, can provide exceptional bass that may leave you not even thirsting for a sub. Of course, great performance can be attained by more realistic scenario’s… but the Hawk can also be one of the most overpriced sounding speakers if your listening near-field or just do not have the room/electronics to accommodate them.

Baroque,

It looks like you have found your speakers. Cool. The Model One should be perfectly at home in your room provided you give it solid juice.

Side comments; The Forest, Mani-2, Model 1, all have their major strengths and weaknesses. What I love about their products is that while there are similarities between each speaker, there are differences enough to make each one unique. In some situations, the Arro or Sttaf could be a better choice than a Forest or Mani-2.

From a build and design standpoint, the Hawk is Vince's greatest achievement. Of course, that will never go officially on record and perhaps for the better. It takes a monster load of effort to get that particular speaker to sing well.

Whatever Totem you chose, I am certain you will thoroughly enjoy the experience! Enjoy the music !

Grakesh,

The Hawk is a tiny speaker. Some may even call it cute. Despite its small size and being a very simple two-way design, this speaker really does require a very large room to strut its stuff. This is not to say you cannot get away with using this speaker in a 15x15 room. You just have to understand that over-all the space would not be large enough to let the Hawk do its thing.

I experienced this many homes. Even in my own house, this speaker really started to open up when placed in a 20x20 living room that was open to a dinning room, hallway, staircase, you name it... When placed in a 10x10 room, the Hawk was just horrid.

The Hawk is inefficient so you will need an amplifier that sports high amperage and a watt minumum of around 60 per channel. The Sim I-5 is an excellent 'budget' piece of equipment for the Hawk and can match well. Still, you are only getting a faint idea of what this speaker is capable of. Idealy, you will need to run a BAT (vk60?) amp, a nice Lamm pre amplifier with a fairly compotent source (vinyl, redbook, pick your poison)...

Please bear to mind that I am approaching this from the standpoint of achieving top performance from this speaker. Totems over-all play nice with a lot of equipment, but to get that extra ounce of magic from them takes some patience and experience. The Hawk is the most difficult Totem to work with.

Unfortunately, I have very little experience with the Mani-2 aside from a few brief listening sessions - which I hardly consider applicable for giving advice or opinions. It's a great speaker.

The Forests are great speakers because while they require some pretty beefy electronics, they are incredibly versitile speakers. You can throw a wide variety of electronics at these speakers, along with a huge assortment of media... and the Forest will play it all without bias and sound pretty good to boot. Now, its tone and signature is quite different from the Hawk - so if possible, take a listen and see which signature more suites your fancy.

Walkman,

Your question is valid. The best way I can explain it is to break this down into specific price points. Lets say you really enjoy the Hawk's and decide to bring a pair home. Now, you may need some decent electronics that form good synergy with the speakers.. but many (most) are not afforded the luxury of price-no-object spending. So at the bottom tier of good electronics that form a good synergy with the Hawk.. we may look at equipment from the likes of REGA - a Mira 3 or Planet 2000 could be purchased new for in/under 1k each and at that price point for both components used. For that price-point, you are achieving great synergy with the Hawk. Will it sound good? Certainly. Will it show off what that speaker is fully capable of? Certainly not.

Apply the same logic/principle the further up the chain you go. The Sim (or Plini) piece are proven to be fairly good matches with the Hawk given their price points (2g-3g new, 1500 or so used).

There is a ceiling with all equipment to where you begin to hit the laws of deminishing returns. That applies to all products and may vary on a per person basis for a plethora of personal reasons.

My statements tend to lean more on the bold side of things, but they are there to let people know that this speaker in particular is quite capable and indeed enjoys electronics a notch or two above the usual mated suspects (sim, plini, unison research, naim etc.. )