Totem Owners....

You know, my post history is going to show nothing but a stream of responses to Totem threads. Hmm, I guess that makes me a bona fide fanboy. Hmm, where's the koolaid?

Nasaman,

One of the things I like about the Totem line is that there is no defined 'product tier'. Although every Totem has a distinct voice that is similar to one another, each model is unique - imbued with its own individual character. What you prefer will boil down to room, personal tastes, and of course - budget.

I'm a bit short on time, so I will address this later on.. but from what I gather, I'd advise you to look at the Hawk's. They should fit your room and musical tastes nicely.

Oh yeah.. Totem? Bose.. really? Wow. thats a first...

Nasaman,

All of Totem's columns are mass-loadable (arro, sttaf, hawk, forest, - and I believe the Wind's are as well). The benefit of mass loading, in this case, has more to do with stability (to help prevent them from tumbling over) than gains in sound quality. It's worthy to note that some owners report positive gains in the bass region after mass loading their Totems. This of course, is when first hand experience is the greatest teacher.

To my knowledge, none of Totem's monitors are mass loadable.

Next.. the drivers

Totem uses bonafide Dynaudio drivers in the: Model 1 (The One, Model 1 Twin), the Mani-2, and the Wind's. Totem uses a HiVi driver (developed by Totem) in the Forest.

As for the sound; I found Dynaudio to have a completely different sound from Totem. Like anything else in the hobby, some will dig it - and some won't.

LtLeo74 may be right. I recall speaking to the boys at Totem about the very same thing. Although I coulda swore I was told that Dynaudio drivers were used in the Wind, I cannot say so with absolute certainty.

On that note; anyone check out the "lifestyle" Winds from CES? wicked..