Totem Owners....

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.

the winds do not use dynaudio drivers. they use hivi and seas. I own a pair, and totem told me this, along with how long it takes one person to make a pair by hand, and that they dont really want them reviewed because they only make 30 pairs a year, that sell out early. It takes 42hrs to make the cabs of the winds by hand. this is done by one person his name is chris.

What model to buy? You've got to listen to them. There isn't a bad choice in the bunch, but one will speak to you more than the others. Power wise I'd say you're o.k. with any of the two way towers and all the monitors except the Mani-2's for optimum sound. The Hawks spoke to me, and I've got 400 watt monoblocks on them. It really doesn't get any better for me.

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..

Ok - well this is now 4 years later and my budget has grown somewhat. I was considering the staffs - but now think I will go all the way and eek out for a pair of the Forests.

I'm selling my Rotel 1052 (to my mother-in-law) and will use my Integra DTR 7.8 for a bit until I can get some more $ together.

I have my eye set on a Primare i30 after hearing the i21 several years ago. would you think that that would drive the Forests well enough?

Thank youi
S_