Any love for TOTEM speakers?

Well I've been quietly very happy with my current PARADIGM Studio 100's, v2 for the past 7 or so years, but I've got the "go hear what else is available these days" feeling. I'm trying to stay in the same budget as the old Studio 100's and just for fun I checked out the newer PARADIGM Signiture S8's (much more expensive) and outside of the beautiful finish on the cabinets, I wasn't all that impressed. IMO, way too many drivers all trying to get a cohesive sound. I've been reading lots about the TOTEM line, also from Canada, so I went to listen to a few models yesterday. I heard the "HAWK", "ARRO" and "RAINMAKER". I've got to tell you that the "RAINMAKER" impressed me the most, with wonderful highs and mids, but for my taste, they were lacking in the bass department. The dealer (really nice guy who sells these right out of a special room that he built himself, in his own home), played them for me on both, a tube amp and a solid state (both CARY AMPS), with both vinyl and CD's (note: I swear that the first thing he grabbed was Steve Hoffman's LP take of "Morph The Cat"!!!) and they soared on both, but always with the slight bass I love missing in action. He also had a TOTEM STORM sub, which I asked him to fire up with the "RAINMAKER's" and that helped (well, they helped ME). I turned to him and could just see that he wasn't happy. I said that's too much bass for your taste, isn't it and he said, yeah, but added that strangely enough that his own brother just ordered a pair of the "RAINMAKER", along with the "STORM" sub, because he liked that combo too. I'm guessing that although it may not be as "audiophile" sounding for some, it could be the "magic" touch for some of us bass fans, or don't you think he would have told his own brother to not buy that combo?

Any feelings on ANY of the TOTEM line, outside of the "WIND", which is way too pricey for this listener!

Thanks
Chris C

 

Hi Chris,

I have had the original Model 1's then upgraded to the signature since thier inception....their biggest strengths to me was thier ability to project voices so cleanly, transparent and tonality - esp in the area mid-range spectrum. - Also was about to mate to one of thier subs but traded them since I wanted a full range speaker.

They are wonderful speakers - I have had them for almost 10 years.......

 

Chris, did you listen to any of the columns? Was the bass more present with them?

 

Hi Chris. I had the Paradigm Studio 60v2's and replaced them with the Totem Hawk. Compared the Hawk, the Paradigms sounded dark but did have a lot more bass.

I prefer the Totem sound which to me is a lot more 3 dimensional. Your approach with the Rainmaker makes sense to me for your tastes. To me the Rainmaker sounds like a small version of the Hawk.

 

I got a pair of Mites used about 4 months ago. I had a friend over to take a listen. He kept asking where the subwoofer was located in the room. I had no subwoofer!

I have NO issues with the bass response of these speakers. I have them mounted on 24" towers loaded with sand.

I luv 'em!

 

Chris another thought. Did you listen to the Forest? They may be more to your liking.

 

The Forest...now that's a nice speaker

Hawks are nice too but after listening to the Forest it would be hard to go back to them.

 

Thanks everyone for your input! By the way, I'm now fully aware of the little "sand" trick that brings in a better bass response. He had the ARRO's and the HAWKs loaded with about 7 or 8 pounds each, but still NOT enough bass for my tastes. The dealer did not have any sand yet, in the RAINMAKER stands, but said that adding sand to the stands would help.

This dealer, by the way, is chomping at the bit, wanting to get a set of FOREST's in his place, maybe I'll give him a good enough reason?

For those that are just reading this thread because you too are interested in hearing the TOTEM line, I can't tell you enough to give them a listen, if possible. For music like Norah Jones, Steely Dan, piano driven sounds, jazz and mostly acoustic recordings, I think that you'd be VERY hard pressed to find a line of speakers with cleaner highs and mids, for the money, especially those RAINMAKER's! I realize that every set of ears hear differently, but to MY ears, I've never heard such clean and smooth highs and mids, as those RAINMAKER's produce. To be honest, as I slowly approach my '50's, I'm learning to listen to music a lot quieter than I used to (not that I shook the house every time, but...), let it be known though, if you're a rocker, then this area that I've been listening to, of the TOTEM line, is NOT the place to go, IMO.

Thanks again...

Chris C

 

As much as I love my PSBs, I have to say that the Totems are one awesome speaker manufacturer. have you auditioned the Mani1 or Mani2? I know manufacturer specs are misleading but they claim high 20s in their bass response. Only problem other than price is you need a sout amp to drive them as they are very inefficient and 4 ohms to boot.

 

As much as I love my PSBs, I have to say that the Totems is one awesome speaker manufacturer. have you auditioned the Mani1 or Mani2? I know manufacturer specs are misleading but they claim high 20s in their bass response. Only problem other than price is you need a sout amp to drive them as they are very inefficient and 4 ohms to boot.

 

Years ago I acquired a pair of Mani2's. These things rocked impressively but I found the high's quite bright and figured it was the Seas metal-dome tweeter that contributed to the brightness. Not sure if today's Totems use that same tweeter but if they do I'd be mindful of it.

 

I bought the original Model 1s after their first favorable review in Stereophile.
I owned Magnepan MG-1imps prior to that. I kept them for the longest time.
I had the Forests for a while too.
I really liked both. Although I never mass loaded the Forests the short time I had them.
Right now I own a pair of Dynaudios, but have toyed with getting a pair of Forests, again.
The Mani-2s are really awesome, with the right amp these things will rock a room. Never thought any of them were too bright, and I think they all used the same SEAS tweeter, at least those mentioned above.

 

I have the Model 1 Sig as well. I really like the way they image and they sound very coherent to me. I sometimes get the itch to switch to floorstanders to get lower bass and a bigger sound but sometimes I feel perfectly contended as it is. They do need quite a bit of power to drive though.

 

I have auditioned them. I almost bought the Forests. Ultimately I went with a larger floor stander because I wanted to experience owning a speaker went down to 20hz.

I still may buy a pair one day. Love the sound and the finish.

 

here is the stereophile review on the rainmakers http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/1104totem/index.html

 

I found the Forests to sound very nice the 3-4 times I have heard them.

 

last year at the Singapore hi-fi show I was most taken by a small setup consisting of a 47 Labs Shigaraki system (amp, CDP and DAC) paired with Totem Arro - there were other rooms with Usher, Magicos, Wilsons etc, but I stayed longest and revisited the Totems)

 

Ive heard the mites and rainmakers, great speakers, but a little bit out of my budget. If i had the extra 200-300 (for the mites) i would have gotten them over my paradigms.

 

I agree with you, Totems are a little bass shy, and give wonderful mids and highs that are primarily *clean* sounding.

Their best model by far, to my ears, is the Model 1 Signature. But they have to be placed on extremely heavy stands. There is real magic there. A speaker that I truly love.

Although they sound very good, I've never been excited enough about any of their floorstanders to consider buying a pair.

Hukk

 

LeeS -
is there a dealer in Atlanta?

 

I'm always on the look out for great sounding small speakers as my Rogers LS5/9s are too big for my room. Every time I hear Totem at shows they have always sounded great.

A bit thin on the ground in England, especially used.

Has anyone ever heard any Totem standmounts with a Prima Luna Prologue 2?

 

No matter what the design up to this point, I still find metal dome's ring too much for my liking. Love the fact that they provide for very clean signal and very low distortion reproduction but ............ on the dynamic driver front I very much prefer warmer sounding doped fabric for upper mids and tweets (and paper cones for woofs and lower mids).

 

yes, there is - audio alternative carries some of there line.....

 

Thanks again everyone for your continued input! Yesterday, I went to a different TOTEM dealer, here in OHIO and finally got to hear, the FOREST. I will say this right up front, because I think that it's only fair, but, the set up at this "store" front location, was completely useless for truly hearing what the TOTEM line is capable of. This dealer had them set up in a HUGE room, where the main traffic of the store walks through and after he demoed the FOREST, I asked him to play me the RAINMAKER and HAWK (of which I already knew what they were capable of, after hearing them set-up in the other dealers "home" set-up, a few days earlier.) There was NO doubt that the "store" set-up was really missing the TRUE and clean sounds that the RAINMAKER and HAWK's were capable of, but this store just didn't have it together, IMO. I will also add that the "store" dealer was using the TOTEM's lower end stand, to house the RAINMAKER's, while the "home" dealer had the higher priced TOTEM stands on his. The one thing that the "store" dealer had that the "home" dealer didn't have, in regard to the TOTEM's, was the little "BEAK" on top of each speaker, that TOTEM sells seperately, (as an extra "sound" accessory)...read here...

http://www.audionote.com.sg/products/accessory/totem/beak.htm

I won't lie, the "home" dealer says that he really doesn't buy into a lot of the "extras" (or, the added, "whistles and bells", as I like to call them), so he doesn't have ANY of those "beaks" on his TOTEM displays. I really like this "home" dealer guy, he is down home in his conversation and says that friends come over often and just listen to different sounds on these speakers and I love that idea. It's too bad that the guy is over an hour away from home or I'd love to join in that "listening" fun. To me, that's the ONLY way to really find "THE" right speaker, I just don't think that walking into a showroom, in a store front, is the REAL way to audition a sound system, but I think sitting down with people of somewhat equal tastes in music, in a "home" setting, is the way to go.

As I further investigate the TOTEM line, I will try to hear their other speakers that others have suggested in this thread.

By the way, here is the response I received from TOTEM, after asking them their thoughts regarding my love of their highs and mids, but not so much in the bass department...

hello chris,

personal taste does play a large a role in speaker selection

the Hawk is an extraordinary loudspeaker with great dynamics given its size.

although considered a full range speaker with a 30 HZ extension it doesn't go down to subwoofer territory

our Larger FOREST does incorporate more dynamics but it is limited to the same 30 HZ extension


if the playback levels (spl) were satisfying to your taste the forest wont "add" any greater depth

the only alternative would be as you mentioned to add a subwoofer or move to a unit such as the Mani-2 signature

(which is significantly more expensive and demands much greater electronics)

the Rainmaker/storm is actually a very popular choice

although many argue that the "highest fidelity" is a achieved with one unit and not a sub/sat combo

the rainmaker in our opinion benefits from both


as you concluded the rainmaker is a tremendous unit on its own. (with bass limitation)

many of our customers listen to the rainmaker on its own for more "critical" listening. ....classical,jazz, opera , etc...

and when more demanding tracks are played (orchestra,rock, etc...) they add the sub

a best of both worlds if you will....

we do believe with some positioning you can achieve a very nice balance with the rainmaker / storm


take care,

TOTEM

I enjoyed reading their response, as I do all of yours...

Chris C

 

I checked out the beaks on some Totem floorstanders at the excellent Audio Alternatives in Atlanta, and I was unable to hear a difference with/without the beaks.

Hukk