Spkr sizes and Totem

Every time I read about this spkr company all I see is glowing reviews - especially the forest. Even in the recent HFC spkr shoot out the hawk did very well.

Looking at the totem configs they tend to be on the smallish side, but are quoted with some ridiculously low bass specs (I know all about meaningless measurments etc - but quoting 20Hz is a good marketing ploy).

So my assumption is that being small they tend to suit better the english living room norm and they use good drivers (is that a scanspeak in the totem hawks as used in sonus faber and krell Lats? - i'm probably wrong but its got the swirly drivers).

Anyone with Totems on this forum - how would they likely compare with a standmount (I'm thinking small floorstdr versus stand mount) say Hawk versus Wilson Benesch Arc, or B&W N805?

Can you tell I'm looking for spkrs? I heard the new audio physic tempo5s at Heathrow and wasn't that impressed - too lightweight for my tastes.

This is important cos I need to spunk my hard earned cash on my spkrs before xmas!! This will decide which the likely dem candidates will be.

Also WTF is that sticky label on the Totem tweeter surrounds? I've never understood why, it also puts me off Totem a little if they do wierd shit like that.

 

Not seen it myself, but could it be the same type of thing that R Andrews sells. A sticky backed foam thing to put around the tweeter, apparently stops reflection(?) from the baffle and gives a sweeter treble.

 

penance,
it's even worse it's aboout half a step removed from beltism - it's a small sticky dot that improves things. they also have billet aluminium pointy things that you put on top of the speakers that make things sound better too.
cheers

julian

 

Hmm, like the magic pebbles?

 

When Totem appeared over here a few years ago they were demoed at the Heathrow shows by the owner/designer (Vince B). I found the demos stunning, but there wasn't any real distribution. I didn't take it any further.

A little while later Sugden distributed, and I found their demo rather mediocre - the (same) speakers sounded just turgid. Heard another demo by Vince in another place and there was a just-plain-awful bass boom (I think these might have been Hawks - it was a smallish floorstander). At Heathrow this year my reaction was sort-of-so-what.

What I make of this is that Vince is (usually) an absolute wizard at demoing his speakers - they strive for an extended bass and can (under certain circumstances) fail to deliver well-defined bass - they may be demanding in terms of (at least) the power amp.

My recollection is that the drivers used to resemble Dynaudio but were Canadian manufacture (not sure about the more recent midbass).

And they do go in for tweaks. Like Totem Beaks. For which they make claims which ought to be measurable, but I haven't seen any measurements.

But they're worth a listen - I still have "what if" moments about the Model One.

 

I've always found Totems highly entertaining, and as you say, produce surprising amounts of bottom end for such small enclosures.

I understand that they use no form of dampening inside the enclosures. Does anyone know if that 's correct?

 

i have used totem mite, arro, model1 and currently mani-2. the last two like power, especially mani's. used a lot with rega's. and thoe silver things on top work. personally i like the model 1 and mani's most, and of course the shaman. Floorstanders also very nice, but not like the monitors. U can find a lot of info on the net me thinks. or just have a listen?
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chrysler akino history

 

I've heard them, but afterwards, can't quite work out if they were good or not.

The problem is that they do produce bass completely out of proportion to their size. The key point being that you're so busy being dumbfounded about their bass capabilities, that I couldn't bring myself to assess them on the same playing field as a normal pair of speakers.
My guess is that if you could blind dem them against a normal pair of speakers (so not just sit there wondering how they did it for the size), that you'd probably not be anything like as impressed.

 

Totems are fine sounding speakers for the money. With regards to the sticky label, I think you will find that the Totem designer adheres to some of the principles laid down by Peter Belt.



Enjoy the music,

Lawrie.

 

I have Totem Forests. They are part of a very simple system - Creek 5350SE integrated, Cambridge Audio DiscMagic and S700 Isomagic (from years ago), Denon DVD-2900 (for SACD and movies - since I needed a DVD player)....all connected up with middle of the road Wireworld cabling. I have tweaked the speakers by connecting the rear posts with Kimber 8-TC instead of the OEM pieces of bent silver wire.

The Totem beaks were thrown in for the purchase price, and I believe that they make a difference - but I'm far too pragmatic to not attribute some of what I hear to placebo.

I love these speakers. They do have a small sweet spot, but I usually "listen" to the stereo in my "spot", so it's not an issue for me. My listening room is the master bedroom - it is about 25' wide, 15' deep, with 9' ceilings. The back (reflecting) wall is square to the speakers, but all other walls are angled, save for 10 feet of wall behind the components/speakers. It is a very oddly shaped room, and as luck would have it, speaker placement hasn't been much of an issue. My little system will rock the house when called upon, though the Forests will play much louder than the Creek can drive them - we had them hooked up to Krell mono-blocs at the store just for fun, so that I could really see the kind of bass that they're capable of.

One thing that may result in the differing opinions of the Forest's performance is that the speakers need a good 100 hours of medium volume noise/music break in to smooth them out.

Merlin, damping is done by the application of borosilicate to the inner cabinet surfaces, which are veneered the same as the exterior of the cabinet to prevent warping. The cabinets have no braces because bracing is built into the rigid monococque structure.

IAmBoY, I think that little can be gained by my recommending a speaker to you. You have to listen to them, with your equipment, your music, in your space. If you can't get them into your space without buying them, then I suggest that you find a dealer who carries enough variety to allow you to exchange until you find a speaker that suits you.

The Forests are definitely worth a listen.

 

They sold Totems at the Audio T I didn't work for so I was in contact with them quite regularly and they were some of the best selling models going. Yes they do go low, surprisingly low for the size. I believe that this maybe due to the hand tuning of each port (but don't quote me on that)

My particular favourites were the Mite, Model 1, Mani 2 and the Wind. They are not a particularly good match for Naim IMHO partly because they seem to like power and partly 'cos the sound matc. Which is probably a good thing for many of you. Of course the partner well with Rega.

The sound is luscious and rich but with plenty of detail. And more importantly they are very musical. If I was looking for a new hi-fi Totems Winds would definitely be on the speaker list. Actually I'm considering the Dreamcatchers for my AV kit.

 

Haven't heard the full range but found the floorstanders were pretty room firendly, and imaged beautifully in the sweet spot, don't see too many on the second hand market though, have looked hard for a pair for my Father to no avail.