Appearance of Totem Forest

Chaz,

I listened to the Forest for about 1.5 hours last year at a local dealer. They were being driven by the BAT VK-55, with excellent results. I believe the preamp was one of the BAT tube models, but I don't remember which one. They sounded fantastic, and did not seem to need any more power...at least for the volume I listen at. I ended up buying a different brand, but I could have been very happy with a pair of Totems. I would think that any quality tube preamp/amp combo in the 40-50+ watt output range would sound quite nice. Of course, more power never hurts... ;)

The krell 400xi is actually very musical and a superb match for the forests. Transparency, tone color and dynamic swing is excellent! As with other great gear however, you must pay attention and allocate money for proper interconnects, speaker cables and power cord..MIT, Harmonic tech, even Monster Z20ref balanced is superb. Each change will be readily heard and make a marked improvement. I owned the combo and enjoyed it as much as most of my other $40-$60K setups!! Call me for more info if needed...happy listening.

Hi Dave....well the Krell is a new suggestion to me......I'll have to check it out......I'm looking for some interconnects for my present system, thinking of trying the Harmonic Technology Silway MkIII.......

Leftyfox...save your money and get the truth links, they are still the most musical IC's at that price point and mate well with solid state. The silway stuff was originaly designed for tube gear. Speaker cables and power cord will be even more important. What are you using for a front end?

Hey Dave.....I'm using the Plinius 9200 although I'm contemplating switching to tube gear..I have an old ARC SP-6 that sounds pretty nice with the Forests......need a power amp too though...(I have another thread re: this question)...Also Exposure CD player and Rega P3....using Totem tress bi-wire cable which was a notable improvement from my Acoustic Zen Hologram cable.....have a Top Gun power cord on the Plinius but it's so big and inflexible I can't plug it into the wall, thinking of trying the Harmonic Technology Fantasy....