Has anyone heard the Totem Acoustic's Wind?

Hi Jh2os,

Looking at your system, I think we have pretty similar taste. I absolutely love the Totem sound and I think my Hawks can perform well in my bigger living room. However, the Winds got me really thinking about leaving the Hawks as my bedroom speakers, where they perform magically.

Do you think the Wind are worth the MSRP $6500+? It's competing against a very tough crowd at that price point. I don't have a Totem dealer around me so I won't be able to listen to them personally, so I really appreciate your input.

How would you compare them to the Mani2s you had? Can they reproduce a large orchestra/symphony well at loud volumes?

Thanks,

Oh, are there any professional reviews on these speakers? I can't seem to find any...

I have heard the Hawks and the Wind briefly at a dealer, and while I liked the Hakws, I felt like their lack of bass made them sound more like one of the higher end bookshelf two-ways (no means a bad thing, I love 2 way monitors.)
The Winds, given room to breathe, add an extra dimension over the Hawks.
My main reason for respoding though was to say that no matter what anyone (or everyone) says regarding a speaker, you should try and avoid spending such a large sum of money without listening first. Maybe if you take a trip sometime soon somewhere you'll have the chance to visit a Totem dealer? Or maybe you can find someone in the area who owns a pair. Speakers add the most color to a sound system and is the one area where personal preference makes the biggest difference, imo.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply Sonance,

I'd love to hear the Wind myself, but I'm currently in college and don't have a car here, and there isn't a Totem dealer in my state...

The only speakers I'd buy without hearing them first is Totem. When I used to live in Singapore, I auditioned the Arro, Hawk, Forest and the Mani-2 signatures. The dealer there was very excited about a pair of Wind he was getting in, but I wasn't in the country long enough for that...

I love every Totem speakers I've heard (all w/ pros and cons of course) and I'm wondering if the Wind will serve me well in my bigger living room (14 x 14 x 18 high ceiling).

If you were in my situation, would you keep the Hawks and add a Velodyne DD-12/15 subwoofer or upgrade the speakers? Adding a high quality subwoofer would cost about the same as selling my Hawk and buying a used pair of Winds.

Any comments would help.

Thanks, I really appreciate everyone's help.

Spacekadet, the Winds are in a different league compared to the Hawks IMO. There soundstaging capability and effortless portrayal of the space leaves you feeling 'you are there'! I beleive they are worth the price, but agree with Sonance, that that is a lot to pay for a speaker sight-un-heard.

I never owned the Mani-2, but the Tabu. Same physical size, but missing the second inner driver. Personally, I preferred the Tabu's smoother presentation to the added bass of the Mani-2. The Forrest replaced the Tabu, but all of these are at a level below the Wind IMO.

I haven't heard the Wind with a large orchestral/symphony recording, but from what I heard listening to quite a few live jazz tracks left me with the impression that these speakers would have little problem reproducing anything!

I am a huge fan of that Totem sound, and for me the Wind's are the 'holy grail' in which someday I hope to reach!

Feel free to email me if you have any more questions. If you are considering them, and spending that kind of $, it would be worth a couple hour drive to at least here them in person.

I walked by a retailer's hi-fi room one day, and the beautiful, huge, compelling music issuing from the room just reached out and hauled me in. It was some big orchestral piece playing on a pair of Totem Winds. I knew and liked the Totem sound already by then, (I own a venerable pair of Sttafs, may get to Mani-2s someday) but this was something else again.

I don't seriously aspire to this particular speaker - a bigger room in a bigger house would have to come first. Therefore, I haven't done serious comparison with the heavy competition in that size and price bracket. But nothing ever reeled me in quite like that.

Ironically, the retailer in question unloaded the entire Totem line not long afterwards, in favor of Vienna Acoustics. To each his own...