NOLA, Fritz, or used Totem Hawk - Want Drama

Haven't heard the others, but the Fritz Carbons were the first monitors I fell in love with.

From that list, the Fritz speakers are the ones to go with.

A third vote for Fritz. I own Carbon 7's and plan on upgrading to Illuminator 7's in the near future. You won't find a better value in the $2000 - $3500 range. The ScanSpeaker drivers that he uses in the Illuminator 7 are found in brand name speakers that cost upwards of $20,000. Also: no need for a subwoofer. I like impactful, noticeable bass, but the bass from the Carbon 7's is simply unbelievable. It defies their small footprint. I own two sealed Hsu Research subwoofers but I keep them off simply because the bass from the Carbon 7's is just right for my 11 x 15 room. I'd imagine it would be sufficient for bigger rooms, too, although I can't say from experience.

Here's a link where someone (username Koven) did a shootout between similarly priced models from Totem, Fritz, Joseph Audio, Usher, and Harbeth. Ultimately he chose the Carbon 7s. Fritz will let you do an in-home demo to see if you like his stuff. If you can't do a demo, try to swing by an audio show and hear his stuff. It seems like every show he goes to, his room is always considered one of the best. I've yet to go to one, but I plan on going this summer.
http://forums.audioreview.com/speakers/side-grading-b-w-n805-need-advice-32836.html

Note: I have no affiliation or obligation to help spread the word about Fritz's products. They're just that good! Also, it doesn't hurt that he's such a genuinely nice guy. I've had many hour long conversations with him about my audio setup.

go with special edition nola boxers..you can message me for more info

Thanks for the input so far. Can't go wrong with a 30 day trial... If anyone new chimes in, what are your thoughts on Triangle Cometes - 30th anniversary? I really have liked Titus and Zerius 202 from the past...

I don't think you can go wrong with the Fritz Carbon 7.

I owned the Hawks for many years and experienced some transporting and sublime moments listening to music through them. You are correct, however, that the Cairn probably won't cut it. They really only came alive for me when I was driving them with at least 100+ WPC of solid state power mated to a tubed pre. I used McCormack, Odyssey and Simaudio amps all to good effect.

I auditioned both the Nola Boxer and the Fritz 7 at the same time (both during their return trial periods), and I returned the Nola Boxer.

I read substantial praise on both, and if either speaker was reviewed, it seemed like the reviewer always said whichever of the two they happened to be reviewing, was *the* bookshelf to get.

Anyway, after having both in-house, honestly, I liked the Fritz 7's a lot more. The Nola Boxer's have a tipped up treble that really fatigued me; my ears would be kind of fatigued after a few songs, and honestly I couldn't "get into" the music. Due to the treble the overall image seemed to be "whitewashed" as well, if that makes any sense at all.

The Fritz 7's, on the other hand, are more neutral towards the frequency spectrum, and lean towards warm. The lows, mids, and highs are all very well integrated to the point where you don't really pick out the individual lows, mids or highs; you focus on the overall sound. Also with these speakers, they really pull me into the music somehow; it gives me that urge of "just one more song" to listen to, late into the night; whereas with the Nola's I was hearing music, but it didn't draw me in to keep listening. I mostly listen to vocally based music, and I'll say I love vocals on these things.

Also, just as a side note, I believe the Fritz Rev 5 which I was also considering at the time, has the same revelator mid/bass driver as in the Totem Hawk, except the Rev 5 has a soft dome tweeter as well.