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Replacing Forests???

OK, I am looking for some friendly advice. After going through 3 pairs of Forests in a 6 month period, my dealer is allowing me to trade them back in for full value towards another speaker set-up. I am a HUGE fan of the Totem sound, and have never had problems with Totem before these Forests.

I have owned the Tabus and Arros with great results. Moving to a larger space forced me to move away from the Arros and up the Totem line. I had longed for the Forests for a long time, but the problems I've had with these in the short history of owning them has me throwing in the towel with them!

This is a 2-channel music/HT set-up powered by a Simaudio i-5. I am thinking of going with one of the following 2 options:

Totem Sttaf with 2 Dreamcatcher subwoofers

(or)

Totem Hawks

Although I think I am more partial to the Sttaf sound, as I have never been 'wowed' with the Hawks on the gear I've listened to them on (Naim/NAD - both bad; Ayre - pretty decent, small hotel room set-up), I would love to hear people's opinions.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
jh2os
beheme
231 posts
 
Grakesh: what I am about to say is very relative to one's ear but Cary and VTL are not, in general for me at least, your typical lush warmish sounding tube gear (not a CJ) and they can have a more "neutral" sound than some solid state. The dealer I used to buy Totem from would play the Hawks with YBA, SimAudio and Shanling. With the right cable (make it rather lean-clean), the Hawk-Shanling was exceptional while the combo with YBA was not seducing.
I would agree with Jh2os that Hawk can be non-involving sometimes and I do not consider these to be warm speakers.

There are so many factors to consider that my comment on the Cary-Hawk may not fit the bill for others...but it did for me. Their exceptional midrange coupled with the immediacy of the right tube was truly exceptional. When I moved out to the AP Yara, I lost a tad of midrange magic but gained in overall robustness, slam and versatility.

In any case, in a small room with tube gear for 2ch audio only, Hawk are great speakers. Especially at CDN retail prices.... But they are not alone out there!
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
Walkman, our components are identical then. Simaudio did mention to check all connections as it could be a source component as well. Thinking about it, the light only ever came on while using the Sony 999ES as a source. I have cranked music through the Nova as high as 35 (too loud to listen to for long) with no indication of that light as all. Perhaps the Sony is the culprit???

I will do some db measurements here in a little bit...
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
TOTEM's RESPONSE (to my inquiry of using the Hawks in HT):

'the Simaudio unit should have no problem driving the Hawk's in home theater (especially if you only listen to moderate / high levels )

that warning is more for multi channel receivers that have boosted THX and DTS levels with exaggerated bass elevations'
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
Walkman, my db measurements:

Sony DVP999ES at '20' equals approx. 55db (CD)
Sony DVP999ES at '28' equals approx. 65-70db (DVD)

Simaudio at '20' equals approx. 55db (CD)
Simaudio at '27' equals approx. 70db (CD)

So that is where I have been listening at, or not exceeding for the time being. This is in an approx. 450sf room with the speakers 8' apart and my listening position centered between them 8' away. The Hawks are currently about 2' out from the rear wall (measured from the rear of the cabinet).
upstateaudio's avatar
upstateaudio
249 posts
 
Jh2os, I can verify your remark regarding the red notice regarding Hawk break in at 150 hours. I blew a set of woofers after only 3 months. I am sure I did not break in properly, I played the speaker at louder levels with challenging music (Tower of Power with pounding bassline) and blew both woofers.

They were replaced at cost of drivers without labor charge by Totem. I broke my present pair in with the proper break in period and have had no problem.

So new Hawk owners heed the red notice not like I did.
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