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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
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.
beheme
231 posts
 
Jh2os: I think there is a way to settle on all this: get a sub for HT and set up the Hawk as "small" for HT. You will still benefit from their midrange magic and preserve their integrity for 2ch audio full-range. In the budget sub - if like me you are not a bass freak and do not want to spend for a buzz or two (!)- the Mirage LF100 is of astonishing value and can be had for $150 (LF150 a bit lower and more$).
walkman
50 posts
 
Thanks for the info, Jh2os. Appreciated. Your Sony could have been the culprit on the dc offset, but if you have have not seen the warning light since, and still have the I-5, well then, that can't be it. It's not the speakers though (can speakers cause dc offset? I don't think so...). It's got to be something...

So, you have the hawks, nova and an I-5. In a week or so we will indeed have identical systems. Cool!

Upstate Audio: Wow, two blown woofers...How loud were you playing the tower of power, pre-break-in?

thx, walkman
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
Upstateaudio, did you blow your woofer before or after the first 150 hours?

Walkman, yeah, I don't know what caused the indicator light to come on? It has never come on when the Nova is played, no matter at what level. I haven't seen it on the Sony lately, but I don't put the volume past 31 when using that as the source. 34 is where it had occured before with the Sony on the Forests. I just put the volume to 50 (with nothing playing and the speakers disconnected) with the Sony input selected and no indicator light?

Beheme, I would prefer not having a sub, but at that price it may be worth consideration? Just setting the speakers to small in the DVD player then? And sub to 'yes/on'?
beheme
231 posts
 
Jh2os: Yes, set up sub to yes/on and speaker to small via the DVD player. This should remove those bass that could damage Hawks when too loud. My theory about subs is that either you go for the real musical sub that will costs min $750 used or you go for one that is reasonably fast not to embarrass you but that deliver true value at low price. I found the latter in the LF100 and at that price, how can you go wrong?!
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