Replacing Forests???

Baroque, the Arros are too small for my current space. Listening briefly to those in the large space made me realize that I had to move up the line. I guess I may be able to go with Arros with subs, but I think I would go another route before adding subs?

Currently, I still have the Hawks - not sure if I will trade those in to my dealer for electronics or attempt to build a system around them?

Options running through my head:

Build a system around the Hawks that will be easy and convienent for both music and HT - preferrably with an all-in-one source, options:

krell showcase dvd
krell kav400xi

NAD master series m55 universal player
NAD master series m3 integrated

plenty of power with both, ease and conveinence of SS. SS control for HT.

'Beheme' plan - SS source, tube integrated:

DVD??? (H/K, Cambridge, Denon)
Cairn Fog CDP
Rogue Tempest Integrated

Cary Audio DVD6
Rogue Tempest
(or)
BAT vk55i (powered direct by dvd6) - not sure how well that will work?

Those are just a few options I am thinking about with gear I have heard. Other potential (non Totem) speaker options would be Sonus, Dali, Focal Profile.

Plus there have been some suggestions above of gear I may want to listen to. It looks pretty wide open. I would love to have a 'simple' system. Same manufacturer source and amp so one remote appeals to me. I know not most important factor, but a 'nice to have'. I have been calling around to try to listen to some of this gear again and hear new things like the Avalon mentioned above.

imo, you are worried about something that you shouldn't. if you have the right electronics with any of the totem speakers you have been auditionng, you don't need to worry about blowing woofers. if you team up a smaller amp to drive these totem speakers to high spl's, yeh, you will blow them. totem speakers, at least the ones i have owned or presently own (model 1, arro, in-wall, mani 2's) need a powerful amp to drive them. for example, i had a pair of large monoblocks driving the model 1's and they would play as loud as i wanted. my mani's need hundreds of watts to sound full and clean. home theater magazine did a test using the arros with the dreamcatcher speakers and they liked what they heard. i hooked up my arros in my ht setup using 2 subs and i could crank them as loud as i wanted in a 16X24x10 room. i am surprised that you would think about the arros after using the hawks or forests. the arros are very nice and are excellent for a small speaker in a smaller room (used mine in a den). but going up the food chain, you do get higher quality sound, or i should say a speaker that produces more of the freq range. imo, the food chain for audio stops at the mani's whereas the winds would be a good choice for a ht setup. i debated for a long time on upgrading my model 1's to the hawks or forest. these 2 speakers are more full range but not as clean sounding as the model 1's in an audio only settting (imo). when i heard the mani's, there was no hesitation, clean and full range.
bottomline, no matter what speakers you end up with, you need to get the right equipment to drive them. if you get totem, don't go cheap on the amp.
good luck

RBstehno, what amps are you using to drive your respective Totems right now?

in my audio room using the mani's, i currently own the dk design mkII amp. i used to own the classe 47.5 preamp with odyssey monoblocks. right now, i am playing around with a classe 47.5 preamp with a classe ca-201 amp that is loaned to me while my friend is on vacation. for now, i will be keeping the dk unit in my audio room. in my den, i sold the arros to a friend and went with totem inwalls. i am switching between/playing around with my onkyo tx-sv909pro receiver and a jolida integrated tube amp with the inwalls. jolida is smoother and more musical but low on power whereas the onkyo is more solid state sounding and has power.
when i had my model 1's before moving up to the mani's, I used the classe/odyssey setup above for a while. before that, i owned a macintosh ma-6500 integrated, and the classe preamp with a macintosh mc-202 amp. both the 6500 and mc-202 amps did not have the necessary power to drive the model 1's compared to a macintosh mc-352 that i borrowed from my local dealer. i did have the luxury of playing with the mc-352 amp/classe preamp combo with the mani's and i liked it very much. a year ago, i wanted to play with tube gear because i have always like the sound of tubes. but i needed an amp with a lot of power for the mani's and i didn't want to spend $$$$$.$$ for a big tube amp, so i tried the dk unit and liked it. in the future, i will be trying a combination of a tube preamp (cary, mac, prima luna, ????) with the macintosh mc-352 or the newer macintosh mc-402 or possibly the ma-6900 integrated with the mani's.
also, for a while, i purchased a 2nd pair of mani's for my front channels in my ht setup. i was using my yamaha rx-v1 receiver to power them. not a good match. sounded flat, lifeless, and dull. yamaha claims 140 watts per side but the mani's sucked all of the power out of the amp and i ended up selling the 2nd pair of mani's. good luck

Thanks for the info Rbstehno.

Beheme, do you recommend the Avalons over anything from Audio Physic? I know you have been please with those in the past as well - is the Avalon offering another step up???