Totem's "Hawk" and "Forrest":How Hi-End Are They?

Hi, Jim,

I don't personally like the term "high end," but understand your question very well.

The Totems will suprise you - pleasantly - with their bass response (for their size, not as much on an absolute level). I have heard them with Plinius and Musical Fidelity electronics.

Soundstage was deep, fairly wide. Dynamics were VERY good, again, surprising in a speaker the size. A little brash and glaring in the upper mids/lower highs, but it could be break-in on the speakers or electronics. Whatever the case, it added some sibilance to female vox I found slightly annoying at higher volumes.

But bottom line, they ARE serious speakers, great designs IMO; they get the most of what they are/have. I definitely recommend an audition if you can....

My 2 cents, good luck.

Todd/chams_uk

The Totem's that I own are anything but brash and glaring in the upper mids/lower highs. The sound that Chams_uk heard was probably due to the speakers not broken in or the front end equipment. Check out other reviews and your best bet is to demo a pair with your own electronics. They do require a good deal of power so don't try to use a cheap amp with them.
as for the stands for the hawks, I use the arro's in my den which are smaller than the hawks and i do not use stands. I have never seen the Hawks on stands.

Forest is much stronger and better on higher volumes(110dB continuos what do you think?). They realy breath on high volumes. Since all Totems have relatively stable impedance they're considered to be a tube- friendly. Even specs on Forest say that you can use minimum of 30W of tube or 50W of SS amplification. I drive my Forests with VTL MB100 in triode mode 50...55W/ch at most. In seldom cases I switch to ultra-linear 110W/ch.

The Hawks have superb soundstaging/imaging.