Best Amps for Totem Mani-2's?

I have good success with both the bryston 4bst and the ead powermaster 1000 in home theater settings. The speakers do need current, more than power. You could always try the rotel and see if it works for you. Used bryston is always available on this site.

My local Totem dealer recommends Classe, 301 or bigger. I would also second the McCormack idea. I would also try Sim, but I've never heard the combination.

FINALLY a Mani-2 poster!!

OK- I have owned them for years- in fact I now use 5 of them in the home theater system. Current amp is Theta Dreadnaught- excellent match. The Dread does 400wpc in to the Mani's 4 ohm load, and uses a massive 2.2kVa transformer- sound is very natural for SS amp.

I have also experimented with vertically bi-amping the Mani's as well, with good results (using a preamp with 2 sets of balanced outs for main channels). The difference with the bi-amp was not 'night and day', as Mani's are only a 2-way design, however bypassing parts of the crossover can't hurt, and I found more (slightly) more resolution; energy; and purity with the bi-amp.

Other than the Theta, another top recommendation would be Sim Audio- W5 (2-ch), or new Titan (up to 7 ch). HIgh damping factor; wonderful stability in to low impedances; and an ability to take control of a woofer are the strong suits- in fact, I may have gone the Titan route, but bought the Dread just before Titan was launched- absolutely no regrets though- I found Dreadnaught more musical, Sim (slightly) more accurate but with more slam- depends on what your application is.

Lastly, with Mani-2's, don't skimp on cabling. I went from a half-decent Audioquest spkr cable to Cardas Golden series, and it was night and day- much more fullness to the sound- especially noticeable on center-channel. Mani's need spkr cables that can carry lots of current effectively- same with interconnects. Good luck in the quest.

My Bryston 4bst does a great job of handling the speakers, sounds great. I also used a pair of Cary 50watt tube monoblocks that truly sounded great. I didn't get all the low end extension that I have with the Bryston, but they imaged wonderfully and smoothed out some of the highs.