Totem Hawks/Forests - Upstream Components

First off, if you have the money I'd def. go for the forests. There are a number of threads on the subject, but just listen for yourself and you'll understand.

So I'll list a couple units I liked with the totem Forests, but these may voice differently depending on your CD/TT, Cables, etc.

The Plinius 9200 I think represents a lot of what you're looking for, in terms of tube-like mid-range bloom and power, plus it has a decent phono stage. Also, if you buy used you should have money left over for ICs, PCs, and speaker cable, if you buy well.

If you want to go with tubes somewhere in the chain, you could get the BAT VK300x or 300xse, both of which sound very good with the forests.

A Vac Avatar Super may be a stretch of your budget (but falls below 3500 used) but would be an ideal match.

A Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista is about 3 grand used, and would be much superior to the Jolida/MF combo you proposed in your last post. Plus, this thing has enough power to match with anything you might upgrade to, and has a phono stage, but it's not great.

If you're looking to save money, the Plinius is the way to go. Otherwise, I'd say the Bat or MF would be good. I didn't get a good listen on the VAC and totems, but I'm familiar with the VAC and it's great.

Enjoy

If your room is not too big look at the Pathos Classic One MKII integrated. It has a tube pre section and SS power section. 70 wpc. New well under your price range

Pathos Logos same config and the Classic excepy 110 wpc. Used in your price range.

I heard the some Totems (sorry can't remember the model) with the Logos and the combo was outstanding.

Also the Sim I-5LE at 75 wpc would be a very nice match IMO. Used in your price range.

Rogue Audio Tempest II for an all tube design. New in you price range.

The is no such thing as a perfect system or combo. Take some time and listen to as much as you can and let your ears be the deciding factor. If it were me I would go with one of the Pathos units.

Eldorado,

You reminded me one more factor I missed. My 2 channel room is 14 x 16 x 8. Hoping this helps in the recommendations.

Thanks
Grakesh

i would recommend that you listen to the totems with your source components in your own room to see if they float your boat. if you can't do this, i would buy used pieces so you don't take a hit if you have to sell it because you don't like it. IMO, to get the most out of these speakers, don't skip on the amp's power. for example: i currently use a small jolida tube integrated amp to power my totem inwalls. sounds nice for my den/office setup. when i switch the amp out to my more powerful tube setup, the sound difference is like nigt and day. i also used this jolida to power my arros with good success. only when i switched amps to a more powerful one did i notice the improvement. i also did some comparisons with my model 1's and now my mani 2's with different amps. i used to power these speakers with a pair of odyssey monoblocks which sounded nice. but when i auditioned the mcintosh 352 amp or the classe ca-301 amp with these speakers, these amps did a much better job at controlling the lower end and the speaker seemed to really open up. this was more noticable with the mani's than the model 1's. good luck.

Hi,

Can anyone answer my questions ( 3 questions ) about Tubes I posted earlier ? I am re-postingt he same questiosn again.

1. Can I buy a Tube Stereo Inegrated Amp like Jolida 302B (or) Primaluna Prologue 2 and use it to drive Totem Hawks / Forests for my current 2 channel needs and then add a power amp like Musical Fidelity A5 CR 6 months down the lane and use the Jolida / Primalune as a Pre-Amp. In simple terms, in the future, can I take the output from Jolida Integrated and pass it through MF A5 power amp and the output from MF Amp to Speakers ? If this is not possible, then I need to buy a pure Pre-Amp and Power Amp together to start with.

2. The so called Tube sound and mid range bloom...is that contributed by the Pre-Amp Tubes or tubes in the power amp section ?

3. In the case of Jolida, folks recommend 302b over 502b if one's preference is sweet sounding mid-range. I read folks saying EL34 tubes contribute to that. In that case EL34 tubes are part of pre-amp section (or) power amp section of Jolida ?

4. I like sweet sounding mid-range and some good tight bass too. So I thought I can have a sweet sounding mid-range bloom tube based Pre-Amp and a good SS power amp like MF A5 to give the bass slam. That is why I was thinking of pairing up Tube Pre-Amp with a SS Power Amp thinking it gives best of both worlds. I am not sure whether this is a correct theory or not. May be you can educate me.

Can you please let me know ?

Thanks
Grakesh