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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
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
Currently have both the Hawks and the Sttafs in house right now. Letting the Hawks 'burn in' over the week and hope to do some serious listening this upcoming weekend.
alo
25 posts
 
My mom picked picked the Sttafs over the rest of the Totem line up for 3 reasons.

1. looks. no silver claws (she thought they looked obnoxious) and still pretty small.
2. lacked the ultimate clarity of the Arros, but in turn had a broader and fuller range. Can play pretty loud.
3. Much better bang for the buck than the Hawks/Forrests.

My personal observation is that they sound good at all volumes, can be driven with pretty low power (she's usiing 60w), and are very easy to get into. Probably the best all around compromise you can get out of $1400 of speaker.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing your decision.
baroque_lover
102 posts
 
I love the look of the claws. So much so that I got them installed on my Arros. It makes the speaker look much classier and the Art Deco look contrasts nicely with the rich cherry wood.

I prefer the Arro's over the staff. Room size would be a factor though, if the room was large I would porbably consider the Staffs.

Jh2os, nice to hear you got the Hawks in you're room. Play around with different positioning when you listen. Glad you are letting them burn in first - it't worth it.
grakesh
84 posts
 
Jh2os,

Eagerly waiting for your feedback. Hoping that you will compare Hawks with Staffs and Forests as well.

Thanks
grakesh
beheme
231 posts
 
JH2os: sorry to hear about your sad experience. I got bashed for starting a thread re: Forest using Swan's drivers but I guess there may be an issue with quality control somewhere between China and Montreal...
A year and a half ago, I had to let go the idea of keeping the Hawks I had on loan as the dealer, well informed, told me their driver was way too delicate for a HT use - he made same comment re: Forest... I then turned to the Yara but he recommended I stayed with Totem but went the Dreamcatcher way, 2 monitors with two subs or Staff + 1 sub if needed (room size). I was not thrilled with the idea of a monitor + a sub * 2 and did not like the Staff on pure 2ch audio so I went the AP Yara way.

So, if you must stay with Totem and you like Staff, go for it otherwise you may want to start "cheating" on Totem and go somewhere else...$ for $, the Yaras will likely blow away the Staff for 2ch audio IMHO.
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