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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
walkman
50 posts
 
Beheme, I also have that Mirage LF100 sub. I use it as part of my home theater...I basically have two systems, one for audio (sim I-5/Nova + pending Hawks) and video (outlaw 1050 receiver and mirage surround system with LF100 sub). Lots of coincidences in this thread about similarly owned equipment. I wonder if there's a way to have it connected to both my Outlaw 1050 receiver for home theater usage and to my Sim I-5 which has a home theater pass-thru for 2-channel music purposes. Must be...

Upstateaudio: Good information to know...thx.

Jh2os: Curious but good the indicator light has not gone on for you anymore. I wonder what was causing it in the first place, but if it has not/does not replicate, then I guess at this point, it does not really matter.
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
Walkman, yes it is good that I haven't seen the indicator light in awhile. I am leary to crank the volume while using the Sony DVD to see if I can make it reoccur though, hence keeping it under '31'.
walkman
50 posts
 
So, Jh2os, what do you think of the Hawks so far? Since our set-up's will be identical, I am most curious to hear your impressions. [My room is 27x14, but the listening area is really only 14x14.]

thx, walkman
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
Walkman, I am pretty impressed with them thus far. I haven't been a huge fan of the Hawk when hearing them in several different setups, but I am thinking the synergy of amplification pairing may have been partially to blame? I always preferred the Forest to them when auditioning at the dealer.

They should reach their 150 hour mark on Saturday morning, so I plan to spend some time listening between the Sttafs and Hawks then. Initially, they definitely have more presence and I can tell they are more detailed as well. I wouldn't classify them as a 'warm' speaker as has been mentioned above. I feel that both the Sttaf and Forest have more 'warm' qualities to them? I am definitely coming around on the Hawks though. I've only listened at moderate levels and don't even have the claws installed on them, nor played around with placement, so these are very initial thoughts.
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
Beheme, can I hook a sub up direct to the DVD player via the 5.1 channel outs? I noticed a subwoofer out here - then the sub would only be used while using the Sony as the source?

I experimented with turning the speakers to 'small' and it just sounded like crap with out the lower octaves there.

Lastly, if I can use the subwoofer out on the DVD player, should I switch the analog L/R out to the L/R out in the 5.1 output section?
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