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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
beheme
231 posts
 
Jh2os: my former response was posted before your last two. Connecting to the DVD will not give you volume control of the sub so this will likely not work. A sub out , unlike a tape loop, has variable volume that goes with the L/R output volume.

Turning speaker to small requires a sub to take on the bass that has been cut off the satellites so this is not to be done without a sub properly in place.
walkman
50 posts
 
Thanks Jh2os...your initial thoughts are appreciated, and encouraging. Identical systems make your comments very valuable. And, I can imagine things will only get better with your break-in and subsequent addition of the claws.

Beheme: thanks for the sub tips. I'll likely go sub-less, but was curious.
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
I think I'll remain sub-less as well. I like to keep my system as simple and uncluttered as possible!
beheme
231 posts
 
Sub-less is more often than not the way to go for 2ch audio when one owns speakers of that quality. As I like to say, better restricted yet outstanding low end than muddy lower bass. In my book, there is nothing worse than a low end out of control or not well integrated. For HT, it is always interesting to have the extra 20-35 Hz bandwidth to watch Terminator!
My Avalon Studio Pro are "limited" to 34 Hz but trust me, it seems that they go much lower and bass is so tight and defined than I do not know how much I would have to spend to get the extra 15Hz missing below that of same quality.

A question for you Jh2os: have you listened to the Mani-2? I never did but their specs in the lower register make me wonder if they are not the real gem in the Totem line.
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
I listened to them a long time ago, when I originally got the Tabu. They were impressive, but at the time, the Tabu just had some 'magic' that drew me into the presentation more - I think it was part of it's unique capacitor-less design? I am not a bass freak, so giving up the last couple of octaves for a presentation that pulled me into the music more was an obvious choice! I have grown to prefer floorstanding speakers, mostly due to the aesthetics, so I never reconsidered them or gave them another serious listen.
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