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Anyone spent time with the Totem Wind?

I demoed the Totem Wind today with a Carry tube amp and Vinyl (also used a logitech server with flac files). It was in a house and not a show room. The room was about 12x20x8 and the speakers were on the short wall about 3 feet out, 6 feed apart with no toe in.

They sounded pretty good but I was not wowed by them... and I wanted to be. The speakers did not seem to have any real faults. The highs, mids, and bass integrated well. They seemed tonally balanced. The sound stage was very wide with a large sweet spot. All in all pretty good speakers. But I just wanted more I guess.

I just want to hear other people thought's on the Totem Winds. If anyone has long term ownership I would love to hear what you think. Also if anyone has compared the directly to Thiel 3.7 or Wilson Sophia (or other good speakers) I would like to hear what you thought.

Also what are your thoughts on the speakers abilities to extract details in the bass(texture), mids, and highs?
james63
james63 OP
534 posts
 
The Cary tub amp was CAD 120S CAD 120S and I believe all cables and interconects were Audiokinesis.

I plan to give them another good listen before I write them off. l liked them much better than a lot of speakers I have demoed. He also offered me a knockout price! But as a like everyone on this site I am not good at price shopping lol...

I might just have to bring my own gear. Even though on paper his stuff is better than mine, I might just be used to the way my stuff sounds. The winds had good tone and were what many people call "musical". I tend to like a little more punch and forward presentation. I have seen amps drastically change the way the bass sounds and I have seen other equipment (preamps, etc) change the highs a good bit.
artmaltman
769 posts
 
If you were not "wowed" with them on a short listen, that might be a good sign.

What "wows" us are often exaggerated bass or treble.

As I think about my all time favorite speakers, they did not "wow" me at first.

So, IMHO, your question is a fair one. You want to get the opinion of some folks that have lived with these speakers for some time.

Art
dgaylin
255 posts
 
I have a fair amount of experience with the full Totem line, and have owned the Dreamcatcher, Rainmaker, Arro, Staff, Hawk, and Forest. When it came time to upgrade my Forests, I looked at the Winds but decided to go elsewhere. I think the Forest (and the Arro) at their price points are absolutely fantastic. The Winds are really good, but there are a lot of speakers that compete with them in that price range. In my opinion, there are speakers that outcompete them.
james63 OP
534 posts
 
Dgaylin,

Thanks for the input. That might just be the real truth. They just seemed like a really good buy at 1/2 the price of the other speakers I am looking at. But it might save me another upgrade down the road to just skip the winds all together.
blindjim
3,092 posts
 

On average, or generally speaking, units with higher eff ratings usually have more of that punchyness in them. Like ones from 89-90 db & up, versus 85, 86, 87. Generally.

I'd suspect, though don't know for sure, the Theils might be the antithesis of the Winds. The Sophias might be in the middle of them both, but now you aren't comparing apples to apples... given the prices of the Winds.

If you really feel the gear in place at time of the audition was/is superior to your own... you may want to reconsider a move into any of those other two aforementioned speakers as both are quite revealing units.

Better front ends make better speakers better.... lesser front ends make better speakers not so better. Great sound does not require great (expensive) speakers!

I guarantee it.
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