Magnepan 1.7 or used Totem Forest

Heard most of the totem line (back to back) and heard the 1.7s a few months later. I listened to Norah Jones on both systems. The Totems were feed by Cary tube amps (model slips my mind) and the 1.7 were off of Naim gear.

I an not familiar with either front-end. But the system with the 1.7 were a knockout sound wise. They sounded much more natural to me compared to the smaller totems (the wind was ok). For small jazz the 1.7 are not just good for the money they are plain out good. I feel that Totem is a good buy at their asking price but higher-end stuff out classes them.

I am going to take some flack for this, but I feel that voices through the Totems (all models below the wind) seemed forced and nasally. Not bad as a whole and very good all around for their asking price, but lacking compared to higher-end stuff. While the 1.7 hold their own against higher-end speakers. They (1.7s) are limited in the bass depth but not output if you room is averaged size. The highs are pretty good on the 1.7s but they still stick out a little bit to me in tonal balance and location.

With all that being said. The build quality of Magnepan is total junk. If you can get past the build quality they sound VERY nice. The Totems on the other hand have MUCH better build quality and nicer finish.

Just my opinion... and demoing is the key to understanding what aspects you value most.

Huh? Two completely different speakers and really if you are looking at one you probably aren't looking at the other.
Look at your room and decide what speakers you actually want to listen to (and look at) to determine what you are willing to place in a room.

They are so different in their presentation that you really need to hear what they both do in a room situation also.
Not that either is tougher than the other (in my opinion)
but they could react differently in your room than someone elses.

They can also both sound sooo different depending on what electronics you out in front of them that it becomes a crapshoot when putting them with one electronic firm and then another. It can really make or break both of them because of their somewhat demanding nature to be fed well.

If you already have the rest of your hifi set you may simple want to hear each of them with YOUR setup. If you are just starting out then a dealer that carries them can stear you into what sounds best for each respective brand.

The earlier post mentioned Naim with the 1.7's and I can only concur and note that Naim is also a terrific match for the Totem line.

One last note, not sure why you have chosen to focus on Totem out of the many many box speakers available out there but you'd be remiss not to at least check out some others including Naims own line of speakers before making a purchase.

The Magnepan is a product that can evolve higher and higher with better associated gear and other tweaks. It is a unique audiophile product. It has the ability to sound like music and disapear from the room. The Totems do not really get this done and I consider them a lesser speaker.

BUT....The proper Magnepan system will probably end up costing more.

Rob

To Charles1dad: the amps are Fisher 30A mono's. A simple push-pull pair of EL84's per side. I slightly modify the input stage and they require the best of the best NOS tubes to really work their magic. Amps they repaced were Adcom 565 mono's. Not exactly the sweetest Solid State design and probably a less than ideal match for the Magnepans, but you can't argue with their power abilities. I didn't think it would work either, but initially, all I could say was WOW, the system is finally ALIVE! The only reason I had the 565's in the first place was because I was told the Maggies craved such a thing. Interestingly, the dealer was happy to demo with a 50W class A Levinson amp.

Maggies for jazz