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Request advice-need "brighter" speakers than Totem Hawks

Hi All-
Love the community here; first time poster.
My gear:
i have a pair of Totem Hawks, driven by Sim Audio W-5 amp and P-5 pre. I listen primarily to Redbook CDs via a Marantz SA8005. Cables are all Audience AU24SE. I listen both through a modded Eastern Electric DAC (op amp upgraded, tube removed) and direct from CDP to preamp (teensy sound difference between DAC/no DAC, if any). My medium sized room is pretty dead sonically (carpet, textile window coverings).

My Issue:
The high frequencies are uncrisp, rolled off severely, muted, and just lacking generally, especially on contemporary works (jazz, rock). I don’t hear cymbals, hi-hats, or rich, crisp snare drums (yeah, I’m a drummer). Listening to my favorite disks is a deeply disappointing experience, Though classical sounds ok to fine. I am thinking that I need brighter speakers than the Hawks (though there are numerous folks who extoll Sim Audio plus Totem speakers, something is not right. I do have a bit of hi-freq. hearing loss from playing percussion for over 40 years (amateur), but I’ve heard a number of less expensive systems that sound better to me. My first thought is to go for a used pair of B&Ws (CM5s?) or Vandersteens (assuming good WAF on the latter) to swap out for the Hawks. I’m on a budget, but am not above selling some of the current gear to pay for the right equipment.

I would love love to hear some suggestions or alternate diagnoses/ideas. I am not limiting myself to speakers; I’ve tried a bunch of different cables to no good effect. Analysis Plus silver cables, for example, were a disaster with this gear, for example, FYI. Thanks in advance for any sage thoughts you choose to offer. -Bruce


bheiman
bheiman OP
27 posts
 
onhwy61: Wow. 500 hours? I could do that--the cost is reasonable at least :-). I was being a teensy bit conservative when I said 90-100 hours, previously. It is quite possible I have 100-150 hours on the speakers. I tracked time in use at the start, but failed to keep it up. 

beernut (and onhwy61): placement is something I have messed with quite a bit. It makes no major difference with this issue. Also, as noted, near-field listening does not sound any different than standard couch listening. I would add the Hawks are designed as somewhat "positioning indifferent," for the listener and speaker placement. They make a big thing of this in their marketing materials, and I find it to be quite true. The quality of sound changes very little with these speakers as I move them and myself around. 
bheiman OP
27 posts
 
All:
I recognize the burn-in issue is likely legitimate (though I have read of folks who loved their Hawks' sound out of the box). Ideally, I should stop posting, burn the speakers in for another 350-400 hours or so, then post results. I'll make that part of the process, but I will also try some of the other "low-hanging fruit" ideas that you have suggested. 

I just switched polarities on one speaker (mb1audio). When switched, the sound in the mids became super-forward (soundstage) and loud, while the low bass became muddy. Upper-bass became more forward in the soundstage, too. I did not notice much difference in the highs, if any. Possibly some of the mid-highs came out more volume-wise. Most of the highs still felt buried. The top end of the highs remained muted, for example. I switched back and forth several times to confirm my impressions. I conclude I had the speakers in phase alignment on my original setup. Whew.

Thoughts?

I will next reset the gear to take out all power conditioning and surge protection, per suggestion--this one is not immediately intuitive to me, but it's relatively easy to try.  Stay tuned. -B
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,306 posts
 
B - What speakers did you have before the Hawks?

pokey77
1,265 posts
 
This sounds pretty familiar to me. For reference, I heard my entire system at my dealer and with the tone controls on the integrated out of the system, or 0, it sounded very good, very good indeed, with very nice extended top end (and solid bass as well). In fact, I wish it sounded as good here at home as it did at the dealer. 

I think the main difference is that the dealers room is not over damped and I actually heard my system in two of his rooms; one was purpose built with wall damping and commercial carpet while the other was a smooth flooring with a rug or two and drop ceiling like in an office. My room has thicker carpeting, a big sofa, and some wall hangings. It also has a vaulted ceiling that goes from 11' on the left wall down to 9' on the right wall. Without the Treble control near the end of its' positive range, the sound is just unacceptable; all the top end is very rolled off; the room just seems to suck out the treble. The bass response is pretty good and no tone control necessary. Anyway, thankfully, the Mc has tone controls and it has rescued me for nearly a decade. The sound is more than acceptable, but I'm not sure if it is the carpet/furniture/wall hangings or the uneven ceiling that are sucking out the Treble. But I do plan to check into it further when I remodel that space in the next year or two.

Hope this helps.
bheiman OP
27 posts
 
Update: with the power conditioner and surge suppresser removed...no difference. Maybe a tiny bit cleaner and tighter overall sound, maybe not. Definitely no breakthrough in the highs. I will put back in the power conditioner, but not the suppressor--it's a cheap Monster one, in any case (I'll use a short thick gauge power strip into one of the conditioner sockets to handle all the power plugs that won't fit directly into the conditioner. We have pretty clean power where I live, so I did not expect a result on this test. 

pokey77: Those are interesting reflections on the room, thanks. When I auditioned Hawks at the dealer, they too sounded incredible. I thought "I'm buying that sound." More detail on Room characteristics: I have a flat 9' ceiling, painted wood, and the back wall is not treated, nor is the left wall. The right wall has window treatments (textile) which are absorbent, and the floor is low-pile carpet. No treatments on front wall either. I know what you mean about cranking the treble on anintegrated--it can have a big effect. It just seems so "un-audiophile" to have to crank treble nearly all the way up. One thing I can easily do to liven the room is to pull back the window treatments. I'll report on that soon. It's an easy trial. 

ghosthouse: I had several speaker sets. They all sounded brighter, but lacked the Hawk sophistication in mids and bass. Here is a list: Celestion SL-6 (sweet, balanced), Linn Index (yech), Spectrum 208a (probably should have kept those--boring form factor, solid sound). 

Next up (maybe in a day or so): swapping in the Creek 100a (with tone controls). 

Please continue to offer reflections and suggestions. Thank you. 

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