Totem Acoustic Forest Signatures

Welcome bg3584

I’m afraid I’m not familiar with your amplifier, but I can tell you that Totem speakers like a lot of good clean power and high current. The Totem Signatures are very natural and lifelike.

Today I switched from my Ayre C-X7eMP CD player and spun discs through the Oppo BDP105D and Audioquest Colorado interconnects.

Listened to Joe Satriani, S/T, (1995) Great production CD

N

I believe Vince Bruzzese said it best: "You don’t have to be an Audiophile to like enjoy Totem. Your just put it on and it’ll play beautifully".

In a word, Sofisticated. 

N

bg3584

As the "poor country mouse " owner of NON-Signature Forests, I’ll venture to add my comment to those of dave and Nutty re suitability of your NAD C388 for driving any version of the Forests. At 150 wpc it should be more than adequate power-wise. If you have concerns, read comments at the link I posted earlier in this thread.

I started out with a 60 wpc tube integrated when I first got the Forests. That was 11 years ago. Amps have been upgraded over the years. The Forests stayed. They respond very well to better source and amplification. Even now, I don’t think the system is at a point where the Forests are the limiting factor in the quality of music produced by the system. I expect this "scalability" will apply even more so to Signatures.
The Forests are like a Swiss Army knife in terms of versatility. There’s no musical genre they DON’T sound great with (assuming the recording quality is okay to begin with). They’ll be fine for HT audio. You might even find that sub has to be dialed back.

Wattage is a helpful specification to look at when considering amps for use with Forests and pursuit of high watts is certainly the more commonly chosen route BUT that’s not to say they won’t sound good with less than mega-watt amplifiers. Case in point, the very very good results I’m getting driving the Forests with a 20 wpc Nelson Pass designed First Watt F7. Repeating this only so you aren’t put off pursuing the Forests because you think you don’t have adequate amplification right now.

Again, 150 wpc from your NAD should be more than sufficient (assuming you don’t listen at max dB (110 IIRC) in a large room). Of course, simple wpc is not the only factor that’s going to determine the happiness of the marriage. I’d certainly encourage you to take your amp and visit a Totem dealer. Even if they don’t have Forests, see if you can get a listen to Hawks driven by it. The Hawks are similar (not identical) to the Forests being a 2 way and having that wonderful Totem sound. They are a slightly tougher load (6 ohm vs 8 nominal impedance). If your amp works with Hawks and you like the sound, I’m pretty certain you will love the sound with the Forests. You might also consider contacting David Serota of David Lewis Audio and see if he can arrange an in home audition for you. I’ve not dealt with him but Nutty has and might be willing to comment further about that.

Thank you ghosthouse! as usual for the positive feedback and insight. You know you're always welcome in the discussion. Particularly with your extensive knowledge of the Totem Forest. 


I wanted a pair of Forests for a very long time even without ever hearing them. At my local shop, I listened to the Arros and the Hawks and the bookshelves and knew I wanted the Totem sound. However my local shop wouldn't stock the Forests. 
I bought a used pair and ultimately found damage and returned them. But not before listening to them for about a five days to get a feel for the sound. 

I found a dealer with one pair Forests and one pair of Signatures left in stock. He made me a deal on the Signatures I could not refuse. Having listened to both the Forests and the Signatures, I say swing for the fences and purchase the Signatures if your finances allow it. They look and sound amazing. Attack, decay and harmonics! All Signature attributes of Totem. 


As ghosthouse and dave_b have pointed out, associated equipment, cabling and media all play a role in a more positive outcome. The performance is off the charts! I bought my speakers and never looked back. 

All of the following information was provided by Totem Acoustic web pages. Some subtle differences between the Forest and the Signature. 

The Signature is slightly larger:

Forest 10.5" deep

Signatures  11.5" deep 

Forest 34" tall

Signatures 36" tall 


The frequency specifications are slightly different: 

Forest <33hz - 20khz

Signature <30 - 22khz


Forest 1 rear port, 1 lower port for mass loading 

Signature 2 rear ports, enameled high gloss (no mass loading)

In addition, the crossover components have been upgraded and the values of the capacitors are measured to match the other speaker in the pair. 


YouTube links, Vince Bruzzese debuting the New Forest Signature. 
Another showing the new Signature 1 and some of the Totem manufacturing process. 
https://youtu.be/cDWW1ICJ_84

https://youtu.be/p1hAxMVpFQ8

N

Wow, thanks so much guys. The support from you guys makes me want them even more. Swinging for the fences is a great way to put it, cause the sigs are pretty pricey. If I can't get a deal from the dealer, ill probably have to go with the regular version forests. Which should still be awesome I think! Don't think I'll get a deal as they don't have any forest, or forest sigs in stock. I believe they have the sky's in stock, so I can go check those out to hear the totem sound. I'll ask about taking my amp. Do have a question about the normal forests. I know they have been around for quite a few years now. Has anything changed over the years on the forest? Cause there's other alternatives speakers/manufacturers that have much more up to date speakers if thats the case. Not that im interested in anything else, just wondering or hoping, that they've made some updates over the years to keep them performing for their price point. This is all in case I can't get a deal on the sigs :/   Tons of great info from you guys! Thanks!!!