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Totem Mani 2 Signatures vs. Usher BE-718

I have the upgrade bug and I am looking to upgrade my speakers. I'm looking at the two speakers noted above but am open to other suggestions for comparable speakers. I have chosen these speakers because I currently have the Totem Model 1 Sigs and have heard great things about the Mani's as well as hearing them at the local audio store. I have not heard the Ushers but have chosen them because of all the positive reviews. I do not have a local Usher dealer.

I would like to hear what you have to stay about these speakers espcially if you have owned either of them or have been in a situation to compare them.

I know the Totem's have had great reviews and have been considered the best bang for the buck in the past and the reviews on the Ushers seem to indicate that they are the best speaker sub $5K. Would be interested to get your thoughts on that.

I will be driving them with a Bryston integrated amp with 100 watts at 8ohms and 170 watts at 4 ohms. I am a little concerned that it might not be powerful enough to drive the Totem's from what I've read. I am not sure about how they will drive the Usher's. Any comments or experiences with similar types of amps would be appreciated.

Thanks
audioman999
roccl007's avatar
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roccl007
205 posts
 
With the MANI-2 you need high quality wattage and high current (Amperage), i doubt you will get it in an integrated one.
If you are on a budget why not search for an old CLASSE 15 or even better CLASSE 25 of course any of the DR serie will do the job, hope this help
just remind HIGH QUALITY WATTS + HIGH CURRENT (amperage)
xti16
1,525 posts
 
I may not be much help but I do have the Bryston B100 sst and it is driving a set of Dynaudio C1's. I have never heard the totems or the ushers but they Dyns sound great with the Bryston (regarding power and the Dyns love power).
larryrx7's avatar
larryrx7
137 posts
 
I have the Ushers and I will be keeping the Ushers. They are the best balanced stand mount I have every heard. I am driving them with a pair of Monarchy SM 70's running single ended mono and the sound is fantastic. While the Ushers are fairly inefficient, the impedance curve is very steady with very minimal swings. I will tell you that proper amplification will be rewarded greatly by these speakers. I noticed a great improvement when I added the second Monarchy. Running one amp, the sound was very pleasant and smooth, but a little lacking in dynamics and bass extension, but with the second one added, all that changed and I suddenly had a world class sound. I would be very much intrigued to see how the Bryston would handle the bottom end of these speakers. With these speakers, I tend to feel like I own a bmw m5 and have only hit third gear. These speakers have the potential to survive many bouts of upgrade-itis
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
if you are still running the nautilus 804's, this is kinda sideways....different, for different's sake.
audioman999 OP
13 posts
 
I actually moved away from the B&W Nautilus 804 / Rotel combo to the Bryston and Totem Model 1 Sig when I had to move my equipment into a personal listnening room. Too hard to keep everything safe with 3 children. Still have the Rotel RCD991 as my front end although I use the DAC on the Bryston integrated. Seems to be much better.
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