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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
raks
468 posts
 
I own the Usher BE 718’s and they’re amazing. The Usher’s replaced Acoustic Zen Adagio’s, which replaced ProAc Response D15’s. Based solely on the favorable reviews, I purchased both the Acoustic Zen’s and the Usher’s without auditioning them. I agree that’s not the smartest thing to do, but when I know I’m going to buy something on Audiogon, my rule is I don’t go to a dealer and do a dog and pony show. My favorite Chicagoland dealer is really high end and consequently doesn’t carry “everything”. I do make it a point to buy from him when he carries a line I’m interested in.

I’ll second what Larryrx7 says about the Usher’s… “These speakers have the potential to survive many bouts of upgrade-it is”. For example, I upgraded my stands from Target to Sound Anchors… immediate improvement. I upgraded the stock jumpers to JPS jumpers… immediate improvement. I plugged my Pre-Amp into my recently purchased Audience AR1p… immediate improvement. I put Finite Elemente pucs under my amp… immediate improvement.

As for power, mine are on a 5 channel 100 watt per channel Theta Intrepid, and while I’d love to hear what a higher power amp would do, I’m perfectly happy with the 100 watts.
kenk168
175 posts
 
I own the BE-718 and have been happy ever since. Its top end is transparent but if fed with mediocre upstream equipment and asynergistic cabling could proved disastrous. If you're willng to put the time and effort in paring the speakers with complementary electronics and really try to optimize them, you will be rewarded. Also, the build-quality is top-notch. Understand that you will get opinions that are on both the left and the right. Try to find balance among this differing of opinions--some passionately biased.

Kenobi
johsti's avatar
johsti
102 posts
 
I can understand if someone doesn't like the sound of specific speaker, but to say that Usher is low value is laughable. The drivers measure as well as drivers costing 3 or 4x as much. The build quality is well above similarly priced products. The crossovers are designed/modified by well respected folks in the industry.
johsti's avatar
johsti
102 posts
 
Audiofeil - Your hidden agenda is very obvious. Simply do a search for "Usher" on this forum, and your name comes up every time with something negative to say.

Please don't email me again with your opinions when they can be posted here for everyone else to see.
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
It's not an agenda; it's my opinion and if you're going to make insinuations in the thread be prepared to get spanked.

Rookie.
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