Totem Owners....

I agree with Bill completely. It does make a difference when a dealer chimes in favorably for a product versus an end user of the same product. The consumer has no financial stake and his only bias is his enthusiasm (or lack of) for the product in question. Full disclosure helps to diffentiate the two.

Shakey

How off-the-mark could you be Csmgolf - someone comes in telling us all how great something is, only to find out later they're selling the things - this doesn't strike you as (at best) unethical.

Thanks Audiofeil for exposing this farce, and Zieman, hopefully you'll be more than a little more candid next time. For sure I wouldn't buy anything from you given your ethics.

There are many people that post on these threads that are devoted to the brand they choose and will make claims similar to those that Zieman did above. I agree that dealers should identify themselves when bragging about their product so as to differentiate themselves form the fanatic. My problem is this. I started a thread some time ago about monitors for use in a small room. I received many good replies to that thread and used them to narrow my search. I then received a direct email from audiofeil recommending Mark and Daniel Ruby monitors which he just happens to sell, as well as the deal I could get on them. I assume Audiofeil's exception to the Zieman's post is to avoid trolling the thread for a sale on the forum. However, this is exactly what he did to me and I found it offensive. I also find it extremely hypocritical to condemn others for doing what you are doing, especially when the basis of your statement is professionalism and ethics. I don't know how many people he has done this to, but one is enough for me. I don't disagree with the message that dealers should identify themselves, just how the message is being delivered and by whom.

A conflict of interest does not necessarily render information wrong, but disclosure of the conflict is always preferable. Anyway, the thread is getting derailed by the debate and mostly useless to the OP.

I owned a pair of Forests for about nine months. One of their exceptionally strong suits was the ability to sound dynamic at low volume. They are very fast speakers, cast a huge soundstage, and disappear thoroughly with the right electronics. They are more power hungry than the Hawks, but my perception was they could handle more volume when I wanted to crank them. Frankly, your room is small enough that I bet the Hawks would fill up the room nicely. I recommend choosing a cable with a somewhat relaxed sound - in the long run I found the aluminum dome tweeter to need a more forgiving signal. I went with Cardas Golden Cross with great results.

Just a quick note to say that I am currently in the middle of making the decision between whether to hang on to my pair of Ohm Micro-Walsh Talls or my pair of Totem Arros. It's a tough call, and I haven't yet made up my mind. But I have to say that the Arro is an extraordinary speaker: transparent, fast and very, very musical. And, as is well known, it's a "monster" in terms of imaging... those things produce a huge, holographic sound stage. Not the last word in bass extension, tremendous in all other respects, and remarkable in terms of bass extension for their size.