Totem Acoustic Forest Signatures

Let me add mine to dave_b's.  Hope you are happy with them.  Just be patient during break in.  Follow Totem's guidance on this.  Don't over drive them.  The bass will be MIA for a good while.  But is one of their strong points when they are fully broken in.  

I've had a pair of Forests for over 10 years.  Not tired of them yet.  They scale well, which is to say upgrade electronics and cabling...they'll reflect those improvements.  

As far as speaker cable, your budget will go furthest with used.  Check out US Audio Mart.  Brand-wise, in addition to Signal Cable, Blue Jeans Cable is often cited as a good starting point (I've not used it).  Other high value brands to consider:  Clear Day Audio, Audio Art, & Virtue Audio.  Check out Stereo Mojo for other recommendations.

http://www.stereomojo.com/Stereo%20for%20Cheap%20Bastards/StereoforCheapBastards.htm

bg3584,

Congrats! The Forest are great speakers. I'll second ghosthouse's guidance on the break in process. It has taken my Signatures 150-200 hours to come around. Don't over drive them. You'll be tempted to. But they will reward you. I had a pair of fully broken in standard Forest for about a week for review. The bass is taught, solid and plentiful. Work on placement but be patient. As they are breaking in, changes in placement may need to be made. 

Speaker cable? Straightwire, Wireworld and Audioquest also make decent entry level cables. I would try to get biwire but if you can't, at least get some higher quality jumpers to replace the stock Totem wires. 

Keep us posted !

N

Hello friends

I've upgraded my speaker cable. This week I changed from Audioquest Gibralter to Wireworld Eclipse 7. This cable is massive. 10 awg per polarity. It Sounds amazing! 
Highly recommended for your Totems.

The Signatures sound better than ever!!

N

Just poking around and happily stumbled on this great thread. I’ve had my black gloss Forest Signatures for about a year, and they are far and away the best balanced, most satisfying speakers I have owned in 40+ years in this hobby (including Wilson Watt3/Puppy2, Quad esl-63 and Vandersteen Quatros). I’m running mine with a Plinius Hautonga (200wpc) integrated, which is a much better match for them than my previous electronics (VTL MB-125s with Audible Illusions m3a pre - not too shabby in their own right). So I definitely agree that the Forest Sigs benefit from lots of clean power.

I’m using all MIT in the signal path, including CVTerminator biwire speaker cables. I’m intrigued by the earlier comments about going single wire with jumpers, but my cables are dedicated bi-wire so that experiment will have to wait for another day.

Just wanted to mention that that you can fine tune the sound by changing the black balls under the skid plates. I tried both brass and carbon steel - the brass balls give a very smooth, warm presentation, but I ultimately settled on the hardened carbon steel. Not quite as warm as the brass, but more dynamic and extended. In my room, the metal balls provided more transparency and an even cleaner top end than the oem black rubber balls (this was Vince B’s suggestion, btw, not my own).  I also placed a small bdr disc under each, all of which sits on 1.75” maple plinths.

So very glad to see there are others out there who have found this under-appreciated speaker. IMHO, given the superb parts quality, flawless fit and finish and, most importantly, the glorious sound, it would be a bargain at twice the price!

strat1117, 

Welcome to the forum!

N