Totem and Bel Canto?

Headshrinker2 I like the NAD sound its just that I feel that there might be more to the rainmakers. A friend of mine has the hawks powered by arcam avr400 and a vdac. Just heard it yesterday and the soundstage and attack? are amazing. Perhaps its less the amplifier than the speakers. I am planning on bringing them to his place so that I can determine if its the speakers or some other part of his system that I like. I was hoping that with better amplification and maybe the storm sub I could get close to his set-up without selling the rainmakers.

BTW aren't the arros much easier to drive than the rainmakers?

Jkontuly,
Your idea of trying your Rainmakers with your friend's system sounds great. That will at least answer part of the question.

A quick check to the Totem website will answer your question about recommended amplification for the Arro and Rainmaker. I don't know about Rainmakers, but the Arros are indeed easy to drive.

Let us know what you discover...

"but the Arros are indeed easy to drive"

PErhaps to drive in general, but do not let the small size fool you. To drive optimally for best balance and performance, I believe they require significant power and current. They are fine speakers especially for their size but I would not categorize them as "easy to drive"

Like your friend I am using an Arcam avr400 with my Totem "The ones" I'm using the Mites as surround and a Model one signature as center as well as a Jl Audio f113 sub (wich I love)
I'm very happy with the Arcam avr400 its very powerful real 90 wpc drives the whole thing easily with power to spare and the sound produced by the Arcam combined with Totem speakers is awsome.
The dealer I got it from had the Totem Forest set up with the Arcam avr400 thats what sold me.
My family room is 20x20x12 sloping ceiling as high as 16 feet on an open floor plan, thats a pretty big room (one of the reasons I got the Jl Audio sub) but the Totem monitors project very big sound and dissapear beautifully.
I dont feel that I'm missing anything the mids and highs are clear and as far as low octaves are concerned the Jl audio sub does a fantastic job, it takes a while to get the intergration of the sub to work to my satisfaction has been about two months and still working on it.
Good luck

The Arros aren't impossible to drive, but I wouldn't call them easy by any means. They've got an odd impedence load that requires a stable power supply. You don't need kilowatts to open them up, but you do need an amp that doesn't have difficulty delivering current into 4 ohms and less. Not sure what they actually dip down to, but I'm pretty sure it's less than 4 ohms. If impedence isn't the issue, phase angle may very well be.

A Nait 5i has a power supply that'll take care of them.

The Rainmakers and Arros are pretty similar. Totem doesn't design lines per se (as in B&W 683, 684, 685). Every speaker is it's own individual speaker. However, the Arros and Rainmakers are quite often paired up together in surround applications. Same can be said for the Sttaf and Mites. I think the Arros and Rainmakers use the same driver, but different tweeter. Sttaf and Mite is most likely the same thing.

Just a heads up on Totem in general.