Upgrade rainmakers to hawks,clues,tekton or fritz?


I have a pair of totem rainmakers and a NAD 747 AV receiver. At the time that I bought the receiver I thought I would go surround sound. Now I have decided to just focus on 2 channel and be content with stereo for movies. I will probably sell both the receiver and the rainmakers to finance this. Right now I have heard and like totem Hawks, Sjofn Clue(heard this at the audio show this weekend pretty impressive for $999), I am also interested, but have not heard, Tekton Lore-s and Fritz Grove. The amp will probably depend on the speaker. For the Tektons I am thinking red wine audio for the others maybe Naim 5i. My budget is around $3000. I am fine with used equipment. I listen to mostly rock but have recently been listening to Hawaiian slack key guitar. Has anyone heard the tektons or Groves and rainmakers so that they can make a comparison? Any Opinions?
128x128jkontuly
Based on a friend's recommendations, I would add Nola Boxers to that list. Search the threads here for impressions. And the Fritz speakers are great.
Jkontuly,
Question for you - have you listened to the Rainmakers with a good quality amp rather than the receiver you have? I am assuming that the Hawks and the other speakers you have listened to, must have been paired with a good quality integrated or separates. Before you move on from the rainmakers, make sure that you have given them a fair listening.
I am not saying that the NAD receiver or the other speakers are not worth upgrading. But I am suggesting a fair comparison, before moving on. Then decide, if it is worth upgrading. I was impressed by the Rainmakers some years back and I still believe that they are very good speakers in their price range. The Hawk is in a different price range.
I owned the Hawks for many years and currently own the Lore-S. IMO both are excellent speakers but with quite different tonal characters. The Hawks have excellent bass for their size, and actually go a bit lower than the Lore-S even though they are smaller speakers. I also feel the Hawks may be a bit more extended on top than the Lore-S, but only by a smidge. That said, the Lore-S are definitely the more balanced and neutral speaker--they don't emphasize any part of the frequency spectrum over any other. I always felt the Hawks tended to have a pumped up lower midrange in order to emphasize vocals, though this may be something you like. Also, the Lore-S are much more versatile in terms of amplification than the Hawks. I'm easily driving them with an 8wpc SET amp whereas the Hawks really need at least 100wpc and high current to shine. I don't believe the Naim 5i will cut it with the Hawks, and even Totem customer support said as much in an email exchange I had with them. For rock music I would give the nod to the Hawks if you're using the right amplification because of their superior bass performance and because they sound a bit less "smooth" than the lore-s. Of course, a sub in combination with the lore-S would probably make them a good rock speaker as well. For acoustic music such as slack key guitar, I believe the lore-s is superior due to its transparency and tonal neutrality. Best of luck in your search.