I've had ARROs and FORRESTs One common theme that you will see in many posts and that I also personally experienced: is that they are power hungry.In fact, the FORESTS only performed at their peak when I bi-amped them with hi-current and Hi watts amps
My audiophile buddy test drove the FORRESTS with his CARY pre-amp and tube power amp system ....they sounded flat until he juiced them to a 2 o'clock position on the volume dial... noy exactly a comfortable listening level long-term.
THE POINT: they are not the ideal tube mates in our experience
Take a look at what TOTEM uses to drive them at trade shows: PLINIUS, SIM AUDIO and a select few others. All hi-current hi-watts solid state gear. SIM are ideal, in fact they are both in Montreal and voiced with each other's kit.
Silly me, been using Forests for over ten years on 15 watts of tube power. This speaker doesn't dip below 6 ohms impedance which makes it very tube friendly. Totem has demoed the much less efficient Model One with a 35 watt tube amp and the sound was wonderful. What you need is a simpatico amp regardless of power output, or tube/transistor. Also, don't over damp your room and soak up all the life in the music. That WILL sound flat. Think diffusion as opposed to absorbtion. Now, you may be a solid state guy and thats OK, but don't be afraid of trying them with tubes because it can be done with great results. Nothing about this speaker that requires SS only.
My brother has smaller Totems with Arcam amplification, and IMHO, it's a good match. By inference, Hegel would also be a good match, since, again IMHO, the Hegel house sound is similar to Arcam's. Both are very clean, smooth, with good PRAT and spot-on transients.
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