Nola Contender & Totem Forest comparison?

FWIW I auditioned the Forest signatures on excellent electronics (Macintosh) and even before burn in I was really impressed. A few days later I auditioned regular Forests on mediocre electronics (Integra) and wasn't so impressed. Not sure if it was the signature upgrade or the electronics upgrade or both that made the difference. But I can definitely vouch for the Forest Signature Edition. Never heard the Nola's.

Interestingly I also auditioned the Vienna Acoustics Beethoven juniors on very nice Conrad Johnson gear and found the sound not only impressive but very similar to the Forest Signatures - though for a couple thousand$ less.

I have heard both.

Forest with Jolida, Conrad Johnson, and McIntosh. Really liked
the sound, great imaging and vocals; a tad dark, but the sound
was rich and powerful. Good mids helped with the imaging. The
highs were really really smooth (reminded me of the Vienna's,
but with way better mids).

The Contenders were a major disappointment to me. Heard with
McIntosh gear. Bass was muddy, mids were recessed, imaging was
fuzzy and the highs had no sparkle. My experience was 180
degrees different from all the reviews I read (major
disappointment, frankly).

Just my humble, subjective, observations.

Thanks for everyone's comments and thoughts. Hopefully others will chime in.
I was especially interested in Mj's impressions. Wonder how much might have been due to speaker break in and/or the vaunted "synergy" (or lack thereof).

Mj - do you recall if the Mac gear was tube or SS?

The Mac gear driving the Nolas was SS (new integrated with DAC; the gear driving the Totem's was SS, other than the Jolida integrated). Interestingly, the Contenders were placed next to a pair of the new, Focal Aria 926 speakers (same Mac gear driving these). For the same price, I overwhelmingly preferred the Focals. I was listening to rock and electronica. The Focals had way more bass, imaged better, had that sparkly top end that I like (mind you, I didn't find these bright-and I have not really heard a bright speaker in a long time). Neither speaker was using "good" cable, it was by the foot Monster or something.

I found the Nolas to sound lifeless by comparison. I walked in prepared to buy the Contenders (based on all the pro reviews I read)...but found that they just were not incrementally better than my current setup. (certainly not for 3x the px).

I had the FORESTS (and ARROs simultaneously) in a prior system. They are fine kit, initially impressive, with a big "BUT" attached as follows:

(1) They are very "grunt" hungry to perform at their peak. "Grunt" is interpreted as high quality electronics (ergo $$ expensive) that produce both lots of high watts and very high current. I had to bi-amp them to maximize their performance possibilities. Frequently they are paired up with either PLINIUS, AYRE and SIMAUDIO (and other similar big) amps at the shows.

I would STRONGLY suggest that you scour the many posts on both A-GON and also on CanuckAudioMart ("CAM") about the Forests (and most Totems) being very power hungry beasts.

(2) They can sound lovely, but they have led many owners away to eventually selling them off because they can be very fatiguing.

They sound great at demonstration (higher) volumes; but even I traded them in to get something more "refined"(? ..the right words fail me) at lower listening levels; and especially with smoother music genres preferred (jazz, classical) as I age.

FORESTS frequently come up for sale on both AGON and especially on CAM. That is my take on why.

FWIW .....