Can the Totem Hawk Rock?

I have a little Totem experience as a former Totem Forest owner and having dealt with a super Totem dealer and meeting many other Totem speaker owners on Agon, I feel somewhat qualified to offer suggestions here. There definately is significant improvement in performance as you move up the Totem line. I was all set to buy the Hawks until I heard the Forests. While both are good speakers, the Forests simply handle loud music better and will rock. Two separate dealers I trust told me the tweeters on the Hawks simply can't compete with the tweeters on the Forests. You can commonly p/u a pair of Forests under $1900 which (imo) is a great deal. If you really want to eaperience Totem sound, Rbstehno is a big proponent of the Mani 2s which I think is a step up from the Forest in soundstage and bass reproduction. Of course, good quality amplification is critical to yield all you can from these speakers. I'm not telling you the Hawk is not a good choice, only that for a few more $$ the Forests or Manis might be the way to go. Good luck.

Definitely,
If you add a-bit more for used pair you may have Forrests that are substantially better performers of nearly any kind of music...

Fantastic advice from all. I love this website...I'm hooked; had to get up early today (before the "honeydo's" and check for responses).
A lot of responses dealt with having sufficient power for the Totem's. So, give it to me straight, do I have enough power? I'm powering my speakers with an Audio Research D-240 (IMHO a good solid state amp). That's 240 watts per into 4 ohms or 120 per into 8 ohms (not sure what the math is for 6 ohms). Not sure what the Totems are; I assume 6 ohms? Anyway, it's a tuff little amp and my Musical Design tube preamp helps to smooth out the solid state sound. I'm running the Martin Logan Sequel II's just fine right now. I'm not sure how efficient the ML's are?

I will agree with Exertfluffer on auditioning any speaker in your room with your equipment. if you get quality equipment on audiogon at a decent price, you will be able to sell it again if you don't like it. Totem speakers sell pretty fast on audiogon.

I would not agree with Exertfluffer on driving these speakers into distress unless you cross them over at 80hz. If you were trying to get 115 decibels of sound in a 15 x 30 ft room, then these would not be your speaker, go with revel's, joseph, wilson watt puppys, or totem winds. you have a small room, it will not take much to produce loud music. when i had my totem model 1's with a rel sub, i ran the model 1's full range with no crossover involved. this was rel's recommendation. i had that system very loud with no breakup/distress. one thing to remember, you need a quality amp. if you don't, then the speaker would start breaking up because of the lack of power, not from the speaker not handling the power.
good luck!

..."I would not agree with Exertfluffer on driving these speakers into distress unless you cross them over at 80hz."

This statement doesn't make any sense! First, the Hawk is a 6 ohm, 86 db, two way design with one tweeter and a small 5 1/4 inch driver! This speaker, even with a 1000 watt per channel amp(or biamped for that matter) needs ALL THE HELP IT CAN GET TO HANDLE ANYTHING WITH REAL DYANAMICS!!!! Also, if you did cross those FLOORSTANDING "BOOKSHELF SPEAKERS"(which is what they are) over at 80hz, you would be getting much better dynamic control and power handling with these, because you'd be taking all the demanding bass load off of them, which would make your amp/speaker combo sound much much much more dynamic, controled, powerful, composed, un-compressed, and distress-free!! Your powered sub would then bring in the demanding bass dubties, just like any properly set up home theater or THX system. These low sensitivity, small driver music speakers can't handle the goods at any reasonable level with any level of control, impact, power, dynamics and or authority! They'll sound like small speakers in dire need of help if you really push them..and not just to 115 db! This speaker recommends on it's website "107 db" peak potential!!!!!...that's the extreme outside!. With an 86 db rating(not to mention small woofer) you would reach 106 with a hundred what amp. This is the outstrech of what they are recommending in terms of volume. yes, a larger amp will help control. But still, compresshion, distress, distrotion, and the outer limits will be quickly reached.
Then again, don't take my word for it. Just go buy them and try them! I mean you have the itch, right? Then, just plunk in some Techno, Metalic, rap, or even HT movies, play em full range, and just listen to those drivers beg for mercy!..not to mention the sound will be less than composed and powerful! Then, you can cross em over to a sub, and hear IMMEDIATE DIFFERNCE AND IMPROVEMENT DYHAMICALLY!(by the way, this is how THX recommmends things for a reason...passive speakers can't deliver mostly full range...they need help).
So when you pop in "Fluke" (track: "Absurd"). YOu'll know what I mean.
Seriously, if anyone here thinks a little 5 1/4 inch driver is going to rock your socks off, you are sadly mistaken! These are not pro audio, active, or large horn speakers with big bass woofers. They are dainty audiopile spaekers,that have serious dynamic limits. They can' be made to play hard and strong, but you must crossover and do bass managment of some sort, and enlist acxtive woofer as help. Sorry...that's the way it is. I've worked in 6 high end stores over 15 years, and done custom for many of those...not to mention I'm an avid 2 channel and HT junkie, who's constantly tweaking and trying out different gear for a living and hobby! I've "been there and done that". You can't expect small speakers to just change the laws of physics.
Anyway, the bottom line for you is to try this speaker and some combo's or setup preferences and see!
I'm just saying, if you think you'll pop in any hip/hop, heavy dynamic pop/rock/techo/whatever, and just wow your friends and neighbors with those dinky dudes, rethink. It's not going to happen. You'll be the only one excited, trust me. If you like those speakers enough, and listened, then consider bass managment(which effectively partially actively bi-amp's them) for rock dubties. Either way, you'll find out real quick.
Hey listen, I've sold Wilson's, Dunlavy's, Celestion, Meridian's, B&W's(not bettered by Totem, sorry), Totem's(complete line), Jm Lab's, Martin Logan, Aud Physic, NHT, Paradigm, Mirage, Maggies and Apogee's, Thiel, Def Tech, Sonus Faber, Boston, Polk, Klipsch, Infinity, and many others. And if Speakrs like Wilson WATT Puppies or Dunlavy SC1V's can't rock to their potential without some help, than neither can your delicate 86db 5" speakers! So be realistic.
BTW, The Mani two's don't have the greatest treble, and their bass is a bit thick and lumpy(as with most issobaric loaded woofers), and the Totem model 1's are soft and lack detail(compared to any of the B&W's Matrix or Nautilus series, which aren't as detailed as others even, yes!)