Reference 3a MM De Capo's vs Totem Sttaf vs LSi9's

Well, odd enough, I own the I-5080 and Sttaf combo right now, with an Arcam CD 23 front end. You are correct about the shortcomings of the PSB and Paradigm speakers. It seems you have a fetish for Canadian loudspeakers?

Keep in mind there is a significant price difference between the Totems and the De Capos (plus stands). For the price, I think the Sttafs are the way to go. They excell at the midrange and bass in your listening tastes. Nirvana, Brit pop/electronic, Bjork (great bass extension), and male vocal pieces (Jack Johnson, Lambchop). Hopefully you have a good subfloor. I always leave a door open in the room so I can let it rip.

The Moon amp only runs out of steam when playing classical recordings through the Sttafs (42+ attenuation), as both are rated at 80w/ch.You will blow out your ears before you clip the amp with rock/alt music.

When using the Sttafs, I noticed that Chem Brothers, New Order, Fat Slim all had crap recording values. The bass extension was noticably false, flabby and artificial. Bjork has nice warm happy bass, as do 3-4 piece jazz combos like The Bad Plus.

I have used several cable setups with this combo. Initially, totem sinew and Nordost blue Heaven wich was underwhelming. Then Cardas Neutral Reference (selling after Christmas Vacation, Hint, Hint) which brought about considerable synergy and bass extension. Then, most recently, Virtual Dynamics David cables. These are ridiculously good at revealing bass, ambience, symbals, and 3-D space.

The top end is what lacks in the Sttafs. However, this can be tamed by using spikes on a concrete or marble slab. As well as careful cable selection (not Nordost).

I was considering an Audition of the De Capos until I swapped cables. I am happy for now. If you don't want to upgrade speakers, and can afford De Capos, I would definitely audition them at a dealer first.

I'd cosider a cable or front end swap before swapping your amp. The I-5080 offers extremely good value. On that note, I have not heard your front end or cabling.

Krell-man I live in Southern Indiana and work in Louisville. Checked out your posts and you mentioned a "New store" in a post a few months back. What store carries the DeCapos and Musical Fidelity you mentioned?

Thanks MaxxC

Thanks guys. If I buy used I'll probably buy locally because I live in Canada.

Bshapperd, the frontend I am currently using was on par or given a slight edge in its favor against a SimAudio Moon Nova, provided the Moray James cable was used. I very much like the Prosilway cables, I prefer quiet cables. I personally don't like the characteristics of the Cardas cables, but honestly I've only heard the lower end Twinlinks.

After the speaker upgrade, the amp will very much be the weakest link, but again, I'm ok with this. I'd rather start buying more music. The speaker upgrade must keep me from not wanting to upgrade for another couple years.

I have heard the Ref3a's are alot more explosive and dynamic then the Totem's, I have heard the Mani II's and I dreaded them, but it was in a poor listening setup with brighter electronics. All of my upsteam sources are much warmer. I already have Sanus Ultimate Foundation stands and they will be more then capable of handling the MM DeCapo's. I'm thinking if I went with Totems I'd be better off with Hawks.

Hi Lush. While I am not here to recommend one speaker over the other as I have never heard the totem staff's in my own rig.Just my perspective on the subject and from a guy that owns neither speaker. A friend of mine was using a pair of staff's with all classe equipment a few years back before he was bitten by the sound of another friends all tube rig.. He ended up selling his classe stuff and bought a used CJ mv52 power amp and a Ear preamp. Although he has a decent cd player... he is pretty much a vinyl junkie with a top shelf table/arm cartrige combo. The Totem's and the 50 watt/channel of tubes didn't quite work out that well so he sold his totems and bought the decappo-i's. I have had the opportunity to hear his rig on more than one occasion and can say from an unbiased perspective that it is a very engaging system... a whole higher leaugue than his previous rig. To say the decappos are good is an understatement... they are simply amazing! I was so impressed with them I asked him if I could borrow them for a bit and he could listen to my rogers ls3/5a's while I put them through the paces in my own rig. His dedicated room is about 12 ft wide x 14 ft x 8ft ceiling. From the first few bars of Clapton Unplugged, I knew immediately these were very special indeed. They simply disappeared in his room, I was stunned at the dynamic range and scale of them and thought[at first] that this is because in his small room we were pretty much listening nearfield. The bass speed and bass weight is amazing for a speaker so small. An even bigger shock was when I placed them in my main rig. My dedicated sound room is 32ft long x 27 ft wide with a 12 ft ceiling and houses a pair of massive Tannoy Westminsters than weigh in at over 500 lbs each. The tannoys are 98db efficient and can play effortlessly at real live concert hall levels. The Decappo's aquitted themselves extremely well even in my large studio.They can sustain high decibel levels without changing tonal balance... a character trait that very few speakers could accomplish regardless of price as most tend to get glarey or hard sounding in the upper midrange/treble at sustained spl's over 90 decibles. The tweeter remains clear and clean even at high decibel levels. Further more: they sound incredible at very low listening levels as well and possess the ability to resolve both micro detail and nuance in proper scale with bigger dynamic instruments... akin to the speed of a good electrostatic. They remind me alot of the old quad 57 estat but with a lot more dynamic range. There are a couple of very demanding recordings I use as a litmus test. I believe that one should get the tone thing right first and foremost and everything else will come together much easier. I generally voice a system with a piano. The piano can cover every octave and is very difficult to get the tone correct and sound cohesive or coherent from the bottom octave to the top octave.Few speakers can get this right in my room. The decappo i passes this test with flying colours even in my overly large room, with power and speed as well as a percussive bass pitch down below 50 hz. The top registers float in space with a natural decay that's immediately identifiable. Try reproducing a full drum kit in room that approaches the spl's of a real live drummer. The last cut on the Sheffield Drum record is a incredible solo of Jim Keltner's power drumming talent. I am still in utter disbelief that the decappo can pull this one off. Gives me goosebumps down my spine ever time. Geez... I think I'm getting carried away here. If I were to make a speaker change in my home rig? The 3a decappo-i has certainly raised the bar and will now be the barometer that the others will have to beat.The decappo-i's placed on heavy stands and set up properly with good electronics in an appropriate room... IMHO the decappo-i is simply a no brainer!

'Lush' If you went Totem, the Hawks would be a better option. I think I will definitely seek an audition of the De Capos myself. I personally wasn't impressed by the Moon Nova, so it's good to know your player beats it.