Integrated amp for Totem Sttaff

I'm gonna stick my neck out in another direction. This is such an inexpensive, safe approach it's almost risk-free.

How about an Onkyo A-9555 class D integrated amp? At its suggested list price ($799) it would be competitive, but you can get it at $500 and below almost anywhere (e.g., J&R, B&H, and Amazon, which has free shipping and a 30-day trial period). And you'll need that 30 days because it takes a good 75-100 hours to break in. I hooked up an iPod and FM tuner to break mine in 24 hrs/day. By the third day it began to astound me. It has extraordinary speed, clarity, and transparency combined with a particularly articulate and extended bass, and an overall natural sense of ease that's usually missing from inexpensive fast, detailed amps.

Can't say how it sounds against a Naim, but I like it better than what I've heard from Creek, Rega, and Cambridge, including specifically the 640A. It sounds more like a 150-200 wpc Musical Fidelity, and even there, I think its midrange is a little smoother and more natural than the MF's.

It should be an excellent match with your Totems as well. Its 85/170 wpc into 8/4 ohms fits your STtaffs' recommended power of 20-100w at 8 ohms. The Onkyo's ability to deliver current should help your STtaffs perform at their potential in bass extension and clarity, and will also bring out the best in Totem's strengths in speed and clarity.

Sorry folks I don't want to hi jack the thread here.

Mr. Rumadian don't get me wrong sir:-)) I used to own 2 pairs of Rainmakers (my brother inherited them now) and recently switched to Dynaudio DM 2/10 to keep things simple. But I still own a Totem Storm (a great sub and I have to give this credit to where it is due, Vince Bruzzese and his team)

I do admire Vince's work on the Arro and the Rainmaker (speakers for the working class people) However, Totem does have some sub par products like the Lightning, Mite, and Rokk.

The Mite is probably the worst speaker that they ever produce. I do A/B listening between a pair of Mite and a pair of Usher S520 and the Usher, at almost half the price of the Mite, beat the Mite hands down (high, midrange, and bass definition and extension) They were both driven by a very Denon amp that cost less than a $1K.

I then autioned the Forest. You are absolutely correct that Forest sounds very good and they look great for the money if WAF is a must to you. And I have to say that Forest has a group of followers. Well it is a practical matter that Totem used Hi Vi drivers. I was thinking about upgrading to the Forest but after I learned about Hi Vi drivers man I was disappointed with Totem. Their only redeeming product is the Rainmaker for their prices.

I do think that Forest is a product that is overpriced for what they are. Vandersteen 2CE and Dynaudio Audience 72 may not look much to you but they are very viable options for the Forest. As I said earlier, if WAF is not a must, anyone would love to own a pair of Vandy or Dynaudio Audience 72 any day. And these 2 speakers are not very electronics friendly:-))

Btw Mr. Rumadian, if you are into tube, check out the Dynaudio DM 2/10. I used NAD C162/NAD C270 combo or a NAD C372 to drive them and place them on Sound Anchor 22 inch stands that I purchased from another kind Agoner here. Man, they are simply stunning at low listening level with all music genres, jazz, vocal, rock, hip hop, classical and what have you.

If you check with your Totem dealers, I am sure they would tell you that they sell more Arro/Rainmaker/Sttaf/ and maybe the Hawk more than Model 1, Forest, or Mani 2:-))

Second on Naim integrated.

Personally, I think Sim is more engaging than others but I don't like their prices. Classe is a better deal because they are not that insanely expensive as Sim but they too are very musical. NAD M-3 is also a good choice on the used market.

Plinius is a good choice but I think Totem recommended Plinius because they refer each other products back and forth in Asia, as they do with Rega in Europe.

The Sttaf, although designed to work with a wide variety of electronics, tends to only sound its best when paired with tube gear and placed in small, sealed off rooms. It also requires fairly precise positioning; as most Totem's do.

I owned a pair of Sttafs for 2 years, sold them only to upgrade to Mani-2s. I think you need to be careful interpreting this statement. While it may be true they do their best in these conditions, that's only a little bit better than under most any other conditions in my experience.

I found them fairly easy to place (ie by comparison to every other speaker I've owned). While they are wonderful with Tubes, mine were wonderful with every amp I used. And while they're more suited to a smaller room, I found them quite nice in a 16x24, and 14x20 open rooms (maybe these are small?).

I wish I still had mine!

Hieule,

The HiVi woofer may not have the same history and cool factor as a true Dynaudio woofer, but it's performance is not slighted in any way. Oh well - I prefer the Scan Speak Revelator to either the Hi Vi or the Dynaudio woofs anyway. :)

Once upon a time I owned the Vandersteen 2CE Signatures and have gone through a number of speakers from Dynaudio, particularly from their Contour and Focus line. You certainly won't ever catch me bad mouthing either product. They are exceptional in their own right. Although I personally do not consider them to be a better value, or hold an edge in over-all performance - its easy to see how some people will prefer what they do over other options in the market.

BDGregory; Perhaps it's just my luck! Hah! I find most loudspeakers to be incredibly easy to position - Totem's, for whatever reason, always seem to be a challenge for me - right down to the last half inch..