Totem speakers revisited!!

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mantis
mantis Posts: 17,056
edited September 2002 in Speakers
There was some questions about this line of speaker in here some time ago.

Liv4fam and I went to World Wide Stereo after our last job today 2 get in some demo time.
The Eneregy speaker's Liv4fam was listening while I was drooling all over the Rotel RMB1075 in silver.I hope I can hold out,I started to sweat and was going to bring the bad boy home but lucky for me...no rsp1066 in stock..all sold out .....they can't keep them in stock as they are the hot seller now....Of course as I want one.
Well I was wondering around the store witha salesman that used to work with us at Tweeter,I desided to revisit the Totem line for fun.I had them running off of 3 different setups.
1)Conrad Johnson pre and amp2) Sunfire tube pre amp and solid state amp,And last the awesome Integra Research pre amp amp.
After fooling around for awhile,I came to realise the Sunfire wasn't all that in dynamic range,good sound no less but seemed to lack good solid dynamic range.The room that the Conrad was in was a terrible sounding room,it was a square with a muddy overtone.
After liv4fam was done demoing the Energy speakers,we both took the Totem Aarows into the main theater room where we were told was the best sounding room in the store.This is where the mighty Integra Research seperates lived in a middle alantic in wall rack.Wired with Kimbercable.

Those little Aarows rocked,and where dead on accurate.For 1100.00, they destroyed my rt1000p's dead in overall clarity.These little speaker house a 4 inch midbass driver and a 1/2 inch metal dome tweeter..........killer bass responce out of such a small speaker.I thought this would make a killer 2 channel in a small room speaker.The fit and finish was 1st class, built quality as all Totems speakers are was furniture grade........simply beautifull.

I give another vote for the Totem series loudspeakers.....they are an offspring of Dynaudio as they use most of there drivers all threw there lines.
If any of you get a chance to listen to the Totem lines,you won't waste your time with a sit down for awhile demo.......nice stuff!!
Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • organ
    organ Posts: 4,969
    edited September 2002
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    I think I will demo them if I ever find a Dynaudio dealer around here to find out why every forum is prasing all their lines. Even if I like them, I doubt I would ever give up Polk. There's just something about polk speakers and the way they please my ears. I couldn't help but wonder how much their floorstanding models cost if a tiny bookshelf is $1000+. I know how you feel about the Rotel gear man. I don't have seperates yet and whenever I visit my dealer I always drool over them in the 2-channel demo room. I still don't have the guts to demo them because I know they'll kick the living crap out of my Onkyo. I want to go home feeling my system is good. Don't want to go home the same way I did 7-8 years ago when I heard my friend's dad B&W system. Back then I had Kenwood towers, Technics receiver, Design Acoustic sub, and a Pioneer LD player. So yeah, I felt like sh#t for about a week whenever I listened to my system. But now, when I hear the B&W's at his house, I'm still very impressed(HT). Finally, I wanted to hear how those things sounded with metal. After a brief demo, I must say B&W and metal or rock don't go together. If a pair of speakers can't do metal, I won't even care for them! Metal can really push one's system.

    Maurice
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,794
    edited September 2002
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    Another person who says B&W can't rock...interesting!
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • nascarmann
    nascarmann Posts: 1,464
    edited September 2002
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    mantis wannabe......
    Oh, the bottle has been to me, my closes friend, my worse enemy!
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  • SPEAKER7
    SPEAKER7 Posts: 355
    edited September 2002
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    Mantis,

    this is my final conclusion.....I'm going to take your advice I will be going for the.......Rotel rb 1080/ rc 1070......I went to several dealers around town and they had nothing bad at all to say about the Rotels accept they are very good equipment to own. They say that they can work out decent price once I'm ready to take them home. Hopefully in about two months time............If I had the extra money I might have gone for the rc 1090 but too bad.


    However, I haven't decided on the speakers yet.......

    the Totem Forest are really nice speakers and so as the smaller Arro but I guess they're a bit out of my price range.......so it will probably be the Lsi15's or the Studio 100's ......PRICE is a big factor.


    dc.

    However, :lol:
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  • organ
    organ Posts: 4,969
    edited September 2002
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    Nascarman, why are you calling me mantis wannabe? Does he not like B&W? I doubt that because he seems to like those high end stuff. As for the B&W, yes they'll play whatever you throw at them but it doesn't mean they'll sound good playing certain stuff. It's just that I wouldn't buy those for metal. They're just missing the raw power of the guitar and drums. They just sound too sweet for metal(I prefer less icing on my cake). But from what I heard, they are masters of classcal and opera. I just wanted to clear this up because I think this is why you're calling me Mantis wannabe. I haven't read a post where mantis bashes B&W.

    Maurice
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    Don't worry about Nascarman organ,
    he likes to stir up things.He wants to be me.I don't for the life of know why but thats just the way it goes.............

    The B&W lines I agree with you and have stated it before, they don't play hard rock/metal well.They seem to lack the ability.Masters of Classicial/Jazz and such????Yes they are.....the crown they can wear there.......the Dynaudio lines are more versitle as well as Totem,they can play everything you throw at them well.

    Speaker7,
    good luck with your upgrade....Rotel makes great stuff for what you pay.You'll be hard pressed to find anything that sounds better in that price class.
    The rb1080 has more then enough power to power just about any speaker made to insane volume levels in a given size room.
    When you make this upgrade be sure to post a in depth review of your findings..........
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited September 2002
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    Why would they lack in rock/metal, where does the rolloff begin? Is Foghat ok? How about Slayer? Can I throw certain Zeppelin at em? Are there certain effects pedals I should stray from?

    Not doubting 'you guys' opinions, but if you brought your Slaughter 1-bit cd to the demo, played through a yammie 5 disc changer in a bad room, for a 30 minute demo on a receiver, you need more help than Bowers and Wilkins can offer......

    Qualify the statement, give me a band/album/track that doesn't sound good on beemers and why....

    Cheers,
    Rooster
    'Now I got to flyyyyy....fly to the aaaaangels....' ;)
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    Russ,
    does Krell qualify to run B&W????thats the last thing I powered them with and formed my opnion.

    I can name alot of bands that sounded like smack.....lets see....Disturbed,Creed,StainD.......need more to try??
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    I allmost forgot to tell you.......there was no dead people in the room!!
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited September 2002
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    You call those recordings music? Disturbed? I actually dig some Creed and Staind, no problems here cocheese.

    Krell, Rotel, even the lowley Carver among others are a great match for B&W.

    You bring a DISTURBED cd with you? Tell me you are kidding.

    Cheers,
    Rooster
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    Sorry dude I'm not into Metal really anymore but that cd is pretty good.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    Dude I carry alot of cd's with me.........
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited September 2002
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    But can't remember any? I would hardly call Disturbed 'demo' material... I've seen their bag, and its full of nothing.

    (and yes, I own it, the wife digs it on occasion)

    Cheers,
    Rooster
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    Dude...dude ....dude,
    when I listened to the Maggies..it was awhile ago,and the owner was changing out the music after I ran some Al Di Meola........the stuff he was running was some kind of older Jazz, then some female singer, then some big band..I didn't know any of it......but I didn't like the way it sounded on those speakers......The Sunfire made them worse sounded .
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited September 2002
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    Well, that clears it up for me, you weren't familar with material, you had no reference as how it 'should' sound, it was a 'while ago', and the Sunfire made them 'worse sounded'.

    Thanks for setting me straight. I didn't realize you were that qualified to generalize Maggies tonal qualities.

    Cheers,
    Rooster
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    hey I gave it my best..........
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • MxStYlEpOlKmAn
    MxStYlEpOlKmAn Posts: 2,116
    edited September 2002
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    dont be cutting down disturbed, their first cd is awesome, and i'v eheard some of their other songs ont he new one and its gonna be awesome too..
    Damn you all, damn you all to hell.......
    I promised myself
    No more speakers. None. Nada. And then you posted this!!!!
    Damn you all! - ATC
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    there new song is good,they play it on the radio from time to time.....good stuff.

    Not Russman Aproved though..we might want to reconsider
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited September 2002
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    It has its merits for what it is, but demo material? Debatable imo.... What exactly does this group shine in? As far as a demo is concerned?

    They are 'ok', you have my approval, I Bet they sound GREAT on old Cerwin Vegas.....

    Cheers,
    Rooster
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • liv4fam
    liv4fam Posts: 311
    edited September 2002
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    Hey russ I got a perfect response for ya. I was just like you two years ago, there was nobody that could tell me that there was a better speaker than B&W. So Dan and I were up in Northern PA and we found a little hi-fi shop (forgot the name) anyways they had B&W so we Demo'ed everything up to the Nautilus 801's and I was blown away as usual. So after talking to the owner for awhile he decided to sell us us pretty much anything for cost. Well I couldn't pass up that deal so I bought a pair DM 602 S2's and brought them home and hooked them up to my Onkyo Integra M-502 Dual Mono amplifier and I was in love with them with Jazz, Acoustic, Classical, and straight vocals. But most of the music I listen to is Hardcore (ask Dan he knows all about because I kill him with it at work "ever play Disturbed in a customers home?") like Flaw, Disturbed, Overkill, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, and so on. When I started playing this music through the B&W's I was so utterly disappointed. It was like the speakers just totally gave up. I hate to say it but it sounds like the crossover started filtering out frequencies. The tweeter completely craps out and becomes really muddy sounding and actually goes into distortion. The B&W's also do not have the bottom end to faithfully reproduce the slam of a good solid kick drum or bass guitar. After I had them for about three days I gave them to Dan to test at his house and he came to the same conclusion I did, and that is that they are reallygreat at Orchestra, Opera, Jazz, And Acoustics. But they simply do not do Rock, Heavy Metal, Rap, or R&B. They where designed for a certain genre of music just like every other speaker on the market. Klipsch being a perfect example, would you critically listen to Jazz on them? Hell NO! You would put in some Slaughter and blow your face off, have a beer (cheers) and go smoke some cigarettes. Now go Brush your teeth and clean this **** up.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    Dude,
    demo material can be anything that is listened by the person listening.If the person listening to a given speaker is looking for speakers...needs to listen to what they listen to......
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited September 2002
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    There are a TON of speakers one may consider better than the B&W counterpart. Did I ever state they were the be all end all? Clean that **** up Liv4fam.....

    How did those 602's compare to the RBH in-walls?

    Crossover started filtering, on certain music genres only?

    Tweeter crapped out? Was this on your Yammie rec you brought out to 'clean', or the McIntosh that isn't plugged in?

    No bottom end? The SPEC(ulations) say they are fairly solid, perhaps my ears deceive me.....

    God, what would I do without the peanut gallery, I love you guys......

    Cheers,
    Rooster
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • nascarmann
    nascarmann Posts: 1,464
    edited September 2002
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    Ya know......there will never be anything but Carver and AMC....:rolleyes: No frickin Yamaha **** hun Russ......not a 5 disc changer anyway....
    Oh, the bottle has been to me, my closes friend, my worse enemy!
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  • liv4fam
    liv4fam Posts: 311
    edited September 2002
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    DAMN! you can quote the hell out of Mantis but you mess mine up. I feel like you don't like me as much. I brought out the MAC to clean numbnuts. My RBH are for theater only and to be honest the B&W's don't really sound much better. How do you like them apples? Russ I am really starting to lose faith in your opinions. Do you own Q-tips? You can't really believe that B&W's have any sort of bottom end or low bass extension until you get into Nautilus.
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited September 2002
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    2 words

    RBH inwalls

    Thats about all I have to say about that.

    Cheers,
    Rooster

    Nasman, you know what I'm talking about, I might have inserted Denon, Sony, AMC....any 1 bit DAC...... Bustin my cahoneys while I'm dealing with CooCoo for Coco Puffs.....
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • liv4fam
    liv4fam Posts: 311
    edited September 2002
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    Russ you are too much!!! lol lol CHEERS!
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,056
    edited September 2002
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    And what wrong with inwalls...RBH for that matter???ever hear them ?I did, did you??????

    The Peanut galley eatin coco puffs
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • liv4fam
    liv4fam Posts: 311
    edited September 2002
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    Maybe I should get some R40's and be like everybody else. Anybody want an RXV-1? I need a HK520 and Krell FPB-600C to be badass in here
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,987
    edited September 2002
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    Nothing is wrong with in-walls, until they are compared to their 'box' counterparts. Just not what I expected a 'pro' to have, thats all. Common man, sure, pro, ehh....

    R40 is a damn fine speaker for the money, include the R10 also. Name ONE other speaker you can buy for the price that uses a soft dome (non-mylar), and features as nice a mid-bass, binding posts, network, build, etc.....

    Cheers,
    Rooster
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • liv4fam
    liv4fam Posts: 311
    edited September 2002
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    For the money aren't the DQ-10's better?
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