Completely unfair but I don't care

mantis

Whats up everyone,
I'm sure most of you know how remarkable the Totem Rainmaker bookshelf speaker is and probably read about me blabbing on about how wonder and exciting they are blah blah blah.

So I decided to borrow a pair from a friend (Forgot to pick up stands) and see how the clarity , detail and overall warmth of the speaker was compare to my Mighty Definitive Technology Mythos ST towers.
I know I know a bookshelf vs a floor standing speakers isn't really a fair comparison especially since the Mythos ST has built in subs. but I do however have a trick up my sleeve to get this to be a more fair comparison. I just so happen to have a really musical Sub in a M&K 150 laying around that I can dial in to fill in the bottom end for the Totems so they can dig as low as the ST's do.

So a Sub Sat system vs a Sub Sat system. One built in, one separated. Think it's like comparing a AVR vs Separates ,not to shabby for some fun on Sunday afternoon.

Here's a few pic's just quickly so those of you who don't know what the ST or Rainmaker looks like.


M&K Sub used for low end with the Rainmakers , not used with ST's

mantis

I went a few rounds Yesterday and discovered a few cool things.
The Rainmakers as usual are amazing. They have a level of detail that all others should be measured. For their price class you get so much. Everything sounds so real and natural. The top end is to die for. Amazingly clear and free of distortion. Female voice comes across effortlessly and dynamic. The way the mid range driver blends in is simply amazing. It sounds like a 1 drive speaker.
Comparing this level of detail to the Mythos ST's I thought the ST's would get crushed. Funny thing is they didn't. Sandy Gross must be respected for his ability to really come up with a design that is uncanny , modern sexy and still sounds like a natural wood speaker.
I was going back and forth between the ST and the Rainmaker and what I found a little shocking is how similar they sound.
The high end was so close at times I had to make sure I knew what speaker I was listening to as they didn't react much different.
I was surprised as I really thought the Rainmakers where going to run away with this clarity shootout. I have embarrassed many bookshelf speakers with the Rainmakers including a really nice pair of LSI9's a member brought my shop a few years ago. That shootout was embarrassing for the LSi's as they where so outclassed it wasn't funny. They Lsi's didn't do anything better or even close to how the Rainmakers performed in both our opinions.
But the ST's must be something even more special they I thought. I mean I have owned them for a few years now and really they would have been moved out and something new would be in their place. This hasn't happened because I'm actually happy with them. The Rainmakers as good as they are even mated with a high quality sub didn't embarrass the mighty ST's. I was having a hard time finding any flaws. Even in the critical mid range tones came across neck and neck between these 2 speakers.

I'm really thinking it's gotta be in the crossover design and cabinet volume. We had the Def Tech Book shelf speakers in the Studio Monitor 55 and 65. I thought they where very nice sounding Bookshelf speaker until I started to compare them to other things we had in stock. The Totems destroyed them in so many ways.

I didn't consider comparing bass response between these to speakers as the Totems really have no bass in the lower octaves where the ST's dig pretty deep. I did test the in room response awhile ago of the ST's and if I remember correctly they where pretty solid in the low 30's and got into the high 20's but started to really fall off. They are rated at 14hz but that is so far off it's not even funny. It is one of the things I hate about spec's is they are not actual. They might be able to play a 14hz signal but not with any useable output. 20hz there isn't any useable output. Around 24hz they are about useless. All if I remember correctly. It's been awhile but I'm probably close in my numbers.

One thing I did confirm to myself with the Rainmakers is I would never ever make the decision to run a pair of bookshelf speakers without a sub. Adding in low end to them make them sound so much sweeter. Without actually doing any crossover settings as I allowed the Rainmakers to get a Full range signal, They just sounded like the effort got effortless when I added in the sub. The entire musical experience with so satisfying with it that when I removed the sub, the experience was removed as well.

2 channel only guys should really consider added a killer musical subwoofer to their rigs especially if they have speakers that just can't dig low. It's not an easy task as you have to spend quite amount of time with placement and calibration. But it's so worth it when you get the woofer intergraded to the point that it calls no attention to itself yet fills the room with the low end the main speakers simply can't reproduce.

The Rainmakers are remarkable, at times I felt some of the mid range tones I would get might have bettered the ST's. But when I switched back to the ST's I didn't find anything missing or moved in the sound stage differently. This is something that most VS shootouts revile is how different maybe not better or worse 2 different speaker companies replay sound. Strangely enough these 2 do just about every single thing the same. I never ran into this before.

What I really want to do is bring home a nice pair of B&W CM9's, CM10's and a pair of Klipsch RF7 II's and see how they compare .