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REVIEW: Totem Acoustics The One Speakers

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Model: The One
Category: Speakers
Suggested Retail Price: $3500
Description: High End Mini-Monitor Speaker
Manufacturer URL: Totem Acoustics
Model Picture: View

Review by Bobsprit@aol.com on November 06, 2010 at 07:50:12
IP Address: 67.189.178.1
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for the The One



Totem Acoustic The One


Since I recently bought my Merlin TSM speakers many of my friends have been swinging by to hear the new kids on the block, but it's been fun to hear other past favorites and see how they stack up. Using my friend's sold and later reclaimed Totem The One speakers we decided to test them using several amps.

Description
These are beautiful speakers! The cabinets, though oddly colored, are beautiful and the fit & finish is what you'd expect and hope for. There are no grills! While many of us listen with grills off, I do feel that this puts a speaker at risk when kids and pets are around. Feeling the same way my friend built a simple L-Shaped cover that simply rests atop the speaker. Over that he slips small pillow cases over them. There is a aluminum tweeter and 5.5 inch woofer.

Getting down to Business
Without messing about we placed the Totems on sand loaded 4 post Skylan stands and used blue tack at the bases. The stands are spiked through my carpet, acoustic mat and concrete floor. Amps used: Manley Stingray II tube amp, Odyssey Stratos with Metis Rogue. Subwoofer, which we only used for a short time, was the MJ Acoustics 150. Cables were Cardas SE9 and my friend's Acoustic Zen Absolute. For what it's worth, to those detail minded: The AZA wires were very short, much shorter than the cardas. We had to move the amps to try them.
CD player was the Audio Aero Prima with cryo'd tubes and the Sony transport.

The Sound
Make no mistake, this is a very good speaker. Just like the Merlins you can close your eyes and you'll have almost no idea that such small speakers are involved. With small vocal venues there is a sense of "you are there" presense that I also hear with the Merlins and few other speakers. Bass is amazingly precise and detailed. There's not a lot of it, but what is there is done right. Using the MJ sub we had an easy time making the Totems go full range in an impressive fashion, only giving up their true nature when pushed too loud. Switching from the Odyssey to the Stingray was a sweet upgrade. In spite of the deep drop in watts, the Totems now imaged with no regard to their cost; truly world class in that department.
The high end was another matter. Though detailed and open sounding we found the speaker bright, an issue the owner doesn't mind, but is aware of. In search of exquisite detail the Totems also gave up some coherence with the highs throwing the overall presentation off balance. It was subtle, but easy to hear on better recordings and often painful on older ones. The tweeter drew attention to itself. The owner felt that the Stingray eased the tweeter's issues more than his integrated Acoustic Research amp, but I think a different amp/preamp might altogether might be the ticket. Still, the highs of The One are an issue and this was not the first time either of us had noted it. Even a quick look at Audioreview will show Totem owners claiming fatiguing highs on some models. So these will not be "right" for everyone.
With that said we had a great time with the speaker. They cost over 3K new, were sold and then bought back a week ago for 700 dollars. At that price there is NOTHING that can touch them. They are very musical and careful room tuning and system matching would probably elevate them further.

Shootout with the Merlins
For about 20 seconds they sounded the same....and then very different. Now I'm the owner of the Merlins (a small monitor that costs 4600 dollars) and that skews my opinion somewhat. So I'll stick mainly to what the owner of the Totems heard. He felt that the Merlin & Totem bass were not that far apart. The Merlins, with the larger woofer did convey more weight to some recordings, but both sounded fast and accurate. But it was in listening to some Stevie Ray Vaughan tracks that really opened his eyes. The Merlins were like an open window. The highs were there, every bit as detailed but the soft dome of the Merlin's tweeter got it done without the whizz & tizz. He thought the soundstage of the Totem was like a tunnel compared to the Merlin. Stevie Ray's voice was floating in a precise space with instruments around him. The Totems seemed to centralize and compress everything by comparison. The Totems sounded world class in the imaging and the Merlins raised the bar. My own observations were actually a LOT less critical. I thought that both speakers were both doing a great job and might appeal to different tastes and ears. From an "audiophile" POV the Merlins were "bigger" and painlessly detailed. But I wouldn't kick a pair of Totem The One's out the door, especially for under a grand for a used pair.

Summary
I have often found the Totem speakers (that I've heard) to have a weak spot in their presentation near the upper midrange and this issue is exacerbated by The One's overcooked tweeter. I am told that some of the lower end Totem speakers, while less detailed, are actually more balanced. I'd like to point out that I could tear apart the way many Revel speakers sound and I absolutely LOVE the way many Revel speakers sound, so we come down to tastes more than anything else. The Totems are a true high end product which have strengths and weaknesses just like any other. I offered my buddy 699 dollars for them (what an awesome bedroom speaker!), but he's keeping his. FWIW, my friend's primary system is currently based on Vandersteen Model 5.

Polite comments are welcome of course!

Rob


Product Weakness: Lacks ultimate coherence of some better speakers, can sound overly bright
Product Strengths: Beautiful looking speaker, precise bass and very good imaging


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Manley Stingray II
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): None
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Audio Aero Prima
Speakers: Totem The One, Merlin TSM
Cables/Interconnects: Cardas, AZ, Anti
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Folk, Classic Rock, Organ, Classical
Type of Audition/Review: Home Audition
Your System (if other than home audition): Merlin TSM-MXr, Cardas, Audio Aero, Skylan, Manley Stingray II




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Topic - REVIEW: Totem Acoustics The One Speakers - Bobsprit@aol.com 07:50:12 11/6/10 ( 15)