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Totem Forest Signature, Part 9

Posted by Luminator (A) on June 22, 2024 at 14:10:53

During spring break 1990, as a college freshman, I entered "high-end audio." When I returned to UC Santa Cruz for the Spring 1990 quarter, I excitedly told my roommate and dormmies. Heck, I even talked about high-end audio to the black-tailed deer, who also understood that better audio products should have led to deeper connections with your music. .

Later that Spring 1990 semester, my friends at UC Berkeley told me that some organization had brought alpacas to campus. The primary purpose was not necessarily to learn about alpacas themseves. Rather, it was a distraction or diversion from the stress of final projects and final exams.

Sure enough, during the Spring 1991 quarter, some organization brought farm animals to UC Santa Cruz. I went with my friend Linh (a biology major) and her roommate, whose name I forget. The roommate milked a goat, and sang to herself, "Stop touching my boobs! Stop pinching my nipples!"

"Welp, I better not see any more sun," lamented my friend Tuyet, who had fallen asleep, while lying on her side at a Santa Cruz beach.

During the Fall 1991 quarter, Tuyet, other friends, and my housemates were astounded, that a used AudioQuest Topaz interconnect sounded better (less grainy, congested, and scrunched up) than a brand-new sample I had just bought. This was their introduction to the phenomenon of cable burn-in.

Tuyet's older brother played electric guitar, and had told her about cables and electronics needing "burn-in." My roommate Eric shrugged, that any new sports equipment needed to be broken-in. My housemate Doug brought up that a new car needed a little bit of "breaking-in," and he didn't mean smash-and-grab. Linh herself said that she always needed to walk/run around for a while in new shoes, in order to break them in.

By the end of 1991, we had become aware of a cable burn-in device, the Duo-Tech Cable Enhancer.

Since 2003, we have used an audiodharma Cable Cooker. However, it does not treat electronic components and loudspeakers.

One early 1992 night, Linh invited me to accompany her, when, as part of a class, she got on a boat, to do fish counts at a reservoir. I did not know that certain fish are more active at night. Moreover, something in their body makeup makes them attracted to electricity. So, the boat would inject clouds of electricity into the water, and the fish would rise to the surface. You could then count, catch, and even tag the fish.

We were not dropped off at Linh's dorm, until after midnight. As an Economics major, I was jazzed about the reservoir's bass and trout. Linh remarked that, because we were in winter, the lake water was cooler. Thus, the lake was stocked with trout. She said that, when the lake water got warmer, catfish would be stocked instead of trout.

But you could sense that Linh did not want to talk any longer about fish.

In college, we had Twin XL mattresses. If two people shared a Twin XL, there usually wasn't enough width, to lie side-by-side on their backs. They usually had to lie on their side, and spoon. But Linh lay face-to-face with you. Not wanting to talk about biology, Linh turned to music and audio. She understood that, although loudspeakers had electronic crossovers, they were predominantly a mechanical device. Therefore, Linh understood that there was no way around "breaking-in" loudspeakers; you simply had to play them out loud, for a number of days or weeks.

Let's pretend that you had two identical pairs of loudspeakers. Let us also state that one pair was brand new, while the other was well-used. Assuming that the latter wasn't abused or deteriorating, it should sound better than the brand-new pair.

While facing Linh, you told her to open the brand-new pair. Assuming that the two speakers were identical, she could place them facing each other. Wire one of the speakers out of phase. Some of the sound would now cancel each other out. Throw a light blanket over the speakers, to absorb more of the sound. In this way, you could break-in loudspeakers, without having as much of the sound bothering people.

During the Spring 1993 quarter, Linh and I, now seniors about to graduate, were not burned-out. Rather, we were thoroughly enjoying Santa Cruz, and did not want college life to end.

An organization brought a few "exotic" animals, including some marsupial, who was very friendly with Linh.

Sitting under the campus redwood trees, I daydreamed about Totem Acoustic. As mentioned in previous posts, it seemed preordained, that Totem would eventually come out with a model called Forest.

With smartphones, we do not need a watch, in order to tell time. Be that as it may, in 2012, I bought another Casio Baby-G watch. Also at this time, to commemorate Totem's 25 years of existence, they came out with an updated "Signature" version of their Forest.

Starting in 2014, some of my audiophile acquaintances have lived with 4 different pairs of the Totem Forest Signature. The first was a brand-new pair in an ugly mahogany finish. Its owner said that it needed a couple weeks of actual playing time, before he felt confident, in making placement and rake angle adjustments.

The second pair was (a) in cherry, and (b) already lightly used, when another guy received it. While not as ugly as mahogany, this one, in certain light, was also "kind of an eyesore," quoth he. He did mention that this FS sounded okay when he initially received it, and slowly and gradually opened up, over time [he hasn't said how long].

A third pair was in gloss black, and had chips, dents, and scratches. In certain light, fingerprints and surface scratches are visible and distracting (but not in a good way, such as when colleges brought in animals).

This fourth pair is in white, which looks benign and even great. The white color makes the speaker look small, and even helps to make it visually disappear. So when you walk around and turn a corner, make sure you do not accidentally bump into the FS!

We are not quite comfortable with Totem's recommendation of 100-150 hours of break-in time. Right out the box(es), the FS doesn't sound bad. The midbass is enthusiastic and sticks out. The rest of the spectrum is a crumpled monophonic ball.

After about 24 hours of playing time, the bass range shows more detail, and separates itself from the rest of the spectrum.

After about 48 hours of playing time, the midrange slowly starts to expand.

From about 100 hours on, the midrange becomes less dirty. And, as the midrange shakes off the cobwebs, it starts to show some contrast, against what should be the silent backdrop.

If you have them, be sure to use "burn-in" CDs. Leave the house, count fish, and play with animals.

Several readers have written to me, that they own vacuum tube amps. I personally own cool-running sold state amps, and recommend that the tube amp users buy some cheap solid state receiver, and use that, to do the initial burn-in of loudspeakers.

Once broken-in, the Totem Forest Signature, in modest-sized rooms, is actually quite poised and in control of video game sound. Hmmm, with its detail, frequency extension, and punch, video game sound does a good job of breaking-in loudspeakers. Let the kids have at it, and come back, after they've given the system a workout.

-Lummy The Loch Monster

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Kimber Kable

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