Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Totem Sky, Part 17

Audiophile J: "I'll say it again. I'm sure as hell glad almost all audiophiles and I were not teenagers, when we got into high-end audio. Like that other Inmate said, what a toxic brew!"

Audiophile K: "Yes!!! I can't believe anyone here actually said it. But your friend who hurt her shoulder, and found it too painful to reach and wipe her ass? I know exactly how that feels! I've always had lower back pain, which has that bad habit of flaring up, when you want to wipe your ass."

Audiophile L: "Nothing wrong with bringing in another audiophile. But I really pay attention when your guest writer is a [non-audiophile] woman. They bring a perspective and musical tastes which force me out of my comfort zone. I learn more from them, than from audiophiles."

Audiophile M: "I graduated from UCLA in 1971. You might be the only [Inmate] who's brought up the 8-Clap. The other UC's were kinda new then, and I didn't have any friends go there. But thank you for letting me know that the UC Davis horse mascot is named Gunrock."



Independently from each other, audiophiles J, K, L, and M lived with both Totem and B&W loudspeakers. So they've been asking if I had any experiences with B&W. If so, how did those B&W models compare to the Totem Sky (above), which is the subject of this ongoing review.



Let's go back to New Year's Day 1987. Before going down to Santa Cruz, my friend Trina had a pink t-shirt which was way too big for her. So she had me wear it. It fit perfectly. My other friend Sonja then had a black tank top, which, if worn by itself, was too floppy for her, and did not cover enough of her bra/boobs. Sonja then slipped that tank top over the pink shirt I was wearing. Although I missed it at the time, you can see that girls were starting to have an influence on us. Astute audiophiles have pointed out that I had the Sony Sports WM-F107 solar Walkman. Back then, we had the black Casio wristwatches. In the 90s, the girls would have you wear Casio's Baby-G watches.



Later that year, Vince Bruzzese formed Totem Acoustic. Also that year, B&W came out with the honeycomb-shaped "Matrix" internal cabinet bracing. And at the end of 1987, B&W's John Bowers passed away.

During the Fall 1987 semeseter, I met a freshman, Paul. Nothing new, sports and music brought us together. We dug the progressive metal of Savatage's "24 Hours Ago" and "Strange Wings." Paul's family had lower-priced Marantz electronics and some relatively affordable floorstanding B&W loudspeakers. Paul and several others were instrumental, in introducing me to Kuma, who now lives in Sea/Tac, and has been my writing partner on some AA posts.

Kuma: "In Japanese, Kuma is a girl's name, which means bear. No, I did not go to Cal or UCLA, whose mascots are bears. My grades weren't good enough. I went to Davis."

Kuma's future in-laws used to have the B&W Matrix 804 floorstanding speaker. Although I never had the Matrix 804, it had a major impact on me.



At the very end of 1989, Savatage came out with Gutter Ballet, which saw them leave the Dungeons & Dragons-type metal, and get into Broadway rock. During Spring Break 1990, I was about to turn 18, and wanted to get into high-end audio. At San Francisco Stereo Plus, I auditioned Adcom gear. Yes, I did bring along Savatage's Gutter Ballet. Eventually, the staff settled on the B&W Matrix 804. It was neutral enough, and allowed us to hear what the Adcom stack could and could not do. With my birthday monies, I bought an Adcom GFA-535 power amp, which, to/for me, was my ticket into high-end audio. In late summer 1990, my then-girlfriend KJ and I saw Savatage at The Stone in San Francisco.

KJ, Kuma, and Paul graduated from high school in 1991. Sick of our large school, Paul purposefully applied to small liberal arts colleges back east. KJ went to Cal, and Kuma went to UC Davis. The problem was, Paul's girlfriend went to Cal. With Paul on the east coast, that long-distance relationship did not work out.



In the November 1991 Stereophile, I kept reading and re-reading the reviews of the PAC IDOS and Theta DS Pro Prime. But that issue also had TJN's review of the B&W Matrix 804. I thought he accurately described some of the same traits I thought I had heard out of the Matrix 804, at SF Stereo Plus. No, I could not afford the $2200 Matrix 804, but that did not stop me from dreaming!



This was from Winter Break 1991, at San Francisco's Ocean Beach. You can deduce that, because the setting sun was to the south. Like dance or figure skating, Paul lifted Kuma. That was the last time Kuma and I ever saw Paul. Having broken up with his Cal girlfriend, Paul apparently just wanted to cut all ties to home. Even now, with reunions, no one's been able to get a hold of him.

You can't break the laws of physics. The B&W Matrix 804, being many times the size of the Totem Sky, reaches deeper, moves more air, and does so more effortlessly. Yes, Paul needed strong arms. Yes, unlike Audiophile K above, Paul had no back pain. But in order to lift Kuma ("I must have weighed 120 pounds then"), Paul needed stable legs, solid footing on the wet sand, and proper foot spacing.

The Totem Sky's low end is tight, energetic, lean, and lightweight. You "see" the bass, but don't feel or get moved by it. Lift both of your arms up, and let Kuma hold you by your armpits. If you relax, loosen up, and allow her, Kuma (now a middle-aged mom) can place her feet apart, bend her knees, and lift you off the ground. No, Kuma is not going to crumple. No, Kuma is not going to drop you. Pretty impressive, but not earth-shattering. And it's not the same as Paul hoisting Kuma above his head.

If you keep the system the same, and only swap speakers, we can compare the soundstaging abilities of the B&W Matrix 804 and Totem Sky. Even getting past the bass extension, the Matrix 804 better preserves image size and density/fill/body. On orchestral music, the Totem Sky can surprise, with placing images to the outside of each speaker. It's like staring straight out to sea, and the corners of your eyes catching the people in the water. The Matrix 804 does a better job of tracking the soundstage's front-to-back layering. If the people in the water are at various distances from shore, that's what the Matrix 804 will tell you. With the Totem Sky, it's almost as if the swimmers were arranged in rows.



You could argue that, on music, the B&W Matrix 804 is "smoother." But the Totem Sky has a built-in pep. So if you listen to slow music, the Sky does not drift into sleepiness. And if you listen to energetic music, the Sky brings out your singing ability. In fact, ever since the Sky has resided in my house, family and visitors find themselves belting out the tunes! Like most of my friends, Kuma likes sugary beverages. River City soda is from Sacramento, not far from Kuma's alma mater, UC Davis. The Totem Sky is like opening a cold bottle of soda, when the fizz/carbonation is strongest. Other speakers, including the B&W Matrix 804, aren't as energetic, so the analogy is of that same open bottle being half-consumed, and left out for a while.

September 1, 1992 was a Tuesday. KJ had already started at Cal, but she only had one morning class. So she took BART into SF, and I met up with her. She and I went to SF Stereo Plus. We auditioned Adcom gear, and once again, the speaker was the B&W Matrix 804. While I was purchasing an Adcom GTP-400 (a nice match for the GFA-535), KJ and I witnessed a customer interested in B&W. The staff said that, in a mid-sized room, they preferred the Matrix 804 and base, versus the Matrix 805 and Sound Anchors stands. But that's a story for another time.



No surprises, the Totem Sky sounds more full-bodied in smaller spaces/rooms. But it's uninhibited. Despite Ocean Beach having turbulent and ice-cold waters, you dive right in. You grab someone by his armpits, and lift him in the air. Despite having a smartphone, you proudly wear a Casio Baby-G watch. You pop open the soda bottle. You suck down boba.

Cheers,
-Lummy The Loch Monster


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Topic - Totem Sky, Part 17 - Luminator 22:59:00 07/01/21 (22)

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