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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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When I entered UC Santa Cruz in September 1989, I was (a) not yet into "high-end audio," and (b) thus not aware of Totem Acoustic.
Because I was Catholic, I joined its Newman Center. Via Newman Center, I met fellow frosh, Thuy (pronounced "Twee"), who was born in the U.S., and came from San Jose. Thuy and I instantly bonded over the Newman Center's inconvenient 6:00p Sunday on-campus Mass service, held at the Cowell Student Health Center. See, the dining halls on Sundays were open from 5:00-8:00. If you ate at 5:00, you had to wolf down food, and then make your way (often across campus) to the Cowell Student Health Center.
Mass got out around 7:20p, which did not leave you with much time, to make your way to a dining hall, and get enough to eat, before it closed. Also, this 6:00p Mass time interfered with Sunday night sports.
My friend Amanda had a hard time stifling her laughter. Looking at the attendees, Amanda would elbow me and Thuy, and whisper, "C'mon, we all know that this is a dating pool." Amanda giggled, "We should play a game, and try to guess who's slept with whom."
If Thuy went home for a weekend, she'd go to Mass in San Jose. But Thuy (and sometimes Amanda, and her Catholic roommate, Rachel) bonded, when we stayed in Santa Cruz for the weekend. On Sunday morning, we'd take city buses into town, and attend Mass at Holy Cross (English for "Santa Cruz," and next to the Mission).
I felt that those of us in Newman Center were kind of a circular firing squad. The real fun occurred, when we interacted with UCSC's other Christian organizations. Amanda enthusiastically proclaimed, "Ooooo, the dating pool just expanded by leaps and bounds!"
In fact, Thuy dated a guy from a different Christian denomination. Deep sigh. But Thuy called his religion a "cult." In an even and neutral tone of voice, he replied, "The only reason why you are not a cult is that you're large and organized." Thuy and the guy broke up.
This was my on-campus 1991-92 apartment. We would move those chairs and lamp table. By early 1992, when I had become aware of the Totem Model 1, this wall had a system consisting of a 19" TV; Super Nintendo; JVC S-VHS hi-fi stereo VCR; Sony CDP-520ESII CD player; some Denon integrated amp; AudioQuest Topaz interconnect and F-14 speaker wire. My housemate Todd provided some relatively large Bose "Stereo Everywhere" floorstanding loudspeakers. Todd's roommate, Doug, had some 20"-tall JBL bookshelf speakers.
Thuy would tie bows in your hair. She pronounced "bows" and "Bose" exactly the same. Like everyone else, Thuy agreed that Doug's smaller and cheaper JBL speakers were better than the Bose.
Check out these listings, from early June 1992. The Bay Area had three small clubs, The Omni in Oakland, The Stone in San Francisco, and One Step Beyond in Santa Clara, which held lots of rock concerts. If you had attended these affordable concerts, you would have run into my friends.
After Dead Week, I went home, and attended the 6/12/92 Forbidden concert.
In late July 1992, Thuy was free. She came up to San Francisco, stayed at my place for a few nights. She and I actually went to a Mass up at St. Mary's Cathedral. She thought it was "cold, uncomfortable, and inhospitable." She also felt it had "no sense of community." No disagreement(s) from me!
Anyway, my main system then consisted of an NAD 5000 CD player; some three-head Sony ES tape deck; Sony TA-E1000ESD preamp; Muse Model 100 power amp; AudioQuest Lapis, Quartz, Topaz interconnects and Type 4 speaker cable. For speakers, I had both Paradigm 5SE (slightly larger than Doug's JBLs) and Pinnacle PN-5+ (about the same size as a Totem Model 1 minimonitor).
We were able to do a shootout, between the two loudspeakers. Thuy would watch TV, movies, sports, and workout videos. She would play a few SNES and Sega Genesis video games. On the floor, she would do stretching exercises/pilates. She would do yoga. She would put on music at low volumes, sit cross-legged, and meditate.
Thuy observed that the Paradigm was smoother, with slightly better bass extension. But in all other parameters, the smaller and cheaper Pinnacle was better. She opened one eye, and remarked that she had to come to grips with (a) the cheaper JBL being superior to the Bose, and (b) the cheaper Pinnacle being superior to the Paradigm.
In September 1992, we moved back to UCSC. My college apartment system initially consisted of the Sony CDP-520ESII; Adcom GTP-400 tuner/preamp and GFA-535 power amp; Monster IL-400 interconnects; AQ F-14 speaker wire; Pinnacle PN-5+. Before classes started, Thuy and I went to the campus radio station, KZSC. KZSC played mostly world beat, so they had no use for other musical genres. They sold off CD singles. I still have these three, shown by a Totem Forest Signature.
During that 1992-93 school year, Thuy would come over quite often. She recognized the Sony and Pinnacle, from my San Francisco home. Not being an audiophile, Thuy was tongue-tied, when it came to describing sound qualities. Without any prompting, Thuy put forth, that of the Bose, JBL, Paradigm, and Pinnacle, it was the latter PN-5+, which she felt was more "articulate" than the others. "It just speaks the music better than the others."
During the March 1993 Stereophile Show in San Francisco, the diminutive Totem Model 1 did a more credible job on rock music, than most others. It just understood that the key is to get the snap of snare drum right.
One Sunday during the Spring 1993 quarter, Thuy and I went to a beach. Afterward, we went to my apartment, where we washed up and had an early dinner. She and I then went to Newman Center's Mass. From there, Thuy went back to her apartment, and I went back to mine.
This was my apartment's shower. After I had returned from Mass, I guess no one had used the shower, until my housemate Tron did. He came running out, "Some girl used her long black hair, to write words on the wall!"
I said that my friend Thuy had come over, and used the shower.
Tron's roommate, Ron, said, "Um, well, that's better than having the hair clog the drain."
My roommate Will rubbed his chin, "Well, did she write, "F-- you, Tron!," on the wall? No? Then what's the problem?"
The discontinued Totem Sky is kind of a descendant of the original Model 1. This pair had been circulating amongst my friends, and has returned. While it was out, did I miss it? Because Totem's Element Fire and Forest Signature have been duking it out at my place, no, I did not miss the Sky. However, with the Fire being transparent, and the FS having pulse, Thuy's "articulate" felt right, about the Sky.
You know what? The Sky's lack of bass is not necessarily a bad thing, if you are stretching, or doing yoga. And if you are doing aerobics to sloppy early-1980s recordings, the Sky's "articulate" nature and lack of bass bloat are a good thing. The Sky's leanness partially seems intentional, so that it can mate more easily with subwoofers.
The Forest Signature's phenomenal bass response puts the Sky in perspective. All else being equal, the Sky is actually okay with electronics and cables, which err on the warm and full side. Above, the Sky is being used with XLO Signature 5.1 and Tara Labs The One CX. Yes, these cables cost more than the Sky itself. The XLO S5.1 preserves body, image focus, and control. These qualities do wonders, on the Sky's woofer. The clean and transparent Tara Labs The One CX allows the Sky's tweeter to shine. You could argue that the Sky's treble is more open, than that of the Forest Signature.
Video game sound is very informative, reveals a lot, about the speakers. Here, the Sky does a good job of holding images in place, with the sound whipping in and out, against the background silence. Without bass, the Sky is not going to bowl you over, or sweep you into epic RPGs. However, it won't overload a room, and the lack of boom allows for long sessions, and without driving neighbors nuts.
If you have a video game console with karaoke games, or a karaoke machine with line-outs, the Sky's lack of boom is a very good thing.
We've used the Totem Sky in multiple rooms, with a wide variety of gear and cables, and not just with music. Many people agree that the Sky's worst feature is the awful stair-step binding posts. And in practice, the Sky's higher-than average sensitivity is anathema to the small rooms the Sky is intended for. So if you have that common problem of the sound being TOO LOUD, when the volume control knob is at or near MIN, then the Sky will only make things worse.
Sorry; as of this writing, my friends have not been able to bring in Totem's Signature One (US$3,500) or Bison Monitor (US$2,250) stand-mount loudspeakers. Many of you have asked about these models, and how they compare to the other Totems I've lived with.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Totem Sky, Part 21 - Luminator 00:22:52 07/14/24 (2)
- RE: Totem Sky, Part 21 - Story 13:28:44 07/14/24 (0)
- RE: Totem Sky, Part 21 - troutbum 06:31:57 07/14/24 (0)
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