Hi,I noticed lots of interesting discussion going on about Totems here so I thought I'd post this here.It's a 2 part question.
1. I am going to buy some used Rainmakers or Arros's, I have a chance to buy some 5 year old Rainmakers in perfect shape or some 10 month old Rainmakers in almost new shape.
So basically I was wondering if Vince has made any subtle tweaks that has improved the Rainmakers or Arros' in the last few years that go unadvertised that have either improved or hindered performance? Normally,newer would be better one would think,but not in every case I suppose.
2.I have a Musical Fidelity x-150,would that be a good match and or enough power for either speaker?
We have a couple of folks that are pretty knowledgeable about Totem here who I think will respond. I have 2 yr old Rainmakers and they are a very good speaker. Much easier to drive than I had been led to believe.
I dont like Arro mated with the X-150 it will be to lean,it may work with the Rainmakers the top can get a little bright and tinny,X-150 is somewhat forward in the midrange,it might also make the Rainmakers shouty in loud passages,timing will be a bit off to.I have to be honest with you I dont like the X-150 with any of the Totems.
I am really more interested in the older vs newer part of the post.I can trade or buy amps pretty easily if it doesn't match well.I have a buddy that has a Audio Refinement Complete amp that would trade for my x-150.Maybe that would be better?
Its unfortunate the X-150 is loaded with current and peak amprage its 6 years old and still the most powerful in its class by far,the downside is you really have to mate it properly.I've had mine for 5 years and I havent really listened to it in 2years,im gettin rid of mine asap,I've never found a good mate for it,Foacal used to sound very good with MF strangely considering the balance of most Focals,but I've never heard them on the X-150.You need a warmish speaker with good detail,I would look to the Wharfedale Diamond 9.5 which did actually work very good on the X-150,try the Evo2 20 or 30,what source do you have?
The Audio Refinement sounds very good with the Totems,but the Completes were very unreliable,they are a division of YBA.Many dealers stoped carrying the AF's becauese of their reliability sorry.I would get the Totems that are older the Rainmakers havent changed since their introduction which was about 5 years ago and the Arro's have only changed once,the old ones have a silver faceplate around the tweeter,dont get those,the newer 1 is substancially better.The only reason I said get the older 1 is Totem takes forever to break in,especially the Arro's mine took 500 hours until they sounded their best.
I could be wrong, but I thought the "blue dot" on the rainmakers was supposed to indicate that it has the newer, modified tweeter? (which can also be determined by the serial number)