Okay guys and gals, I'm looking to audition two Totem floorstanders.
First and foremost, I want to thoroughly audition the Totem Sttaf.
A while back, Markus said this about Totem speakers:
" The nice thing about Totem is that each of their speakers are voiced differently with different objectives in mind so one speaker is not necessarily better than another, despite different price categories. "
Can someone (Markus or anyone) tell me what the Sttaf sounds like and what the Sttaf's design objective is?
Also, what other floorstander should I audition?
I want to have two specific Totem models in mind, to audition. Rather than running my dealer crazy trying to audition four...five...six ...different models.
Of course I'm looking for smoothness, musicality, warmth, not harshness...no brightness and not a speaker that's too revealing unforgiving of lesser recordings.
Hey Tree, I've owned the Sttafs for 3 years now, and they're still my "go-to" speakers. I've listened to all of the other Totems, in depth, so I'm pretty familiar with all of them. Markus is correct in saying that the entire Totem line is voiced differently. None of them really sound like the others. The one that stands out as the most different is the Sttaf. It's, in my opinion, the most laid-back and warm of the entire line. It's also the easiest to drive out of all of them. I've even driven mine with a 15 watt T-amp.
All the Totems are good, but some require you to throw some SERIOUS gear at them for them to sound good. Nuck can attest to this :-) What are you gonna be driving them with?
I've hear the Model 1, The One, The Hawk, The Staff and had a short listen with the Rainmaker. They all have their own character, strenghts and weaknesses.
The One's were just great sounding but expensive and have their limitations with size and low end grunt.
My personal favorite is the Hawk; though not as easy to drive as the Staff, they provide more midrange clarity and top end extension and detail. The caution is that they need to be fed the right source and amplification otherwise the top end can come across a touch strong - the beaks will assist with taming this character. They Hawks are a sweet spot in the Totem line sound/buck.
I considered the Hawk in my smallish room (probably 12x14) and Nuck and I both concurred it would be overkill. The Sttafs are MORE than enough to fill the space.
The Hawks are not higher output than the Sttafs, in fact, I would say that the Sttafs may handle more power. I believe that an 11X19 room should be sufficient for the Hawks. I've heard them demo'd in much smaller and sound great. I find them more detailed in the top end then the Sttafs, more of the character of the Model 1's but having a similar low end grunt of the Sttafs. Assuming you will be placing them on the shortwall: The Totem recommendation is that the Hawks sit from 1 to 6ft from the back wall and between 3 to 8 ft apart. If you place them 6ft apart, you should have still about two feet to each side wall, and you can bring them 4ft into the room and place your seat at least 4ft from the back wall and you will still have about 11ft between your ears and them - seems like more than enough. They work in moderate sized rooms. You could always use some acoustic treatment to make up for any bass nodes etc.