Totem Metal speakers

Hi Graham,

I'm sitting at the other end of the Totem floorstander spectrum with my Sttafs, but nonetheless appreciate the musicality and emotional connection you speak of, especially with vocals (and for some reason, especially with female vocals). In the right room, Totems have a real magic with Naim. I've had mine for four years through several upgrades. Hope yours serve you well for a long time to come.

They were only dropped in for a quick demo as they were being taken from one customer to another

When I start looking for new speakers they'll definitely be top of the list for a proper home demo.

It was the emotional engagement more than anything else that grabbed me.

I've heard the smaller Earth floorstanders, and have been on my upgrade radar for a while over my Ref 3As. Both are similar in having no crossover and special drivers but with Totem taking it to the next level.   Seems expensive at first glance as a simple enough looking speaker and the bigger Metal at £12.000.

Maybe mixing apples with oranges here, but I've auditioned Piega all metal speakers some time ago and got the same  astounding sensation. Carved from  solid blocks of aluminium they say..

I think they are just called metal, in the same way that the Earth is not made from soil. Well, hopefully not. 

Smoothie anyone?  I'll go to sleep now.

Canadian nomenclature is derived from double Dutch is it not ?

joerand posted:

Hi Graham,

I'm sitting at the other end of the Totem floorstander spectrum with my Sttafs, but nonetheless appreciate the musicality and emotional connection you speak of, especially with vocals (and for some reason, especially with female vocals). In the right room, Totems have a real magic with Naim. I've had mine for four years through several upgrades. Hope yours serve you well for a long time to come.

I have the Totem Hawks and echo your findings completely, having had mine for upwards of 5 years.  Each time I've upgraded the system the Hawks have responded magnificently.  I've an order in to replace my NAP 200 with a 250DR and am going to be particularly interested in hearing the Hawks reaction.

Graham sounds wonderful. What was the Shelby Lynne album?

AndyP19 posted:

Graham sounds wonderful. What was the Shelby Lynne album?

"Just A Little Lovin" on vinyl and ripped CD

Ah... thanks just playing my ripped flac of CD via NDS great album and excellent test disc - title track is amazing - quality production.

Graham Russell posted:

AndyP19 posted:

Graham sounds wonderful. What was the Shelby Lynne album?

"Just A Little Lovin" on vinyl and ripped CD

 

Wow...superb sounding recording. The joy of Tidal.

G

+1 from me.

I had never heard this before, but sounding fantastic on Tidal.

It's a fantastic album - musically as well as sonically (complete with tape pre-echo). Revelation road is another good one from Ms Lynne. 

I think they are called Metal, Earth etc because they are part of the Elements series of speakers

Totem's earlier names for their gear reflected some deference to First Nations people. They seem to have gone away from that trend. Perhaps it has to do with on-line queries for quirky names - most folks searching for "sttaf" would likely spell it "staff". Their power cord is called "urth", which fittingly implies earth (ground), but would lead you to their speakers.

A few years ago I heard the Totem Earths being driven by a nap300 and they sounded absolutely amazing.