Totem Sky

I stopped by a local dealerr to hear these.  Honestly its not that great a shop.  At first they were connected to a sonos powered amp thingy.   Sales moron walks away thinking either that I was hard of hearing or not that descriminating.  I don't like being a total snob about audio so I was willing to give it a chance.  Salesguy comes back like two  minutes later asking how great it sounds.  I apologize up front for what I am about to say and then proceed to tell him that I didn't like the sound at all.  I told him I thought the sonos thingy is not up to snuff.  We moved them onto a Krell Vanguard Integrated and they sounded like completely different speakers.  Well worth an audition. Sales guy mentioned that he was going to leave them setup on the Krell so his manager could hear how good they soind.  Quick impressions- well made speaker, really nice highs, good bass for its size.  This was several weeks ago so I don't remember much else, just if I were in the market in that price range, they would be worth a serious audition.  I had gone into the store telling them it was just a casual listen.

Would be curious how they sound with Naim.  Unfortunately both local Naim dealers no longer carry Totem, which is a shame because always felt they had good synergy. 

There is a Sky floor stander coming out too. 

I heard them at a Toronto hifi show and they blew me away... for me was the best sound of the show by far.

I would be down with a sky floorstander. 

Sky floorstander? Any idea of how far away launch is?

spurrier sucks posted:

There is a Sky floor stander coming out too. 

If that's true it will likely be a replacement for the Sttaf which has remained unchanged in the Totem line for 20+ years.

It will be exciting to hear what an "updated Sttaf" sounds like.

John, where'd you get your info?

Totem in general has a tendency to sound a bit harsh in the treble region. But there sound is large scale and "musical" but not up to Allae standards though

MangoMonkey posted:

Sky seems to be a placement for the Totem Model1 Sigs. The floor standing version in that case would be the forest.

Not true. There is a replacement coming for the M1S. 

joerand posted:

spurrier sucks posted:

There is a Sky floor stander coming out too. 

If that's true it will likely be a replacement for the Sttaf which has remained unchanged in the Totem line for 20+ years.

It will be exciting to hear what an "updated Sttaf" sounds like.

John, where'd you get your info?

I don't think it's a replacement. 

There was a photo on the Totem FB page of them  there is also a Tribe tower coming out  

Robiwan posted:

Totem in general has a tendency to sound a bit harsh in the treble region. But there sound is large scale and "musical" but not up to Allae standards though

I found the Fotset I had to be a bit harsh at times. I've been told that was due to the cabinet of the speaker or something like that. Supposedly the Forest Sig has taken care of that and I'm now considering a pair of those. 

[@mention:17757776930523932] dos you hear the Forest Sigs? Seems like I read you were considering those but I never read if you bought or heard them. 

Sky Tower pic

MangoMonkey posted:

spurrier sucks posted:

MangoMonkey posted:

Sky seems to be a placement for the Totem Model1 Sigs. The floor standing version in that case would be the forest.

Not true. There is a replacement coming for the M1S. 

Fair enough - I'll delete my post. :-)

No need for that. Did you see my question about Forest Sig?

spurrier sucks posted:

Sky Tower pic

Yeah, they look to me like an updated Sttaf with Hawk's claws. Will they be selling in the $2400 USD range? If more expensive than that then maybe the Hawks replacement?

Not sure about the price. 

Robiwan posted:

Totem in general has a tendency to sound a bit harsh in the treble region. But there sound is large scale and "musical" but not up to Allae standards though

Totems I've heard generally tilt slightly towards the warm side of neutral. If there's anything I'm critical of in the treble region it's that they can loose some cohesion when the music gets busy or demanding. Their timbres are lovely and they excel with folk, jazz, acoustic stuff. Not relaxed but not blindingly fast. Very good musicality throughout their floor stander range.

I saw the Sky columns and heard the Sky stand mounts at the Montreal show.

Colorful carpets, trademark Totem wallpaper, carefully curated playlist, good looking and well dressed staff and of course Vince Bruzzese with his electrifying hair working the crowd. ''They're easy to drive and they image like crazy'' 

Columns had a nice design friendly form factor, perfect for a small/medium living room. Stand mounts sounded nice being fed a Tidal playlist through a Rega Elicit (not sure what DAC was being used) Definitely not harsh but if memory serves me the lower mids and bass possibly lacking a little definition.

In sum they sounded good enough to warrant a second audition in shop or at home which I plan on doing in the very near future.

Looks like Totem Sky tower is replacing Staff after all. All good things must come to an end u guess.  However it seems the Sky Tower may be special. 

I'll be very interested to give the Sky towers a listen and see whether I find Totem has more/less remarketed the 20-year-old Sttafs or significantly improved them. I guess the Hawks would be next up in the Hi-fi series floor standers for an update, perhaps in a year or so?

spurrier sucks posted:

Looks like Totem Sky tower is replacing Staff after all. All good things must come to an end u guess.  However it seems the Sky Tower may be special. 

Looks like I was right the first time. Not a replacement for Staff. Just a different speaker. This info is from a Totem fan in Cabada. He says it's not a Staff replacement. Time will tell for sure.