Totem Hawks vs. B&W CDM7NT
Posted by: Greg Beatty on 13 January 2003
The battle is on.
I have a new Nait 5 and both of the above mentioned speakers at home for trial. Our room (13x25x10 high opening onto the dining room and kitchen) may be too big for the Hawks and so the B&Ws were brought in.
I've had the Hawks for 2ish weeks. These are exciting speakers and, in our room, have a bright (overly bright) tonal balance. Moving the speakers closer to the walls/corners reinforces the bass, but not the midrange. So the net result is a "boom-tizz" balance. They do not sound "accurate".
The Hawks are AMAZINGLY open - they fill the room, especially with the upper mids and treble frequencies. On the right kind of material, they sweep us away. The tweeter is also the cleanest tweeter I have heard. Even with an excess of treble in both the source material and due to the tipped balance of the speaker, they remain clean. Its comforting to know that whatever speakers I end up with, the Nait is capable of delivering clean highs. Tweeters may thrash the sound, but the Nait probably isn't.
On the wrong kind of material, well, they just plain sound wrong. I've 'modded' them by adding an 8 ohm resistor between the bass/mid driver and the tweeter and feeding the speakers through the bass/mid terminals. They are also *still* a tad brighter than the B&Ws (!). This gets the overall tonal balance more in line, but the speakers are (and were) "bumpy" in their response. Certain bass frequencies jump out at us and the same with rather high treble frequencies.
The B&W CDM7NTs have been in place since late Saturday. Initial impressions are promising. I owned a pair of B&W DM7mkIIs for 15 yeasr (!) and the new speaker is the direct descendant of the speaker I let go about 5 years ago. The new one, though, is 90db efficient although with a less-than-totally-friendly impedance curve. But they ARE efficient and they WILL play loud. Much louder than the Hawks in our largish room and they play noticeably louder at any given volume setting. If we keep these, I will have to "recalibrate" the volume levels on the Nait 5's inputs to compensate (yes - its that much of a difference).
The B&Ws are doing very well so far. With choral music, for instance, instead of hearing voices singing (not a bad thing, mind you) we now hear people singing. The same is true for instruments. With the Hawks, the midrange is recessed in favor of the bass and highs - so we do not hear the body of the violin or piano or singer - but rather the higher frequencies of the voice. The B&Ws give a much more "whole" sound. They are fab with vocals.
And they can rock. Last night, we were nearly blasting a CD from a local swing band. This is 20+ musicians going full tilt - I have not dared to play this through the Totems yet. I had no qualms playing this through the B&Ws and we played most of this CD when our intent was "let's just hear how it does with one song before we go to bed."
Gee - sounds like a no-brainer. But not quite. There is a certain something that the Hawks do - they 'connect' us to the music - its swing, its musical subtlety - in a way I have seldom heard. They sound wrong, but they are effective musical communicators none the less. Quite possibly better than the B&Ws in this regard, so this could be a tough choice. Also, the B&Ws, while dynamic, seem to do something odd to transients. They sound a tad "rolled" at the point of the transient - if that makes any sense. At the moment, I'm leaning towards the B&Ws on the grounds that our room is just too big for the Hawks to have a proper midrange and tonal balance.
But we'll see.
- GregB
Insert Witty Signature Line Here
I have a new Nait 5 and both of the above mentioned speakers at home for trial. Our room (13x25x10 high opening onto the dining room and kitchen) may be too big for the Hawks and so the B&Ws were brought in.
I've had the Hawks for 2ish weeks. These are exciting speakers and, in our room, have a bright (overly bright) tonal balance. Moving the speakers closer to the walls/corners reinforces the bass, but not the midrange. So the net result is a "boom-tizz" balance. They do not sound "accurate".
The Hawks are AMAZINGLY open - they fill the room, especially with the upper mids and treble frequencies. On the right kind of material, they sweep us away. The tweeter is also the cleanest tweeter I have heard. Even with an excess of treble in both the source material and due to the tipped balance of the speaker, they remain clean. Its comforting to know that whatever speakers I end up with, the Nait is capable of delivering clean highs. Tweeters may thrash the sound, but the Nait probably isn't.
On the wrong kind of material, well, they just plain sound wrong. I've 'modded' them by adding an 8 ohm resistor between the bass/mid driver and the tweeter and feeding the speakers through the bass/mid terminals. They are also *still* a tad brighter than the B&Ws (!). This gets the overall tonal balance more in line, but the speakers are (and were) "bumpy" in their response. Certain bass frequencies jump out at us and the same with rather high treble frequencies.
The B&W CDM7NTs have been in place since late Saturday. Initial impressions are promising. I owned a pair of B&W DM7mkIIs for 15 yeasr (!) and the new speaker is the direct descendant of the speaker I let go about 5 years ago. The new one, though, is 90db efficient although with a less-than-totally-friendly impedance curve. But they ARE efficient and they WILL play loud. Much louder than the Hawks in our largish room and they play noticeably louder at any given volume setting. If we keep these, I will have to "recalibrate" the volume levels on the Nait 5's inputs to compensate (yes - its that much of a difference).
The B&Ws are doing very well so far. With choral music, for instance, instead of hearing voices singing (not a bad thing, mind you) we now hear people singing. The same is true for instruments. With the Hawks, the midrange is recessed in favor of the bass and highs - so we do not hear the body of the violin or piano or singer - but rather the higher frequencies of the voice. The B&Ws give a much more "whole" sound. They are fab with vocals.
And they can rock. Last night, we were nearly blasting a CD from a local swing band. This is 20+ musicians going full tilt - I have not dared to play this through the Totems yet. I had no qualms playing this through the B&Ws and we played most of this CD when our intent was "let's just hear how it does with one song before we go to bed."
Gee - sounds like a no-brainer. But not quite. There is a certain something that the Hawks do - they 'connect' us to the music - its swing, its musical subtlety - in a way I have seldom heard. They sound wrong, but they are effective musical communicators none the less. Quite possibly better than the B&Ws in this regard, so this could be a tough choice. Also, the B&Ws, while dynamic, seem to do something odd to transients. They sound a tad "rolled" at the point of the transient - if that makes any sense. At the moment, I'm leaning towards the B&Ws on the grounds that our room is just too big for the Hawks to have a proper midrange and tonal balance.
But we'll see.
- GregB
Insert Witty Signature Line Here
OK - the Hawks are not doing it for me. They are musical, but they have a sucked out midrange. This speaker does work in a musical sense (no small feat), but it seems to succeed in a hit-and-miss kindof way that is due to its quirky frequency response. Compare them to a "flat" speaker and how the Hawks re-mix the music becomes apparent.
The B&Ws are also very likely out of the picture at this point. The midrange lacks snap - the speaker overall is dynamic, but lacks micro dynamics. The speaker is not involving enough. But it is a good speaker and worth audition. I believe many would choose this speaker for my room as it has the largest scale of any speakers auditioned so far, including those mentioned below.
Demo kit was CD5/112/150/NACA 5 with each speaker. Several CDs used in demo - main CD was Two O'clock Jump by the Tom Cunningham Orchestra (a 20+ piece big band).
Snell E 5 mk2
These retail for 2,000 USD. I didn't finish a single track I tried with these. They sound great but did not engage. Much like the B&Ws - nice full sound and tonally accurate, but they didn't do it for me.
Meadowlark Kestrel Hot Rods
Wow! The music is back
Doesn't have the bass of the Snells, but who cares? I forgot about the bass 5 seconds into the first track. And these cost HOW little? Yep - $600 clams less than the Totem Hawks and not a recessed midrange in sight. I could follow all kinds of lines in the music with these and they made me want to. Great imaging and good tonal accuracy as well.
Totem Hawks
What? Well, I went into the shop looking for a fuller sound and preferred by a mile the arguably less full sounding Kestrels to the Snells. And the Totems do a good job of conveying the music, so for reference, we slotted them in. The dealer's room offers much more bottom end than my room, so I didn't want to go by my home memory of the Totems when comparing.
Yes - the Totems are good music makers. But they just plain sound wrong. At one point, an instrument comes in on the right and does a solo over the orchestra. I could follow it easily and 'get' many nuances being done by the musician. Good Stuff. But what IS it? A quick switch back to the Kestrels revealed it was a clarinet. This kind of thing happens frequently with the Hawks, so they are out of the running.
Totem Forrests
My dealer uses these at home - loves 'em. They up the ante price wise ($3,000), but OK - lets here 'em.
Wow - mucho better than the Hawks. The midrange fills in and the Forrests have a considerably larger scale on offer. These could be the winners except...
...for those pesky Kestrels. I hook the Kestrels back up and Dang! They are within spitting distance of the Forrests in the excitement stakes and I really got the feeling that the extra excitement of the Forrests was, like the Hawks, and add-on by the speaker. The bass gives this away with the Forrests - like the Hawks, certain notes jump out more than others, making following bass lines more difficult. And did I mention the Kestrels are almost 1/2 the price of the Forrests?
Theil CS 1.6
Theils? WHAT??? My dealer said the same thing - he didn't think his should would ever carry Theils until...he heard the 1.6. I didn't get to spend too much time with these - the shop was near closing and I was near burned out from hearing the same tracks on this speaker then that speaker then this speaker again...but he wanted me to give these a quick listen to see if they would be worth a second audition. This is a great speaker. Of all speakers listened to at this session, the Theil offered the most musical insight. And it did so with greater bass extension while retaining articulation and tonality. Quite an accomplishment. I believe these are selling for $2,399 USD. They are also the most efficient - by a decent margin - of the group. The Kestrels are second in efficiency. And again, switching back to the Kestrels lost very little, and I wonder if what was 'gained' by the Theils is an artifice of the speaker - much like the Totems. A longer audition is in order.
Also complicating the picture (HELP!!!) is that Meadowlark is launching the sequel - the Kestrel II. It is scheduled to begin shipping this month.
I welcome all opinions on these speakers. Has anyone heard the Theils or the new Kestrel II?
- GregB
Insert Witty Signature Line Here
The B&Ws are also very likely out of the picture at this point. The midrange lacks snap - the speaker overall is dynamic, but lacks micro dynamics. The speaker is not involving enough. But it is a good speaker and worth audition. I believe many would choose this speaker for my room as it has the largest scale of any speakers auditioned so far, including those mentioned below.
Demo kit was CD5/112/150/NACA 5 with each speaker. Several CDs used in demo - main CD was Two O'clock Jump by the Tom Cunningham Orchestra (a 20+ piece big band).
Snell E 5 mk2
These retail for 2,000 USD. I didn't finish a single track I tried with these. They sound great but did not engage. Much like the B&Ws - nice full sound and tonally accurate, but they didn't do it for me.
Meadowlark Kestrel Hot Rods
Wow! The music is back
Doesn't have the bass of the Snells, but who cares? I forgot about the bass 5 seconds into the first track. And these cost HOW little? Yep - $600 clams less than the Totem Hawks and not a recessed midrange in sight. I could follow all kinds of lines in the music with these and they made me want to. Great imaging and good tonal accuracy as well.Totem Hawks
What? Well, I went into the shop looking for a fuller sound and preferred by a mile the arguably less full sounding Kestrels to the Snells. And the Totems do a good job of conveying the music, so for reference, we slotted them in. The dealer's room offers much more bottom end than my room, so I didn't want to go by my home memory of the Totems when comparing.
Yes - the Totems are good music makers. But they just plain sound wrong. At one point, an instrument comes in on the right and does a solo over the orchestra. I could follow it easily and 'get' many nuances being done by the musician. Good Stuff. But what IS it? A quick switch back to the Kestrels revealed it was a clarinet. This kind of thing happens frequently with the Hawks, so they are out of the running.
Totem Forrests
My dealer uses these at home - loves 'em. They up the ante price wise ($3,000), but OK - lets here 'em.
Wow - mucho better than the Hawks. The midrange fills in and the Forrests have a considerably larger scale on offer. These could be the winners except...
...for those pesky Kestrels. I hook the Kestrels back up and Dang! They are within spitting distance of the Forrests in the excitement stakes and I really got the feeling that the extra excitement of the Forrests was, like the Hawks, and add-on by the speaker. The bass gives this away with the Forrests - like the Hawks, certain notes jump out more than others, making following bass lines more difficult. And did I mention the Kestrels are almost 1/2 the price of the Forrests?
Theil CS 1.6
Theils? WHAT??? My dealer said the same thing - he didn't think his should would ever carry Theils until...he heard the 1.6. I didn't get to spend too much time with these - the shop was near closing and I was near burned out from hearing the same tracks on this speaker then that speaker then this speaker again...but he wanted me to give these a quick listen to see if they would be worth a second audition. This is a great speaker. Of all speakers listened to at this session, the Theil offered the most musical insight. And it did so with greater bass extension while retaining articulation and tonality. Quite an accomplishment. I believe these are selling for $2,399 USD. They are also the most efficient - by a decent margin - of the group. The Kestrels are second in efficiency. And again, switching back to the Kestrels lost very little, and I wonder if what was 'gained' by the Theils is an artifice of the speaker - much like the Totems. A longer audition is in order.
Also complicating the picture (HELP!!!) is that Meadowlark is launching the sequel - the Kestrel II. It is scheduled to begin shipping this month.
I welcome all opinions on these speakers. Has anyone heard the Theils or the new Kestrel II?
- GregB
Insert Witty Signature Line Here