Totem Wind Design speakers

ckn

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Jul 31, 2006
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Mumbai
I got my latest speakers Totem Wind Design and first up report is that it is simply superb. I have been listening to many speakers over the past several years. I got spoilt for higher quality sound when I managed to pick up a used pair of Legacy Audio Focus HD speakers locally. That was such an upgrade on what I had been doing till then (really low end stuff) that I was in music nirvana for many,many years. I went thru the slow conversion into becoming an audiophile as I got introduced to the difference that good electronics, good cables make etc. Etc. So I swapped my NAD AV receiver that had been doing double duty for audio amplification with a Legacy (Coda) amp and paired that with a Parasound pre. What a difference! Once again, musical nirvana!
Once the bug bites, then it takes hold of you. Most of you know what I mean. The Legacy was already 10 years old when I bought them and after about 7 years of use, I moved them out. After that it has been a series of changes, in search of my nirvana state once again. Dynaaudio came in and stayed for about a year. It was excellent but I was looking for something more. Omnipolar came along and I bought a Bellzano Vellitri and that had me going for the next three years. They were very good but still, the search for a good pair of speakers persisted. I swapped these for AudioVector S3 AvantGarde which were 4 ohm speakers. Great stuff. Superb in every respect. Had intended to keep these for a while as they were really thrilling speakers but the world changed when I encountered the Winds!
In and thru my electronics underwent a change too as I needed better amplification to drive the S3s. Got myself an Audio Research power amp and that has been serving duty since.
All things were going well until I got a chance to listen to the Totem Wind Design at a friends place. I was completely captivated. The first thing that gets you is the fantastic design of the speaker. Looking really funky with separate enclosures for the base woofer and the midrange drivers. It is this unique separation that perhaps gives it the kind of slam for the bass, the clarity of the midrange and the purity of the treble (with its own chamber for the tweeter!), reproducing all the overtones of voice and instruments perfectly. The soundstage and imaging are superb and I am now spending many, many hours almost everyday listening to music! Nirvana is back! It set me back by a good deal but I feel it is worth every penny that I have spent. I think my search for a high end speaker just ended for some years now. This is a definite step up from what I have been using for the past 3-5 years. In one word, the experience so far has been exceptional! They need some 100 hours of playing before opening up further. Waiting for that as well!
Now, these are 87db speakers and the recommended power is 250wpc. My AR amp is serving the purpose for now but the next step up is to raise the amplification power and I think that will completely elevate the overall experience. Thinking of monoblocks. In the market for a good used pair if anyone wants to exit! Btw, my Audio Vectors S3 is up for sale if any one wants please PM me.
Thanks for reading.
 
Congratulations. How do you manage to get all these exotic speakers to India ?

I remember listening to the Totem rainmakers long ago. They sounded little similar to the dynaudios. Loved the sound.
 
Congratulations. How do you manage to get all these exotic speakers to India ?

I remember listening to the Totem rainmakers long ago. They sounded little similar to the dynaudios. Loved the sound.

Totems very soon are going to be available through KEI India.
 
Here is an update on the Totems after the burn in and addition of some more stuff.
The Totem Wind Designs simply kept improving every week and just went from very good to superb! In the meanwhile I added a Monarchy Audio NM 24 TubeDac to the set up and boy! did that jazz up the sound! The nirvana I was talking about earlier went up several notches with this.
I swapped my Parasound P3 preamp for a P5 model as I was wanting the speakers to double duty in my HT set up too and the P3 did not have a HT bypass mode. Curiously, the sound quality between the NM24 and the P5 actually dropped palpably that I was almost dismayed
with the change! Here I was, with a swap needed but which sharply cut down my sense of my enjoyment of music (which is what I use the set up for mostly).
I was using a Audio Research amp and I then swapped that for an ICE Power 500wpc Mono Blocks and Bang! The mojo was back! The NM24-P5-ICE combo struck gold (my good fortune I suppose) and they combined to provide the necessary inputs that is making the Winds sing happily! I got both the NM24 and ICE Power monoblocks courtesy a fellow FM in Chennai. Thanks buddy, you enriched my life!
My level of satisfaction should emerge from the fact that I went to the What HiFi show yesterday and almost finished the whole show in a matter of 30 minutes! Earlier, I would salivate over most of the better systems there and spend several hours. But this year I found very few that sounded better than my gear! The only one that blew me away was the Sonus Faber with the Accuphase amp. That was indeed super. But way out of my league for now in terms of costs.
Sitting happily listening to some Phronesis right now playing with 3 pianists and great drummer! And enjoying every minute of it.
Cheers.
CKN
 
Great to see your thread here and your really true hearty review about Monorchy Audio NM 24 tube DAC cum Tube line stage and about Icepower MONOBLOCKS that we built for you.

I was in fact praying that when I had got both of the above gears that both should match your setup well and the synergy should be good. Above all you should be liking the sound signature.

Ultimately You are happy and that makes me happy.

Welcome to the Monorchy Audio and Icepower family.

Thanks

R. Balagopalan
 
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