Best setup for Arcam A32, 2 X P1 with Totem Hawks


Hi,

I have an Arcam A32 that I previously used to drive my Totem hawk speakers. I recently upgraded to include two Arcam P1 mono blocks. After installing the P1s and relegating the A32 to just pre-amp duties, I didn't feel like there was huge difference in the sound nor in the volume level I would listen at. I currently have the hawks bi-wired and single wired into the mono blocks.
jeres8860
You probably need to go full bi-amped

I had an all Arcam FMJ prior system, including the Arcam A32 integrated amp and P35 power amp paired up to Totems ... First the Arros and then to the Forests.

The Totems (all of them ...) are power hungry units and I only got the Forests to perform to their max when I finally bi-amped them with the 100 WPC Arcam A32 integrated amp outputted to the Forest tweeters, and a separate 100 WPC P35 power amp outputted to the Totem Forest woofers.

You will need also need very quality ICs from the A32 to your mono blocks and quality speaker cables all round. Cheap cables anywhere in the kit will significantly degrade the performance as I painfully first found out. I found that Atlas Navigator All-Cu ICs everywhere , with Totem Tress speaker cables to the tweeters, and Atlas Ascent 3.5 speaker cables to the woofers worked best for me. I experimented with a lot of ICs and speaker cables.

Ensure that you also have quality power cables to all your electronics. The standard crap included with the units are fit to be junked as the Arcam craves quality here also. I found that Atlas and Ecosse power cables bested the rest with Arcam electronics.