Integrated amp for Totem Sttaff

You have made a very good choice in terms of value.

Sttaf is almost $800 more than Rainmakers. However, if accounting for stands (Totem) than your saving will get a $400-$500 haircut so saving is not much there with Rainmakers. Besides, Sttaf is not that finicky.

Totem Sttaf very good deal
Totem Hawk very good deal (Scan Speak and Dynaudio are my favorites)
Totem Rainmaker very good deal
Totem Arro very good deal

Totem Model One average deal-they were great back in the late 1980s but now there are so many better deals out there
Totem Forest great bass but high is a hair edgy for my ears. They are a poor deal-they look good but the drivers are of cheap source (Hi Vi and not Dynaudio)
Totem Mani 2 great speakers but average deal like the Forest and Model 1.

Totem The One-sounds great but at close to $5K per pair, I would be better off buying 2 pairs of Totem Hawk or 2 pairs of Sttaf and still have some extra cash for a Cambridge Audio or NAD CD players.

Sim I 7 (integrated) or Classe CA 2200 (separate power amp) are great choices if you have cash to burn. I have auditioned these amps driving Dynaudio Special 25 and B & W 800 with ease and the sound quality is simply stunning.

Brand new Sim I 3 is a good deal but if you can find a demo Sim I 5, that is even a better deal.

I like tube but you will need a power sub definitely.

Classe and Creek integrated are good ones too. You just need to ask your dealer to loan you an integrated Classe or Creek to test them with your Sttaf.

When in doubt, trust your own ears.

Sorry folks I don't want to hi jack the thread here.

Mr. Rumadian don't get me wrong sir:-)) I used to own 2 pairs of Rainmakers (my brother inherited them now) and recently switched to Dynaudio DM 2/10 to keep things simple. But I still own a Totem Storm (a great sub and I have to give this credit to where it is due, Vince Bruzzese and his team)

I do admire Vince's work on the Arro and the Rainmaker (speakers for the working class people) However, Totem does have some sub par products like the Lightning, Mite, and Rokk.

The Mite is probably the worst speaker that they ever produce. I do A/B listening between a pair of Mite and a pair of Usher S520 and the Usher, at almost half the price of the Mite, beat the Mite hands down (high, midrange, and bass definition and extension) They were both driven by a very Denon amp that cost less than a $1K.

I then autioned the Forest. You are absolutely correct that Forest sounds very good and they look great for the money if WAF is a must to you. And I have to say that Forest has a group of followers. Well it is a practical matter that Totem used Hi Vi drivers. I was thinking about upgrading to the Forest but after I learned about Hi Vi drivers man I was disappointed with Totem. Their only redeeming product is the Rainmaker for their prices.

I do think that Forest is a product that is overpriced for what they are. Vandersteen 2CE and Dynaudio Audience 72 may not look much to you but they are very viable options for the Forest. As I said earlier, if WAF is not a must, anyone would love to own a pair of Vandy or Dynaudio Audience 72 any day. And these 2 speakers are not very electronics friendly:-))

Btw Mr. Rumadian, if you are into tube, check out the Dynaudio DM 2/10. I used NAD C162/NAD C270 combo or a NAD C372 to drive them and place them on Sound Anchor 22 inch stands that I purchased from another kind Agoner here. Man, they are simply stunning at low listening level with all music genres, jazz, vocal, rock, hip hop, classical and what have you.

If you check with your Totem dealers, I am sure they would tell you that they sell more Arro/Rainmaker/Sttaf/ and maybe the Hawk more than Model 1, Forest, or Mani 2:-))

Second on Naim integrated.

Personally, I think Sim is more engaging than others but I don't like their prices. Classe is a better deal because they are not that insanely expensive as Sim but they too are very musical. NAD M-3 is also a good choice on the used market.

Plinius is a good choice but I think Totem recommended Plinius because they refer each other products back and forth in Asia, as they do with Rega in Europe.

Mr. Rumadian:-))

The mark up on most of Totem producst is high so I would not buy Totem products again with the only exception of the Storm:-))

Seems to me that Totem has spent so much time voicing the midrange on the Model 1 to make sure that they would be the most revealing speakers on the market that Totem's decided to sacrifice the bottom end (similar to listening pipe organ music in MP3 format, missing the bottom end)

I spent too much time rearranging my furniture and upgrading my electronic that I sold them to get it over with:-))

Mr Audiobroke:-))

Of course, beauty is in the eyes of the beholders so I am not going to make any comment on that. Our perceived value are simply different.

Regarding your definition of cheap speakers, I think I could still get good sound without having to spend a few kilo bucks for a pair of speakers. PSB Alpha B1 sold for less than $299 per pair (almost as low as Radio Shack speakers) will beat the Totem Mite, twice the price of the PSB Alpha B1, hands down in its high, mid range, and bass definition. I did A/B auditioned these at a local dealer, both driven by a budget NAD amp C325 BEE.

I could give you a few more examples of overpriced models that Totem made.

Mite $750 per pair vs Usher S520 $450 per pair. Usher would win hands down (high, mid, bass definition, and bass extension) I did A/B them at my local Totem dealer that also carried Usher as well. Score Usher 4 Mite 0

I don't understand why Totem still sells the Mite. They are more expensive than the Usher and the level of sonic performance is nowhere near. Likewise, the Mite would stand no chance against the Dynaudio Audience 42 (they are sold at the same competitive price range)

Dynaudio Focus 140 $2K per pair vs Totem Model 1 $2.3K per pair. Dynaudio Focus edged the Model 1 on high and bass definition and extension. The Model 1 is better than the Dynaudio Focus 140 but only with the mid range.
Score Dynaudio 3.0 Totem Model 1 1.5

Silverline Prelude $1.3K per pair vs Totem The One 3.5K per pair. No need to go there since the Silverline Prelude is listed in Stereophile's Budget Components and the Totem The One is not.

I used to own the Rainmakers/Model 1 and currently own a Storm so I could say that I am somewhat familiar with Totem speakers.

I do not know what your definition of "sell out" was so I am not going to comment on that. That would be "business practice" and has nothing to do with audio sir:-))

Kind regards

Don't mean to hi jack the thread here. Sorry Gs:-))

You can check with yout local Totem dealers and they will tell you how many times that the Arro and the Rainmaker outsell the Model 1 and Forest. Like everyone else, I was looking for a good deal and they are always giving me discount on the Model 1, the Forest, and the Mani 2 but not a chance that I would get a discount on the Rainmaker or the Arro even though I am their repeated customers.

I thought that you listen to music with your ears and not your eyes:-))

Kind regards

If you like reasonable price separates, I would strongly recommend NAD C162 pre-amp and NAD C272 power amp. I am driving my Dyn DM 2/10 with the C162 pre-amp and a used C270 that I purchased from a cool Agoner. The Dyn just sing beautifully, driven by the NAD combo.

I am not sure about your source Mr. Mxwizard but I think with your $1.5K budget, you can get a NAD C352 (excellent value) and a Rega Apollo CD player (another excellent value) And I guarantee you that will not have that upgrade bug bites for a very long time with this Totem Sttaf/Rega Apollo/NAD C352. Who knows? Maybe you could have $100 left in change to buy a knock off LV handbag and pull the Husband of The Year award:-)))

Mr Audiobroke:-))

There must be a reason you no longer sell Totem sir:-))

Maybe you could tell them to come up with new models that outperform the Usher S520 and Dynaudio Focus 140 soon.

Kind regards

Mr. Knownothing:-))

Agreed with you on the Naim integrated. Sim and Naim are simply above NAD level period. Creek is also good.

I am a cheap guy:-)) and had good experience with NAD C352 so that was the reason I recommended NAD. I do have the C162/C270 combo and another integrated C372 at home currently. If I have the money, I would definitely step up to Sim or Naim or Classe.

Sim new entry level integrated, I forgot whether that was I1 or I3, and Naim Nait are probably the best two integrated candidates at the $1.5K mark.

Regarding CD player, Cambridge Audio sounds very good for the money but I am also told that they have lots of QC problems. But those QC problem may only exist with the entry level C640 and C740, I guess????

Kind regards