Ive personally had both the ARROs and FORESTs and have seen and heard the MANI-2s among others.
Nice speakers but they all share two common threads -
(I) they all need high current and watts cuz Totems are power pigs -- There is a plethora of posts in A-Gon discussing this.
and
(ii) high-end quality kit to drive them. Take a look at what TOTEM usually uses to drive them at shows: SIMAUDIO, AYRE, PLINIUS among similar others - all high current and lotsa grunt,
to perform at their best. I bi-amped the FORESTS to get the most of them , before I sold them off.
I agree with Jburidan -- SIMAUDIO I7 is a preferred choice for two reasons:
(a) Both are in Montreal and voiced with each other's kit to get that synergy (but then you also probably have to migrate to other matched SIM gear - DAC CDP etc); and
(b) TOTEM had its own AMBER integrated amp built for them by SIM AUDIO and was essentially a modded SIM
Nice speakers but they all share two common threads -
(I) they all need high current and watts cuz Totems are power pigs -- There is a plethora of posts in A-Gon discussing this.
and
(ii) high-end quality kit to drive them. Take a look at what TOTEM usually uses to drive them at shows: SIMAUDIO, AYRE, PLINIUS among similar others - all high current and lotsa grunt,
to perform at their best. I bi-amped the FORESTS to get the most of them , before I sold them off.
I agree with Jburidan -- SIMAUDIO I7 is a preferred choice for two reasons:
(a) Both are in Montreal and voiced with each other's kit to get that synergy (but then you also probably have to migrate to other matched SIM gear - DAC CDP etc); and
(b) TOTEM had its own AMBER integrated amp built for them by SIM AUDIO and was essentially a modded SIM