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Replacing Forests???

OK, I am looking for some friendly advice. After going through 3 pairs of Forests in a 6 month period, my dealer is allowing me to trade them back in for full value towards another speaker set-up. I am a HUGE fan of the Totem sound, and have never had problems with Totem before these Forests.

I have owned the Tabus and Arros with great results. Moving to a larger space forced me to move away from the Arros and up the Totem line. I had longed for the Forests for a long time, but the problems I've had with these in the short history of owning them has me throwing in the towel with them!

This is a 2-channel music/HT set-up powered by a Simaudio i-5. I am thinking of going with one of the following 2 options:

Totem Sttaf with 2 Dreamcatcher subwoofers

(or)

Totem Hawks

Although I think I am more partial to the Sttaf sound, as I have never been 'wowed' with the Hawks on the gear I've listened to them on (Naim/NAD - both bad; Ayre - pretty decent, small hotel room set-up), I would love to hear people's opinions.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
jh2os

Showing 2 responses by upstateaudio

upstateaudio
249 posts
 
Jh2os, I can verify your remark regarding the red notice regarding Hawk break in at 150 hours. I blew a set of woofers after only 3 months. I am sure I did not break in properly, I played the speaker at louder levels with challenging music (Tower of Power with pounding bassline) and blew both woofers.

They were replaced at cost of drivers without labor charge by Totem. I broke my present pair in with the proper break in period and have had no problem.

So new Hawk owners heed the red notice not like I did.
upstateaudio
249 posts
 
I blew my woofers after the break in period. I was playing the speakers loud before the 150 hours were up probably at around 100 hours. The 2nd set I was considerably more careful. I hooked up my Tivoli radio (rec out)into my preamp and ran it straight for 1 week on NPR at background volumes(mostly talk with some classical, jazz)before I played any serious analog or CD on it. Have not had a problem since ( I am also not playing as loud- loud is now 85-90 dBC to me rather than 90-95).
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