Revel "F-30" vs Totem "Forest": Better perfomance?


Has anyone either owned or conmpared these speakers?? IYHO, which is more "musically" satisfying and involving. It seems from various comments from the membership, the Totems sound better. It is interesting that you rarely see Totems up for resale.... I play a lot of 60's classic rock, big band and fusion jazz. I have an Aragon 4004Mk2 amp and CJ PV-8 tube pre-amp....also a medium to large room. Need input on the performance of these speakers.
sunnyjim
I auditioned both, and ended up with the Forests, though the Revels were impressive, indeed. The bottom end of the Revels was a little better, but I preferred the Totems overall. Ths soundstaging in particular, was impressive.
The Revels are a larger speaker, and the Totem's smaller
size was better-suited to the area of use. I also the
the cabinetry of the Totem was noticably better. It was a tough choices. An Aerial model was also right there in the mix.
I have auditioned both speakers and ended up with the Revel F-30. I really would have been happy with the Forest as well, but the F-30 came up at a great price here on Audiogon, thus I bought them. You are right about the fact that the Totem Forest (and Wind for that matter) do not come up for sale that often.
One thing to keep in mind that relative to he F-30, the Forest is plenty smaller. My room is 20'x20'x9' and can readily fit the F-30.
They are both very good speakers. IMO, the totem speakers are more musical. I own a couple pairs of totem speakers currently and very pleased with the sound. For a large room (very large) and more $$$$'s, i would look at the Revel studios or salon speakers, imo, some of the best speakers made.