Totem's "Hawk" and "Forrest":How Hi-End Are They?

Forest is much stronger and better on higher volumes(110dB continuos what do you think?). They realy breath on high volumes. Since all Totems have relatively stable impedance they're considered to be a tube- friendly. Even specs on Forest say that you can use minimum of 30W of tube or 50W of SS amplification. I drive my Forests with VTL MB100 in triode mode 50...55W/ch at most. In seldom cases I switch to ultra-linear 110W/ch.

One more thing that is realy in common to all smaller Totem speakers and monitors:
They're all designed for relatively small rooms and therefore the demand on efficiency is low. They all have superb imaging and staging even including the cheapest floor-standing Arros.
Applying them for the large room will realy demand endless power to drive them.

I've compared Forest against JM Lab Electra 915. They seem to be on the same legue but Electras are much tougher to drive(4 ohm nominal and dive down to 2.5!) If you've no need for super high volumes than Forest would be much better choice for the money spent.