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Upgrade rainmakers to hawks,clues,tekton or fritz?

I have a pair of totem rainmakers and a NAD 747 AV receiver. At the time that I bought the receiver I thought I would go surround sound. Now I have decided to just focus on 2 channel and be content with stereo for movies. I will probably sell both the receiver and the rainmakers to finance this. Right now I have heard and like totem Hawks, Sjofn Clue(heard this at the audio show this weekend pretty impressive for $999), I am also interested, but have not heard, Tekton Lore-s and Fritz Grove. The amp will probably depend on the speaker. For the Tektons I am thinking red wine audio for the others maybe Naim 5i. My budget is around $3000. I am fine with used equipment. I listen to mostly rock but have recently been listening to Hawaiian slack key guitar. Has anyone heard the tektons or Groves and rainmakers so that they can make a comparison? Any Opinions?
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Showing 2 responses by jkontuly

jkontuly's avatar
jkontuly OP
59 posts
 
Milpai - I actually have tried them out with better amplification. I took them to my friends house who has the Hawks and we both agreed that the Hawks were in every way superior. Not saying that the Rainmakers are bad, because they are not, just that I prefer the sound of the Hawks. They go lower and they just seem richer sounding.

Esluudio - I think the amplification for the Hawk is the real issue for me. With the Lore-S I can get a new or refurbished red wine audio signature 15 for $1000(used/reurb?)-$1500(new)but with the Hawks I would have to spend significantly more on amplification. I am going to try and make it up to RWA factory as Vinnie, the owner, has some Lore-S paired up with his amplification.

Tomorrow I am actually going to listen to Sjofn's Clues at the NE rep home.

Thanks for everyone's response so far.
jkontuly's avatar
jkontuly OP
59 posts
 
Eslaudio,
I have narrowed down my choices to naim XS and hawks or Red wine audio signature 15 and tekton lore-s. I have been getting great advice from Plato but I thought I would ask you again as you have had both in your system. I went to RWA and listen to the RWA/Teketon combo. There were a lot of things that I liked about it. On some music it sounded like you were there - really live. Tonally it was amazing especially with the vocals and the RWA amp was really great. I never really took note of distortion before until it was totally gone. However, on some cds I found it lacking in the excitement that I have heard with the totems and perhaps a little too smooth sounding. It could have been the room as the room that I have heard the totems in is much smaller. But I have also read a review on the part time audiophile site where he described the tekton's as less than forgiving with average recordings - "On the Grove, the high-res re-releases of the Smashing Pumpkins Gish and Siamese Dream are a wonderfully dynamic and exhilarating listen. On the Tekton, they’re a little tedious." - from part time audiophile. I was wondering if you had the same experience as most of what I listen to is pop and indie pop/rock and these bands are sometimes recorded under not the most stellar conditions.
Thanks.
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