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Totem Hawks - my impressions

I just acquired a used pair of Hawks this week and am extremely impressed with them. They have significantly more presence in the low end than my Joseph Audio RM25XL speakers and the mid-range is just magical. They have an immense soundstage, too. They don't seem to be very sensitive to set up and sound fine just a foot away from the rear wall. They are easy to move around given their small size and weight. They do need a lot of power to make them sing, probably at least 100 wpc, I would think. In my 40 years in audio, these are the best speakers I have ever had in my listening room at their price point. Oh, one other thing. With their "claw" feet, they are quite top-heavy and thus unstable on thick carpeted floors. I am getting outrigger spikes that will greatly increase their stability and mass couple them to the floor, which will no doubt improve their performance. Very highly recommended speakers!
whitestix
213runnin
914 posts
 
Gosh.  I just checked out these  JBL 4429.  What an ugly speaker.  seriously.  And then you look at the price, $5000?  For someone looking at Hawks, that just about doubles the budget, no thank you.  I'm sure they sound great, but for most the price and the WAF makes them a nonstarter.

At at the $5000 price level, I'm sure there is a lot of competition, and hopefully better looking competition.  Sorry to be such a downer, but that's my honest reaction...mind you I also do have a smaller listening space.

As for me, I'm considering getting a 2nd pair of Hawks.  My pair would be fine in the theater system, but they sound so good I've got them in the 2 channel set up instead.  But now the theater, with a Rainmaker center and Totem Lynks for the rears, doesn't have a pair of totems to match color and timbre.  Maybe I should go big with a used pair of Winds...



dave_b's avatar
dave_b
3,159 posts
 
Loved the Totem’s but I love music more than just looks...the 4429’s compete with the Wilson WP 6’s and B&W 802D2’s I had awhile ago.  I also dig the retro 60’s vibe which reminds me of one of the most beautiful sounding speakers ever made, which is the Bozak B313’s:). Full sounding, detailed and superb dynamics...gets to the soul of the music without compromising on soundstage size or higher volume compression issues.
213runnin
914 posts
 
Okay, here’s the thing, At least as I see it.  The Totem Hawk is priced point is $3500 or so.  That’s a lot of money for most folks.  

I'm sure there are 10 or 12 pairs of speakers that at the $5000 level, are better than the Hawks.   They better be, don’t you think?   Who would buy a 5k speaker and brag about it being worse than the Hawk?  No one I know.  But for $5k, it should be a terrific looking speaker.   It should sound amazing AND look amazing.  


demetri_j's avatar
demetri_j
2 posts
 
I am considering the Hawks. Do they vary at all in production from the start until now in material used or sound signature? Also why wouldnt they sound good with Rock music? Is it because they cant get loud enough or do they not reproduce that type of music well?
schubert
7,386 posts
 
There are best in acoustic music like Jazz or Classical .
Paradigm is another well made Canadian speaker that is voiced for rock .
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