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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
baroque_lover
102 posts
 
I say if you are not going to move up from the Forest you should look into the Sonus Faber lineup.
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
Walkman - if this had been my first pair of Totems I may have been a little more irritated. Being the third, and that Totem has been bringing beautiful sound to my ears for the past 3+ years is why I assume I am so mellow about it? ;)

Baroque_lover - I am going to give the piano homes another listen...
bdgregory
1,580 posts
 
I've owned a pair of Sttafs for 2 years now. I still think they're fantastic in many ways, and would recommend them to anyone. I've never tired of listening to them. I'm a fanatic for deep bass however, and in my room they were lacking. I was happy with them without it, but I added a Rel Storm III to them and that's a great combination. As long as you can have them some distance from the wall they are easy to position and tune. Super easy to integrate with the sub. So . . . I guess that's my endorsement for the Sttaf/Dreamcatcher idea, fwiw.

I haven't compared them to the Hawks, but I recently added a pair of Mani-2. The Manis are much better because they are mor precise, and they have better, deeper bass w/o a sub, but they did not cause me to become unsatisfied with the Sttafs - I move the Sttafs to room #2.
24u
15 posts
 
Hi

I own a pair of Forests and have not had any problems, but if I experienced what you did I would not have so patient. Have you heard Equations? The Equation 7's are about the same price as the Forests and, I think, more musical. It is too bad about the Forests though for they are a good speaker. Great imaging. Anyway good luck in your choice.

24u
jh2os OP
244 posts
 
24u, do you have a link to more information on the Equations? My google results didn't turn up much...

Bdgregory, thanks for the comments! I would love to do without a sub, but I think in my space the Sttafs would need a little help. I would go the Mani route, but that would require an amplification change at the same time!!! ;)
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