Integrated amp for Totem Sttaff

Second on Naim integrated.

Personally, I think Sim is more engaging than others but I don't like their prices. Classe is a better deal because they are not that insanely expensive as Sim but they too are very musical. NAD M-3 is also a good choice on the used market.

Plinius is a good choice but I think Totem recommended Plinius because they refer each other products back and forth in Asia, as they do with Rega in Europe.

The Sttaf, although designed to work with a wide variety of electronics, tends to only sound its best when paired with tube gear and placed in small, sealed off rooms. It also requires fairly precise positioning; as most Totem's do.

I owned a pair of Sttafs for 2 years, sold them only to upgrade to Mani-2s. I think you need to be careful interpreting this statement. While it may be true they do their best in these conditions, that's only a little bit better than under most any other conditions in my experience.

I found them fairly easy to place (ie by comparison to every other speaker I've owned). While they are wonderful with Tubes, mine were wonderful with every amp I used. And while they're more suited to a smaller room, I found them quite nice in a 16x24, and 14x20 open rooms (maybe these are small?).

I wish I still had mine!

Hieule,

The HiVi woofer may not have the same history and cool factor as a true Dynaudio woofer, but it's performance is not slighted in any way. Oh well - I prefer the Scan Speak Revelator to either the Hi Vi or the Dynaudio woofs anyway. :)

Once upon a time I owned the Vandersteen 2CE Signatures and have gone through a number of speakers from Dynaudio, particularly from their Contour and Focus line. You certainly won't ever catch me bad mouthing either product. They are exceptional in their own right. Although I personally do not consider them to be a better value, or hold an edge in over-all performance - its easy to see how some people will prefer what they do over other options in the market.

BDGregory; Perhaps it's just my luck! Hah! I find most loudspeakers to be incredibly easy to position - Totem's, for whatever reason, always seem to be a challenge for me - right down to the last half inch..

Mr. Rumadian:-))

The mark up on most of Totem producst is high so I would not buy Totem products again with the only exception of the Storm:-))

Seems to me that Totem has spent so much time voicing the midrange on the Model 1 to make sure that they would be the most revealing speakers on the market that Totem's decided to sacrifice the bottom end (similar to listening pipe organ music in MP3 format, missing the bottom end)

I spent too much time rearranging my furniture and upgrading my electronic that I sold them to get it over with:-))