I have listened to The Ones twice. I'm still hesitating between them and the Dali Helicons 300MK1 (haven't heard the MK2). I listened to both pairs with rega apollo cd player and cursa 3 preamp and exon (not exon 3, the generation before) monoblocks, 125 watt I think.
For the Totem I listened to the Staff and Hawk and, even though they are also good speakers (especially for the price), The Ones were a class of their own compared to those 2 models. I did not get a chance to compare them to the Forrest or Mani2 Signature or even to the Model One Signature.
Now compared to the Dali Helicons 300, I find the choice hard to make. The Totems have smoother highs, tighter and more precise bass. The Dali, however, seem to have more detail in the mids, and have brighter highs. I like the Dali for my old jazz recordings (whether it is big band or most of the rudy van guelder recordings on blue note or on prestige). They give warmth and life to those recordings. However, with better recordings (in regards to the recording quality, not the music :)) the highs tend to sound harsh. I was told that I could compensate that with proper choice of cables. I find the Dali Helicons more amplifier friendly as my amps were much less hot after the listening session compared to the session with the Totems (burning hot).
As for the Totem, sometimes I found they lacked detail and precision in the mids, and I would loose the cymbal more often in the mix, due to the smoother highs. I don't know if that comes from my amplifiers (not being conrad johnson quality, but the best rega model) or the fact that they might not have been completely breaken in (available september 1, they would have needed 24 hours of listening per week to have reached 200 in the store, unless they had had some playing time in factory...). I talked to Vince and he affirmed that my amplification was enought for the Ones, so did the clerk at the store.
That being said, The Ones are a very good speaker, they do need proper amplification, like most Totems. Nicely defined, punched bass, without being dry like the Sonus Faber Cremona bookshelf I had heard with the same setup as well. Good piano sound, great for electronic music as well. I recommend it.
