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Totem Forest Signature, Part 14

Posted by Luminator (A) on November 29, 2024 at 01:24:49

An audiophile reached out to me, stated that, in the 1990s, he did audition various Totem loudspeakers. "But because they were more for regular folk, and not us audiophiles, I passed." He added, "But then, maybe 12 years ago, I visited a cousin in L.A. He had some yellow sub/sat combo, and his fam was having a blast, with both music and video. It turned out this was a Totem Dreamcatcher system."

"I questioned," wrote the audiophile, "Why it's taboo for us [audiophiles, that is] to have fun."

Go back to spring break 1990, when you were a college freshman. By getting an Adcom GFA-535 power amp, you entered "high-end audio."

When you returned to UC Santa Cruz for the Spring 1990 quarter, you turned 18, but were more interested in spreading the word about high-end audio.

During that Spring 1990 quarter, you took Intro to Microeconomics, and befriended Kim. And what broke the ice, got you two closer? Music, of course. She loved synthpop, and so did you.

But the school year came to an end, and you had to leave immediately for Honolulu, where you took a summer class at Hawaii Pacific University. After getting burnt at Ala Moana Beach, you went to a hidden high-end audio store, Audio Directions Ltd. There, the late Stewart Ono (AA's UncleStu52), unlike staff at other stores, was welcoming. He understood that, as an 18-year-old college kid, you were not going to buy anything expensive right then and there. But, if Stu brought you into this hobby, years later, after college, maybe you would be a lifelong customer, and buy the expensive audio products.

The audiophile above wrote, "I can't get enough of your stories. Yeah, yeah, you always tie them to audio. But besides that, they're just so damn interesting and refreshing, so different from the inane SAs. Yeah, yeah, it takes writing talent, but you always draw us in, and even if you tried to kick us out, you can't!"

In early September 1990, Kim had your home number, and called you. She wondered when you were moving back to UCSC. She had not set up phone service in her dorm room, but she did know which room it was. So, she said that, once you moved into your dorm, come over to her dorm room.

When you did go over to Kim's dorm room on move-in day, she called up her friends, Ngoc, Pauline, Quyen, and Tuyet. They all met at Kim's dining hall for dinner. During introductions, you said that you were an audiophile, but as an 18-year-old college kid, you did not actually know any other audiophiles. Kim's friends all understood that better audio was supposed to lead to new music, and get you more deeply involved in music you already knew.

The next day, you had to go into town, to buy more things for your dorm room. To your surprise, all of Kim's friends joined you. Back then, Target and Walmart did not exist, so you went to Longs Drugs (now CVS). Since you left your swimwear in Hawaii, you needed new ones for Santa Cruz. When you tried on boardshorts, swim trunks, and Speedos, the girls did not leave the dressing room. But the 5 o'clock hour came, and you guys had to get back to campus, for dinner.

The next day, Kim's friends asked you to accompany them, for a bikini haul. Just as you knew more about audio, you knew more about bikinis. You bit your tongue, as the girls all changed in front of each other. Tuyet whispered to you that all of the girls, as a group, had gone multiple times to the university's East Field House athletic facilities. Afterward, they showered in the women's locker room, which had communal showers. "Ah, that makes sense," you said to Tuyet.

Tuyet discreetly pulled you aside. She pointed to the splotches on your elbows. She lifted up her bikini top, and revealed that she had similar splotches, on her underboob. The way she handled the psoriasis fostered an immediate bond between you two. In this way, Tuyet showed you, as an audio reviewer, that you could point out, without bringing undue glare to, a product's flaw.

Furthermore, it turned out that Tuyet was a huge fan of "modern rock." While that wasn't your #1, you still liked quite a bit of it. Thus, the music brought you two together.

The audiophile above wrote, "You actually get out, and do normal things. You don't look like you're the SA who sits in the sweet spot all day."

Of all the things you did together, it was the mundane task of helping Tuyet with laundry, which brought out details. You reiterated that bikinis should be hand-washed, and hung to dry. While everyone tried to make his or her clothes last as long as possible, Tuyet said she replaced panties, every six months.

When you were helping Tuyet fold laundry, she had a lot of cami tops. But when it came to t-shirts, she said she hated women's: "I hate the scalloped collars, I hate the weirdly-cut sleeves." She said that if you had any men's t-shirts which were too small for you, give them to her.

You carried Tuyet's laundry basket to her dorm room. She introduced you to her friendly, wannabe-hippie roommate, Yamilet. Yamilet told you to take off your shirt. Your eyes flitted left, right, left, right, left; and you frowned, "Why?" Yamilet then expressed her disdain, for the double standard of it being okay for men to go around topless, but not okay for women to do so. She then said that, because her dorm room was consistently comfortable and warm, she liked to sleep topless.

You found that interesting, because your dorm room's temperature fluctuated. As an audiophile, you then realized that no two rooms are the same. A speaker could perform one way in a room, but another way in a different room.

Tuyet just gave an indifferent shrug, "As long as it's not that time of the month, I like to sleep commando."

And of course, as an audiophile, you gave an indifferent shrug, that most loudspeakers looked and sounded best, with their grilles removed.

The audiophile above said, "When audiophiles put down others' musical tastes, that's just......conduct unbecoming. But never mind that. I know you don't care what music anyone likes or dislikes, but I love that you use popular music. It's so much more relatable. And again, you do a good job of explaining the context, history, and connection to audio."

At the end of 1990, we college kids loved the Pet Shop Boys' "Being Boring." However, on account of male nudity, MTV refused to play the video. Tuyet, an art major, loved that black & white video. All the bubbles in the video made her reiterate her love of taking baths.

Your dormmies loved Duran Duran's "Serious." It made Tuyet, who had a stick figure, become slinky and sexy. A year later, Tuyet would tell you, "When you're with me, music may or may not sound better. But it just has more meaning and impact."

In early March 1993, Kim and Pauline slept in your apartment (above). The next morning, the three of you heard Duran Duran's "Ordinary World." You guys were stunned, that Duran Duran had come back from the dead. You hadn't heard from them since, well, "Serious." Moreover, you didn't know that they were capable of crafting such a weathered and mature adult contemporary song.

You then went to San Francisco, to attend the March 1993 Stereophile Show at the Marriott. Of all the speakers, the little Totem Model 1 stood out, for doing a credible job on pop/rock.

The audiophile above wrote, "The ads said that the Model 1 would breathe life into the music. Yeah right. But you know what? Why do most other speakers suck the life out of the music?"

You returned to UCSC for the Spring 1993 quarter. Porter College (a) sat at the edge of the forest, and (b) had this totem pole. Somehow, that portended that you would eventually get Totem's compact floorstanding Forest loudspeaker.

The audiophile above wrote, "But the Forest didn't come out right away. I remember auditioning three stand-mounts," the Model 1 Signature ($1995), Tabu ($2995), and Mani-2 ($4000).

Of these three, you felt that the Tabu (a play on the word "taboo") was the best bet for most living rooms. However, that was not how the market played out. Customers either went with the small M1S, or larger Mani-2. They skipped the Tabu.

In the late-2000s, I got the Totem Mani-2 Signature. While the maple veneer was beautiful, my wife hated the screws on the rear panel. She likened them to moles, zits, or blackheads.

Readers, including the audiophile above, have asked how discontinued Totem M2S (we think that its final list price was US$5400) compares to the Forest Signature (now US$7400).

The M2S requires a heavy-duty stand. So if you add the price of good stands, the total cost comes closer to that of the FS.

Whereas the FS can be driven by any amp or receiver, the M2S demands current. But if you meet that requirement, the M2S does fill a room with thicker bass.

However, the FS' bass, while not as weighty, is so fast, detailed, and infectious. Yamilet used to talk about doing yoga on the floor. If you have a Totem FS, its sound is so engaging, you will not be able to do yoga and Pilates. You are going to get up, your body will boogie, and you won't stop air-drumming.

Assuming that you have a high-quality system, and a medium-sized room, the M2S is more reserved. It layers the soundstage more accurately. So when you bring back PSB's "Being Boring," the M2S makes you wistful.

OTOH, the FS has pulse and finger-snapping excitement. With PSB's "Being Boring," you are partying, and getting the bubble bath ready.

The M2S is thicker-sounding. So when you play Duran Duran's "Ordinary World," you let go of their new-wave past, and embrace their maturity.

The FS does a better job of maintaining the contrast between music and background silence. So you pick out the keyboard touches, the guitar solo, Steve Ferrone's drums (the song was originally written with a drum machine), and Simon LeBon showing emotion but with restraint.

The M2S and FS use the same tweeter. In terms of tonal balance, we prefer how it's implemented in the M2S. Although slightly less burnished, the M2S better preserves the mid-treble body, where the stick hits a cymbal.

With the FS, the treble seems more about quality, than quantity. The drumming on Duran Duran's "Serious" is so infectious, you turn up the volume. You love the cymbal strikes and decay, but just wish that there were more!

With the M2S and FS, we do not feel that one is necessarily and consistently better than the other. They perform differently, demand different things from the amplifiers. If you need a stand-mount to raise the speakers above furnishings, but also want room-filling bass with substance, you'll prefer the M2S. If you like to bathe in the music, you'll prefer the M2S. If you typically listen to music with one partner or friend, and don't want to get all fidgety and awkward, you probably will lean towards the M2S.

If you have Gen Z kids, who nail their freestyle dance routines, there's few better than the Forest Signature. If you like to do aerobics, rather than yoga and Pilates, the infectious FS will make you thrash around as if you were in a mosh pit! If you like to "conduct" Rhapsody In Blue, we think you'll prefer the FS. If you want to make ironing and folding your laundry fun, we think you'll prefer the FS.

Ever since the FS has come back to my house, my wife has never sung along to the music this much.

The audiophile above laughed, "I don't think any of this appeals to the SAs."

I replied, "Nothing wrong with that or the SAs. But before they get into a Forest Signature, they need to know these things."

The audiophile above wrote, "I don't know why I didn't contact you sooner. You've been doing this for decades. No one covers as much ground or goes into such detail as you. But unlike the banal SAs, you make it fun. And that's what I've been missing, for far too long. So tell me. I'm sure you've been asked this a lot. How do the Forest Signature and Element Fire compare?"

That'll be the topic of a future post :-)

-Lummy The Loch Monster

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