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Totem Forest Signature, Part 16

Posted by Luminator (A) on December 15, 2024 at 21:24:24

In August 1993, my friend Theresa transferred from City College of San Francisco, to San Francisco State University. That Fall 1993 semester was hot and dry. Neither Thersa nor I had money, but we'd hop on MUNI, and check out audio stores. Here are four of our "warhorse" albums, used to evaluate audio products.

Around Thanksgiving 1993, we bought a Signet SL-280B/U. The two pairs of binding posts, for bi-wiring, were inconveniently placed in a countersunk cutout. Theresa and I had a devil of a time, hooking up the AudioQuest Indigo's spades. She made that joke, about this being more awkward than bad sex.

Sorry, we do not have photos from that era, but Ultimate Sound were located here on Kearny, between Post and Sutter. Since audiophiles recommended removing the brass-colored plates, linking the SL-280B/U's binding posts, Theresa and I asked about bi-wire jumpers. Since I was in the process of switching from AQ to Kimber, we ordered a Kimber bi-wire jumper.

On January 2, 1994, Ultimate Sound opened up at 41 Grant. That Kimber bi-wire jumper had arrived. It was blue-and-black, and had SBAN bananas at both ends. Theresa came over to my house, helped me remove the Signet's brass-colored straps. Sigh, once again, Theresa tried to route and hold the ends of the AQ Indigo, while I screwed the binding posts' nuts. Sounds like bad sex indeed!

1.) Perhaps it was a reflection of the brass-colored strips not sounding very good, but the Kimber 4TC did a much better job, of taking the AQ Indigo, and acting as if we had two.

2.) The SL-280B/U sounded different, depending on the Indigo going into the tweeter or woofer first.

During January 1994, the Bay Area had one big storm, which did bring a little bit of snow to the Sierras. Thus, in February, Theresa and our old friends, Andy and Barbra, planned a getaway to South Lake Tahoe. Andy and Barbra had more free time, so they went a day before Theresa and I did.

Theresa and I took her family's old 4-door Toyota Corolla. Even if you were a beginner driver, you would have had an easy time; traffic from the foothills to the lake was bad. Snow was not falling, and chains were not required. Theresa was the front passenger, and constantly had to wipe our breath off of the windows. She had to adjust the Corolla's AC. It was either too hot, or not hot enough. Theresa kept diverting the heat from the feet to the dash. She likened that to hooking up the Signet SL-280B/U, LOL!

Theresa and I got to the cabin late, so the four of us went out to dinner, and then came back to the cabin.

Sigh, this explains a lot. Andy and Barbra took the queen bed, in the loft. They thought that, since heat rises, it'd be less cold in the loft. They took this photo from there. The bathroom was to the right. We brushed teeth, and the water was lukewarm at most. Without hot water, and because Theresa and I were tired, no one showered that night.

Since I wanted to leave my glasses on the nightstand, Theresa and I switched sides. Even though Theresa was short, we had a hard time fitting comfortably on that Full bed. Without room on the bed, I tossed Theresa's big stuffed animal onto a chair. See how offended and annoyed Theresa looked?!

Theresa and I each had individual blankets. She started laughing, and I asked, "What's so funny?"

Theresa giggled, "This is like wresting with your cables and speakers!" She then unfolded the two blankets, laid them one on top of each other, so that we were both under them. Then, the two of us fit better on that little Full bed.

The cables of the ski lift reminded Theresa of hooking up the Signet SL-280B/U. To which I sighed, "Not even audiophiles would think of that!"

In the remainder of the 1990s, Ultimate Sound would carry Totem, whose models were all bi-wireable.

The Totem Forest Signature is no different; it is bi-wireable. When audiophiles write to me, many are adamant, about not getting a bi-wire speaker cable. To keep their options open, they insist on going with a regular stereo speaker cable pair, and then using a jumper.

Here, the FS is shown with a modern-day Kimber 4TC copper-and-white bi-wire jumper. From experimenting with bi-wire jumpers, we have found that many are sonically inferior to the silver "paper clips," which already come with the FS.

Totem's non-Element series models have crossovers. In terms of tonal balance, we often prefer that, if you are using single wire + jumper, the former should go to the tweeter post first.

But because of the FS' resolution, we find that having the speaker cable go first to the woofer post yields better overall sound.

In the mid-2000s, we had the original Totem Forest. Some audiophiles got all mad, when we used the Forest with Nordost Valhalla and XLO Limited Edition bi-wire jumpers, both of which cost around $2500. These audiophiles pointed out that many people do not have amps or speakers, costing $2500.

Well, we also have the $3300 Kimber KS-9068 bi-wire jumper. The Totem FS does have the resolution, to reveal how well the KS-9068 does, at duplicating the performance of the stereo speaker cable.

And again, you will have to experiment, with the which post sees the speaker cable first. Be aware that the FS' WBT binding posts are closely-spaced. So if you have short bi-wire jumpers, they should be long enough. However, your choice of connectors is critical, in getting the bi-wire jumpers to fit, and not be bent or kinked. Note that our KS-9068 goes from spades to slant bananas. Thus, the jumpers have to be routed just so. And then you have to route the leads of your speaker cable through this mess.

Check out The Ocean Blue's "Sublime." The Nordost Valhalla bi-wire jumper thins out the sound a bit, but is otherwise decently transparent. The XLO Limited Edition bi-wire jumper adds some warmth, and perhaps curtails some of the treble. But in duplicating what your stereo speaker cable does, the Kimber KS-9068 is sublime. Credit goes to the Totem Forest Signature for sorting these out.

-Lummy The Loch Monster

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