Totem Acoustics Rainmaker Speaker Review

[fpitas]

Like this? https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/tad-evolution-2-speaker-review.38949/

I guess the Totems look downright thrifty compared to the TADs.

 

[SuicideSquid]

Definitely we shouldn't accept questionable design choices and poor FR for such a high dollar. I was partially being facetious with the recommendations. But if you picked them up second hand cheap, it's amazing what some sub integration and DSP can do when done properly.

There's a pair on Ebay right now for $499 OBO. Seems still high though.

One of the nice things about Totems is they seem to hold their resale value very well.

 

[jae]

One common trend- if a company cannot reliably build good speakers for their cheaper models, their expensive ones probably aren't going to be anything to be excited for.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

So many box stuffer speaker manufacturers, not just in Canada but I imagine everywhere. I think the Canadian speaker industry gets too much credit and rides on the coat tails of the National Research Council’s anechoic chamber. Totem, Paradigm and anything Canadian Sandy Gross had anything to do with are just crap like Reference3a, Definitive, and Golden Ear which all have Canadian connections. Mirage, Energy sounded okay but the styling didn’t survive the rest of time. I’d be curious to see numbers for them. StudioLab and the Canadian king of white van speakers Nuance were the biggest no brain pieces of stuffed conman shit. StudioLab at least had nice veneer (on 5/8” particle board though!). They actually put out a good speaker once the son took over. Are there actually any good Canadian speakers? Probably by smaller makers who use science. Gave up on my country’s ability to make an honest product.
I guess they were all of a time and most are pretty much deservedly defunct. Tuning by ear to a house sound is out of fashion fortunately. I think. Pardon me if I am completely wrong or offend anyone. Just felt like ranting.

 

[Sonny1]

Great evaluation. I’m surprised, for some reason I expected these to measure better. Another speaker with very positive subjective reviews looking not so good under the scope.

 

[misureaudio]

I have experienced on a term of five years all the product line from Totem. Listening have been done in a mildly treated room of a local shop. I could identify as ok, (however based just on listening), two models in the past production: Forest and Wind. The Hawk follows at a very short distance from the two. For the rest I could not find acceptable the resonant behaviour of the smaller boxes, which unfortunately extends to the One Signature (4000€). Midband resonances are clearly audible on many music programs, even with hard rock, getting substantial confusion instead of a clearly readable complex scene. The 'resonant box' question have been clearly seen even in Stereophile's tests by JA. Newer production from Totem has radically changed the approach to the box design, (and to the LF-MF drivers), and a more accurate midband reproduction is clearly audible. However prices have skyrocketed, so the smallest available model , the floor mounted Tribe Tower, is about 6000€. The next step, the Fire, (standmounting), reaches 9000€ without supports. The Element Metal V2 is at 18000€. All in all, I like more a smoother balance than that adopted by Totem.

 

[beagleman]

So many box stuffer speaker manufacturers, not just in Canada but I imagine everywhere. I think the Canadian speaker industry gets too much credit and rides on the coat tails of the National Research Council’s anechoic chamber. Totem, Paradigm and anything Canadian Sandy Gross had anything to do with are just crap like Reference3a, Definitive, and Golden Ear which all have Canadian connections. Mirage, Energy sounded okay but the styling didn’t survive the rest of time. I’d be curious to see numbers for them. StudioLab and the Canadian king of white van speakers Nuance were the biggest no brain pieces of stuffed conman shit. StudioLab at least had nice veneer (on 5/8” particle board though!). They actually put out a good speaker once the son took over. Are there actually any good Canadian speakers? Probably by smaller makers who use science. Gave up on my country’s ability to make an honest product.
I guess they were all of a time and most are pretty much deservedly defunct. Tuning by ear to a house sound is out of fashion fortunately. I think. Pardon me if I am completely wrong or offend anyone. Just felt like ranting.

Paradigm and Definitive Technology made some decent stuff for the price.
Not offended, but wow you are ranting...lol

 

[paulraphael]

Back in my audiophilia days, I briefly listened to a tiny pair of Totems and was blown away. Looks like that would have been a short-lived impression. Luckily, I couldn't afford them.

 

[kencreten]

I wanted to have a pain free day... but got a bit of a jolt from the frequency response - "ouch!" So it goes.

 

[HeadDoc12]

Before finding this site, I was very curious about Totems, as they claim that many of their speakers can be placed really close to the wall. I listened to a fair number of different models, and two things stuck out: bad sound that I knew would get fatiguing quickly, and basically no consistency of design. I am continually surprised when speaker companies have no consistent design philosophy. Revel, KEF, Focal, even B & W and Wilson all make speakers that look like each other, either because of shared drivers, or just adjusting the approach for different sizes and costs. Totem is all over the place - almost as if they are selling pretty cabinets which they then throw any random driver into. They even have a brand new series - the Bison -with only three models: they all appear to use the same tweeter, but the towers use a different woofer from the bookshelf, even though the size difference is half an inch. It seems like a silly thing to care about, but it makes me suspicious of any kind of scientific approach to get good sound.

 

[SuicideSquid]

Before finding this site, I was very curious about Totems, as they claim that many of their speakers can be placed really close to the wall. I listened to a fair number of different models, and two things stuck out: bad sound that I knew would get fatiguing quickly, and basically no consistency of design. I am continually surprised when speaker companies have no consistent design philosophy. Revel, KEF, Focal, even B & W and Wilson all make speakers that look like each other, either because of shared drivers, or just adjusting the approach for different sizes and costs. Totem is all over the place - almost as if they are selling pretty cabinets which they then throw any random driver into. They even have a brand new series - the Bison -with only three models: they all appear to use the same tweeter, but the towers use a different woofer from the bookshelf, even though the size difference is half an inch. It seems like a silly thing to care about, but it makes me suspicious of any kind of scientific approach to get good sound.

Part of this I think has to do with the fact that Totem, unlike KEF or B&W, does not manufacture its own drivers. They used off-the-shelf or semi-custom drivers from companies like SEAS, HiVi, and Scanspeak.

Until they recently switched from metal dome to soft dome tweeters across most of their lineup, almost all Totem speakers right from the original Model 1 in the late 80s through to the Signature One released only a few years ago used a variation of the SEAS H400 tweeter, and matched it with whatever woofer met the size and price targets for a particular speaker model.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

Any decent crossover designer should be able to deal with whatever drivers are used.
You can tame any driver or combination of drivers given enough crossover components. But these parts are expensive as I have discovered in my DIY journey. Building a profitable product means minimizing costs. Making a product that looks ‘high-end’ and sounds okay is the way to profitability.
They are lovely looking speakers and for years I lusted after them and friends had Totems and back then they sounded great to me. As did all the brands I dissed in an earlier rant. I eventually learned about the poor FRs of so many revered brands.

 

[pablolie]

The 7 inch woofer in their top speakers is proprietary and assembled in house. The top models are also "crossover-less". They do cater to many budgets and styles... and I don't think they pretend to be analytical and compete with Genelec etc. I would not buy their current line, because my needs are currently met, but I really liked the Element Fire while I had them.

 

[fineMen]

This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of Totem Acoustics Rainmaker Speaker.

Looks like the frequency response was obtimized to please with 'critical listening' during development. I know from myself how easily such adjustments depart from linear. One error is compensated by another and so forth. The result is a mess of course. The resonances, too bad to be mentioned.

The bass tuning as such is o/k for a small speaker, room gain will readily compensate the loss in the deepest registers. The speaker won't be overloaded with contemporary popular music at reasonable levels.

Only that a bass reflex tuning aka a ported design is very critical with a small enclosure. Due to its small dimensions the port will for sure exhibit 'chuffing', rendering the design inappropriate for some musical genres.

 

[warpdrive]

If you've ever seen any interview with Vince the designer, he goes out of his way to say they are tuned with real music and in real world rooms, and never tuned for best anechoic response. Obviously he doesn't want to follow the research and thinks he can do better with his approach to make the speakers more "lifelike". He wants to use minimalistic crossovers for best phasing and imaging.

Really, Totem speakers will never measure well because they choose not to design or tune them that way.

 

[thewas]

He wants to use minimalistic crossovers for best phasing and imaging.

Such is one of the classic false audiophile legends.

 

[fineMen]

If you've ever seen any interview with Vince the designer, he goes out of his way to say they are tuned with real music and in real world rooms, and never tuned for best anechoic response. Obviously he doesn't want to follow the research and thinks he can do better with his approach to make the speakers more "lifelike". He wants to use minimalistic crossovers for best phasing and imaging.

Really, Totem speakers will never measure well because they choose not to design or tune them that way.

To some degree this approach was justified. A speaker that small isn't intended to shine at life-like sound pressure levels. Then an in-build equalizer, the loudness compensation is appreciated. The tops in trebble, and likewise the deepest bass notes won't be heard anyway. Not the least, tonal deviations won't hurt that much at civilized levels. The resonances contribute to the feel of a vivid speaker, spicing up the expectedly dull sound at lower levels.

Only that today this speaker proves traditional wisdom obsolete:

Neumann KH 150 Monitor Review

This is a review, listening tests and measurements of the Neumann KH150 DSP 2-way studio monitor (active speaker). It is on loan from the company and costs US $1,750 (each). The design language is not changed of course. The main woofer is 6.5 inches now powered by 120 watt dedicated...

www.audiosciencereview.com

There is no need for that additional thrill anymore.

 

[warpdrive]

Such is one of the classic false audiophile legends.

for sure. He also talks about "speed" of the drivers a lot. I will never forget "Totem Acoustic Beak" which was then worst of the snakeoil pushed by this company

 

[warpdrive]

To some degree this approach was justified. A speaker that small isn't intended to shine at life-like sound pressure levels. Then an in-build equalizer, the loudness compensation is appreciated. The tops in trebble, and likewise the deepest bass notes won't be heard anyway. Not the least, tonal deviations won't hurt that much at civilized levels. The resonances contribute to the feel of a vivid speaker, spicing up the expectedly dull sound at lower levels.

Only that today this speaker proves traditional wisdom obsolete:

Neumann KH 150 Monitor Review

This is a review, listening tests and measurements of the Neumann KH150 DSP 2-way studio monitor (active speaker). It is on loan from the company and costs US $1,750 (each). The design language is not changed of course. The main woofer is 6.5 inches now powered by 120 watt dedicated...

www.audiosciencereview.com

There is no need for that additional thrill anymore.

He is catering to the non-measurements crowd, the ones that say measurements can't predict how it will sound like. I can see why Totem sound and their approach may appeal to some but obviously their target audience is not ASR members. His speakers always tend to sound bigger than they are because he tunes for euphonic, to make the music come "alive", not accuracy or neutrality

 

[fpitas]

for sure. He also talks about "speed" of the drivers a lot. I will never forget "Totem Acoustic Beak" which was then worst of the snakeoil pushed by this company

Snake oil, for sure. But no one could say they were pointless!