Back when I was auditioning CD players, I went to hear a NAD 541 and 523BE. They were set up in a small listening room through a full compliment of NAD seperates and one of Totem's smaller 2 way floorstanding models. Not positive which one either the Hawk or the Staf. When I looked at their diminutive size I was a little disappointed that we were going to test the CD players in that room through those little speakers. Well was I ever wrong. They sounded fabulous. Loud , clear, and detailed. Good soundstage. Vocals had that in the room presence. Beautiful fit and finish. I listened to parts of a handful discs I brought covering rock, folk, jazz and classical. Vocals were clear and detailed. The highs were not harsh or tiring to listen to. The mid bass and bass very nice and fairly low for the size of these little gems. I would still want a good accurate sub woofer if this was going to be my main listening speaker. I think my 60's extend a deeper and fill out the bottom end better. I was shopping for CD players at the time so I did not ask many questions about the speakers. The Totems were one of the speakers lines they carried at this high end shop. Other included Rega, McIntosh, PSB and my favorite Meadowlark.
Hope this was helpful in some small way. If you are still in doubt or testing mode and you have a dealer I would give them a listen. There are a lot of great speakers out there. Only your ears know whats right. Totems seemed a bit pricey for me. If I felt inclined to move into that price range their were other choices I was leaning towards.
oz
