Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Totem Beaks....do they work?

Anyone try these expensive little pieces of speaker jewellery ? Wondering if they work or not, the theory behind them seems to make sense. If I knew about these a few years ago, I could have made them in my machine shop. People seem rather divided on their effectiveness.

If it costs a lot and doesn't appear that it would do anything, my general rule of thumb is that it doesn't.

In point of fact, though, you should probably get some speakers before you buy tweaks...

Complete and utter bullshit.

Here's a link to the manufacturer's site. Note the lack of details.

Not so fast. Translate the review first before drawing conclusions :

"They contribute to the construction of the stereo image by increasing the sense of depth and character of holographic
pregnant. Their form, their profile, their internal cavity, while helps capture the resonances of the box to better
evacuate. Precisely machined aluminum in high quality, these warheads are strewn with parallel striations determine the velocity at which the distortions are removed. Rather than a long speech, a short test allowed fully understand how the Beak are accessories frighteningly effective. "

According to the review, they seem to be at least as effective as the crystal you place on your CD player, and might even outperform a typical set of speaker wire stands (not the ones made by the deaf monk, of course).

Seriously, it's probably fair to say that nobody I know has seen a coherent explanation of how placing these on top of your speaker could significantly affect the sound. I can tell you from experience that .50 BMG bullets on top of speakers do not seem to have a noticeable effect on imaging

Yeah, I saw Totem's website and the lack of info on them. Any machine shop could run off hundreds of these on a CNC for the price of a coffee per unit. I'm tempted to get one of my buddies still in the trade to run a few off for me to try them, just out of curiousity. Now, if I had some speakers to try them on......

I don't think they would be a good investment without speakers

Those beaks are pure B.S! Totem makes some nice speakers but it also seems they like to add a little snake oil to their product line and the Totem Beaks are a prime example of that.

But.. but... think of the holographics...

I'm thinking of birds' beaks in hieroglyphics.

No, those don't work very well.

But the Brilliant Pebbles, oh my goodness. They're incredible.

Any relation to Idiot Savant Bamm-Bamm?

Oops... I thought that was a joke site when I saw the "Urth Power Block"... a lot of contractors I know use one of those to lower the noise floor of their uh... portable table saws?

Bren R.

I personally think a .50 BMG round would give most speakers a more masculine image.

Agree with the 50 cal image.

This just in....Moosejaw Gazette is reporting "local man places Totem Beaks on Denon owners manual, reports hearing heavenly music, seeing clouds part with rays of sunshine pouring down....claims to now understand the manual....unlikely however, as scientists have spent decades on the very manual in question"

They mock what they don't understand. Seriously, where do I buy one of those crystals, that sounds like a good investment?

Better order the correct crystals Zimm, Brazillian crystals best for Latino music, granite crystals best for hard rock (obviously), limestone for British music, sandstone Beachboys ect...

Great, now I have to have a box of crystals next to my speakers to change as the music warrants. That is going to make the shuffle function work intensive.

But it is good for cardio.

I believe machinadynamica is still the only supplier you can really trust for crystals. It would be terrible to spend all that money and just get a bunch of rocks in a bag.

Click me !! Click me !!

Make sure you check out their other products.

I'm gonna go dig around in my backyard to see what kind of audiophile goodness I can find!!!

Be right back. . .

I keep looking at that site and trying to find some indication that it's a joke, but it does in fact seem to be a serious way of depriving total morons of their money.

So in other words -- to answer the original question -- yes, they do work. They move money from the bank accounts of the gullible in to the pockets of Totem.

That's what I call marketing!!

[quote=ZimmGreat, now I have to have a box of crystals next to my speakers to change as the music warrants. That is going to make the shuffle function work intensive.
[/quote]
Didn't someone make a 500 crystal changer for those things?

I'm going to head to up to the rock quarries on Caledon mountain. Obviously, if little pebbles will give me improved audio, just imagine what a big boulder would do !

Flatten you're bass [curve]?

You want to be careful though. Flattening your bass to much will leave you floundering.

You guys are a buncha bottom feeders.

I found something better than pebbles in my litter box. I was trying to keep it a secret, but I guess I 'let the cat out of the bag'.

Learned from the best, I did.

In terms of speaker quality - which is unrelated to these items - Totem makes one of the best sounding speakers I have ever heard, the Mani 2

The head of Totem - Vincent - is an interesting study in human behaviour. He designs and builds something as amazing as the Mani, then devises the Beaks. His other claim is that the inside of the speaker cabinet must be veneered the same as the outside, citing engineering principles.

But, if you can, listen to the Mani 2 with good quality amps and sources...you will hear an excellent musical reproduction - just ignore everything else!! LOL

That's one speaker I've always wanted to hear, the Mani 2. A bookshelf speaker that plays like a tower. I think it has two woofers--one mounted right behind the one on the baffle. I think you gotta have a fairly substantial amp to drive them--sensitivity at 85dB and 4 ohms.

I've heard lots of good things about Totem speakers. I'd like to hear any of them, actually. I really enjoy the finishes on them. They look top notch.

I went to a hifi who was listed on Energy's website as one of their dealers...to which the dealer informed me that they hadn't carried Energy's for almost 5 yrs. I wish manufacturers would update their websites once in a while. Anyhow, even though I hadn't been looking for them, he had some Totems - Arros and Hawks, so I thought 'I'm here, might as well hear 'em'. Well, I will say it opened my eyes, errr....ears I mean. You look at a relatively small, unassuming 2-way spkr and think to yourself "are these little speakers making all this sound". I think those large tweeters Totem uses have a lot to do with their "clean" sound.

They use a 1" tweeter like Axiom and I agree, a larger tweeter seems to help clean up the upper range, at least I always seem to prefer speakers with larger tweeters.

Yep, the Totems are very nice speakers.

Wow!!! $129 for a bag of pebbles. That's insane. But I love that they show a picture of the exotic pebbles attached to exotic cords with scotch tape...because exotic tape to hold the exotic pebbles to the exotic cords would just be ridiculous.

Thanks goodness. I had some credit burning a hole in my credit card; a 500 crystal changer should fit the bill. Although, I am now thinking that boulder idea would kill that +15db 50Hz spike living just behind my left listening position. Almost fried the SPL meter when I stumbled onto that monster!

That 500 crystal changer was developed in Russia, by a company called U.B.Riptov.

I would not say that is not necessarily the defining piece that creates the smooth upper range, but it is certainly a component of the design

I have heard many design theories - internal veneering (Totem), minor internal bracing (Harbeth), built like pieces of rock (Reference 3a), inverted driver sets (Mission), to name a few - and without a competent design, quality materials and good build quality, the speakers fail to reproduce music properly. All of the above manufacturers make good to exceptional speakers. But it is just as easy to take expensive parts and make bad speakers - or any electronic device for that matter

We can go into a "What makes a speaker reproduce music properly" discussion...but a search will bring threads about this to light.