Totem Elements

These look interesting...

Eeeew! My god, these aren't the prettiest things around...



What's the MSRP on them? Ah:


Not cheap!



What the hell is "magnetic technology?"


What?? "The magnetic"? And no crossover parts "in the woofer"??? Which speaker uses crossover parts in woofers? lol


What the hell is this 'magnetic' which are used to cancel and augment each other?? lol


So it uses electromagnets instead of a voicecoil to power woofers?? And it's powered by a regular amp? And it has no crossover? How the hell did they manage that? Or by "the magnetic" do they just mean a regular voice coil?

I'd love to see some measurements and more technical details on this...


Ah ok so here's the basics, actually, not even, there's the "inspiration": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halbach_array So they'll still use voice coils and no electromagnets (well, besides the voice coil itself...), it's just, I'm guessing, that the magnets are arranged in a Hallbach array, which I'm again guessing they hope will improve performance... Interesting theory/concept, wonder how well it'll work on voice coils... Actually, I don't see how they'd benefit from it... Isn't the whole point that when you reverse the current it actually reverses the magnetic field and then will go the opposite way? How will having 'dead zones' help? Anyone getting this?

^^^ lol ^^^

heh, I think the only relevant aspect of it simply lies on the bold part: "A Halbach array is a special arrangement of permanent magnets that augments the magnetic field on one side of the array while cancelling the field to near zero on the other side.". The whole Maglev and cancellation thing threw me off, most likely has NOTHING to do with maglev techology, I think it's just marketing spiel for: "we're using stronger magnets"... Which might not even be relevant in case of voice coils and the type/shape/orientation of magnets... And how is the cancellation supposed to help? Looks to me like it wouldn't... At all... Quite the contrary... If anyone has a better guess than mine, please be my guest... I doubt we'll see a clear explanation from Totem any time soon...

Anybody sees how Halbach could work in voice coil? Here's a representation of the magnetic field for a magnet of usual shape used in woofers:



The red rectangle would be voice coil, in this case moving left/right... How could Halbach work or apply in this config?? Maglev trains, sure... Voice coils... How?!

lol, the best, gandarf.

vince is crazy.

lol, he certainly has that crazy inventor look, slim, tall, and crazy hair!


and http://www.dealerscope.com/article/t...ers-25012586/1

Doesn't that seem well odd to anybody else? What's wrong with stamped or cast frames? Stamped frames are usually made of flimsy, thin, crappy metals and are just designed to be cheap to make... But I'm sure that if you used thick metal, used a very strong press, you could have a stamped frames which would be absolutely killer! (and not cost 1000$ to make...)

And "not a cast frame"? Again, what's wrong with cast frames? Is it better to spend hours on a CNC machine to make 4 pieces which will later be bolted together??!?! And the most important aspect... It costs 1000$ to Totem per woofer to manufacture? That's absolutely insane...

There's a pic of a part of a woofer in the previous url:

Well if you already own power centers that can purify and enhance your electricity then you'll understand why they do all this to purify and enhance the magnetism. My god the break in period of these speakers will take decades for all the mechanical bonding to take place, since there's so much hand-crafted mechanical stuff in there. Interesting news I just read: the Maya shamans may have built their temples to amplify sound, like a huge speaker. They used no crossovers, and even no magnets!

ok so i have a def teck set up with the bp20s and came accros a trio of the klr 525's. i would like 2 know how u guys would compare the two? would the klipsh give me the sound stage and imaging that i get from the def tecks? also might consider a trio of older cornwalls or lascas. i would like to here ur thoughts?

So? Peter Popoff has also built a multimillion dollar enterprise, is he more fit than I to comment on this new Totem Elements speakers? Or do you need to have sold thousands of speakers to be able to comment? Who here has done so?

If you wish to reply to my previous posts about Totem Elements, please be my guest... Even if you have not built a multimillion dollar company, you're welcome to it! This is a discussion forum after all and someone does not need to have sold thousands of speakers nor does he have to have built a multimillion dollar company to participate!

You are a Totem dealer, so why don't you dig in and provide some answers to the questions asked? Pretty much anyone can register and post here and many companies have representatives who do. Hell, you're a dealer and you post... How about getting info or someone from Totem and enlighten us all on their products if you can't? Maybe they can also solve some everlasting mysteries like what are those dots on the tweeters for exactly... I think we've heard twelve different possibilities about what those things might be for...

...popcorn in hand...

Posted about this in the DIY section. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1299361 Here's a summary from a poster there:

All that and more is explained in this scientific treatise.

So based on this logic BOSE Is a better speaker company with better speakers.

Already posted in the DIY thread on that driver....one world silly audiophile BS. The guy couldnt invent anything real accept event some delusion for audiophiles to soak up.

Im sure they are still great sound audiophile speakers, not great HT speakers IMO though. HT is the only thing that matters to 99% of the population

Just ordered a pair of the new Element Earth. I'll fill you all in when they arrive.

I don't know a lot about speaker construction so just let me know quickly if i sound like an idiot here lol. Based on how the article is written, it seem they are "Claiming" to have the voice coil and driver assembly levitating on a maglev style field rather than having any mechanical parts holding it in place, the driver would then (xmax??) not sure if thats the right term. within that field away from any mechanical interaction. basically floating back and forth.

Do you have these speakers yet. I am anxious to see your review of these Earth's as they are on my short list.

Chucka

Chucka: No, I ended up canceling the order as I could not bare to purchase them without hearing them first. I still have not heard a pair and still considering my options. Also having a hard time parting with my existing speakers, but they don't meet the WAF. A possibility is refinishing them. Been discussing this possibility with the manufacturer. I am still interested in the Earth's though.

Hi All, just happened on this forum looking for reviews, seemed a good one, interesting and informative so joined and I wanted to comment.

I auditioned the Totem Fires a about 2 months ago and was very impressed. I was looking for a smaller speaker (I have had many types over the years: Quads 69/Inner sound Isis/Revolver Cygnis..blah, blah, blah)and was looking for something good but smaller. Demoed them in my system for 2 weeks and bought them. They are costly for a standmount in the UK (where I am) at around £5500, but they are superb. I won't say anymore at the moment, if anybody wants a "proper" review then I would be happy to do that. Just as a background: I have been in this hobby for around 30 years and have had a lot of equipment over the years upgrading along the way. My background and profession is in science (Chemstry and Maths), so the technical stuff interests me. Enough for now, but a "Hello" to all of you. I was looking for reviews on the Fires after the purchase as I wanted to know if others thought they were as good.
Best
Rozzers