Totem Acoustic Owner's Thread - Page 8

My momma told me if you can't say anything nice about someone then don't say anything at all. So.........

Hey y'all, I have a question about wiring. Check out this quote from the FAQ on Totem's site:


Is anybody using the "diagonal" technique? I'd never heard of that before and am wondering what the real difference is between that and just bridging both sets of terminals on the back.

Also, on another topic, I had a great experience with Totem customer service yesterday, so +1 for them!

I always hook up the speakers to the top terminal, I honestly have never done a test to see which sounds better. Maybe I will later today. I have several models to try.
Totem is an awsome company to deal with. They are truely a family run business with a family friendly feeling. It all boils down to VInce's philosophy, the customer and quality is number one.

How are you planning to test this hypothesis? Does it involve some kind of blind test or measurements? The first hypothesis to test would be: "Does it make an audible difference?" Just listening for a couple minutes, then switching the wiring and listening again a couple of minutes would be pointless, as such a placebo prone test wouldn't be adequate to confirm the hypothesis.

Scientifically speaking, unless the jumper is inadequate (does not fulfil its function correctly), it would make no significant difference. Its length is so short and it's so conductive it wouldn't have any significant effect. But if the jumper is faulty, or for some reason had a ridiculous resistance which would make it a "broken jumper", then it could in theory make a difference. In this case, it would probably wreak havok on the crossover, not something you'd want, you should simply replace it with a decent jumper...

My Totem jumpers looked like any other jumpers and I have no reason to believe that they're flawed. So it should make absolutely no difference.

Grandarf, I think what we're talking about is connecting the wires WITHOUT the jumpers in place. Strange, I know, but that's why I started asking this question. Like this:

Scissor, hooked up that way you wouldn't hear anything at all. Since Grandarf says I won't hear a difference I won't waste my time.

Yeah, that's why I was confused. But otherwise Grandarf is correct - scientifically speaking it should make no difference. So I was trying to figure out what else could be meant by "diagonal wiring." How could Totem even suggest such a silly thing if the intent is that the jumpers are in place at all times? I didn't know if internally there might be some crossover network config that would allow a diagonal connection as I depicted to work.

How can Totem sell *BEEEP*, *BEEEP* and *BEEEP*? These don't make any more sens than this wire connection... As I said before, Totem *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* and *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* so it's not really surprising... *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* *BEEEP* *BEEEP* *BEEEP* *BEEEP* *BEEEP* *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* or not. *BEEEP* *BEEEP* scientific *BEEEP* blind test *BEEEP**BEEEP**BEEEP*.

As always, customer beware!

My guess for wiring tweaks... Either they really believe it, in which case they're deluded (or I'm wrong, someone please prove me wrong if I am!), or, it gives them more chances for people to like their speakers. If you think switching the wires around changes the sound, you get to audition the same speakers four times for the wiring possibilities, that's three more chances to like the speakers than if you had auditioned it only once. If people get better because they've ingested a sugar pill and thought it was medication, don't doubt that switching wires or wire connections would allow some to think that the speakers now sound better and actually sound better than they had thought earlier.

Anyhow, like I said, I invite anyone to test it out for themselves. I tried it, in a mental brain lapse I thought hey, Totem said it let's try it, but I heard no difference. But I might have... I didn't do a blind test, just switched the wires, listen, and heard no differences. But I well could have had. Funny how sometimes you don't think and can embark or believe in ridiculous things... Why it's important to do a worthwhile test... As to not deluding yourself and then getting others to delude themselves too... But at least, in this case, it's free, so not as bad as if it was *BEEEEEP*. (sorry for beeps, can't talk about some things in this thread...)

Maybe you could contact Totem and ask them? I'd be curious to hear their take on it. I'd sure love to hear their explanations on why that should make a difference, as well as how some of their products work... But I'm sure I'd be very disappointed by their answers...

I have my Hawks hooked up this way, along with my Veritas speakers, and all my speakers to be frank. Usually red on bottom, black on top.

Is there a difference. Heck yes, the highs have more detail, much more air to them, and the bass notes really have a solid impact now, much more control on the woofers. And the tone - WOW - that's crazy. You wouldn't believe how good all my speakers sound now.

Ok, seriously, no difference, none at all. But, it is, as Grandarf put it, free to do.

Yep the Hawks are nice speakers... Should have gotten those instead of my (ex) Sttafs, if only they were 1000$ less at the time... I'd also probably buy a pair for what Kpt paid for them... Also you had me at "Is there a difference. Heck yes, the highs have more detail ... "... Bastard...

LOL - sorry Grandarf -you should know me better than that

Hello to all the Totem owners...

I'm considering the Totem Tribes for my multi room / home theatre.

I do have a weird setup though and am wondering if they would work well in the fashion that I'm considering using?

I know this setup isn't ideal, but due to room configuration and space limitations for my multi room / home theater, I need to mount 3 high quality speakers horizontally above my projector screen. It also needs to look good and match the decor and fit into the space up there.

So the room setup

8.5 foot high, 11 foot wide, 16 foot deep (sitting area/lounge is on the back, also a bean bag that I use a lot, 5 foot off the backwall).

There is a Stewart motorized projector screen, that will be built into a hutch that has a height of 9.7 inches (this is not built yet but this height cannot be changed due to other lines in the room). The screen is 120 inches taking up nearly the fool width of the room (there is void in the back wall on the left side hence why I didn't bother making the screen a bit smaller and mounting in/on walls on either side for left and right)

System usage: 10% music, 60% movies, 30% gaming

What I was thinking of doing was mounting 3 on wall speakers on the face of the hutch, and point the speakers down at an angle toward the viewers (this would result in the back corners of the speakers to be touching the hutch and be touching or be extremely close to the ceiling (as the hutch is only 9.7 inches high).

Speakers that I'm currently considering for the fronts are

3 x Totem Tribe speakers - concerned about the tweeter being mounted in a line with the mid ranges/bass and the MTM configuration which I hear can cause problems when mounted horizontally - but these speakers may be designed well enough to handle the off axis issue that I have from what I hear?

Do you guys know if they would work well in this setup?
Would they still produce an excellent sound stage due to the Left and Right being mounted horizontal ?


Other speakers that I'm considering are the
3 x Dali Mentor LCR's (the ribbon tweeter can be turned 90 degrees for horizontal placement)

Thanks

i'm thinking about moving up from my dynaudio excite x12 to a set of totem model 1 sigature

good move?

powered by simaudio moon i-5 which should give it enough power

so far from what i've read, most ppl compare the totem to the dyna focus 140 or the older contour 1.3

Hey all. I'm new here. Just bought an Arcam AVR-600 and paired it with 3 Totem Tribe III's and 2 Totem Tribe I's + a Velodyne Optimum 8 sub in my HT room.

I ran the Arcam's auto setup and it detected the Tribe III's and I's as "small" speakers. I had expected them to be detected as large, full range speakers. Any thoughts? Is this expected? Things sound pretty good to me, but it's clear that the system is putting some audible base through the sub and I'd rather it not, since I can pick up some directionality in that.

Leave it the way it is for now and see how it sounds. Allowing the sub to handle more of the lower frequencies will allow the Tribes to play louder with less stress.
Can you overide the Arcam settings? If so try to set the tribes as large and see if you like it better.

3 years later and they still sound great

Thanks for the info - so all that 'talk' about one colored dot speaker using a different type of tweeter or crossover was just people talking out of their u know whats? I find that happens a lot around the audiophile world. What you're saying makes sense, a lot of sense, as when you are looking at speakers even now you'll see all kinds of different colored dots as 'new stock'.

And yeah, a year later (is it a year already, maybe not quite) and still enjoying my Hawks very very much. They really are an incredible speaker for their size.

What makes you think that this one is correct? I think it's ironic that you take the word of a random Totem dealer as gospel and dismiss everything else as people talking about of their harses...

Also ironic that you just jump on a train and that becomes "the truth"... If someone asks you what the dots mean, you'll state that it's for veneer? As fact? That becomes the truth and it what is spread around? What if it's false? But you pretty much nailed it, that's pretty much how it works in the audio world...

chicagorep is a totem dealer, so chicago, what's the damn dot for?


That seems very silly to me... Each speaker has a serial number, normally, they should be x & x+1. If the dot theory is correct, then you'd have mismatched serial numbers on some speaker pairs, due to the dots and wanting to match speakers based on veneer...


Isn't that standard? Veneer comes precut, and the grain should be the same direction as it's always cut the same way... (think mill, giant rotating machine which cuts 1mm skin off a tree trunk then the veneer goes to the other machine which cuts it. Not like the machines move and they switch the cutting direction each couple of turns...)

And then, why put the dots on the speakers? Why not on the boxes to match HT sets? Why put the dots on the tweeter if it's just for sorting and boxing up? Just some temporary sticker would be a better idea than leaving a cheap colored dot on a tweeter...

Anyway, makes very little sens to me, and I'd bet it's just the dealer trying to sound important and making up something to impress a customer, something we see all too often...

I think I was told it was to orient the tweeter when it's installed. I'll find out the reason and get back to you.

You had to ruin it LOL

As usual, very good points Grandarf. But I wonder, has anyone ever taken measurements of two different colored dotted speakers? I know the theory wouldn't hold for black ash especially. So now I have to wonder again what my 'purple dots' are? I like the wood theory though.

The dots on the tweeters are for quality control purposes (tweeter matching) and to distinguish specific versions (different colors)

About a month ago I was talking with John Healey from Totem and he was mentioning that the dots are for "focusing" and deflecting the high frequencies from the tweeter to project better. They are even starting to put them on the back as the sound tends to wrap around the enclosure. Did I swallow that??? Remains a mystery.

The answer I was given was from the Head of Tech Support for Totem.

Thanks

Kpt_Krunch:


It's funny though, how could the dots be used for two things at the same time? If colors are used to match tweeters, how can they also be used to identify versions? And which brings us back to, why put easily removable cheap dots on the front tweeter to identify versions instead of writing the version on the plate on the back?

I think ls200p's explanation is much better, finally someone who's not talking through his horse and really knows what he's talking about! Thank you ls200p for giving us the correct answer!

deflecting sound waves, and a dot on the back too?

Hey Grandarf, which do you think putting the dots on the beaks would be even better?

Totem and Dynaudio speaker sound similar . Going up the line in Dynaudio might yield better results. Totem speakers up and down their lines are fantastic. You can't go wrong in my opinion.

Both Dynaudio and Totem are 2 of my favorite musical speakers.

I would not have selected the Hawks as your fronts, they aren't designed for that. The Forests would have been a better choice. What do you have your low pass set at on the Hawks