Moving up from Totem Arro

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msommers

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I've been waffling back and forth on what to do here. I want two things but can only afford one: new speakers and quality tube preamp. Upgrading the speakers makes the most sense after some thought (I think...). Does it to you guys?

What I like about the arro is that it's fairly small, has decent bass and images well. I'd like more resolution and midrange sweetness while maintaining those characteristics. I've placed it about a foot and a half from the back wall facing into an open concept living/dining room.

Restrictions are bass output as I live in an apartment building. So I'm leaning towards a better monitor or small floorstander with better components as really, the arro is fairly entry level.

I use a Pass Labs XA30.5 and PS audio directstream jr.
 
What are you considering? The KEF Ref 1 is an excellent small speaker.

What amp are you using?


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Have you listened to higher models of Totem? I heard the Hawks driven by Naim and was really impressed, not only was the tone rich the imaging was stellar.

I also wonder if you've listened to other DAC's in the system? I'm sure the PSA is good, it's just a warmer front end may give you what you are looking for.

The Pass is the right amp for what you want.

You didn't mention a budget, the small model Focal Sopra may be to your liking. Or, maybe a stand mount in Dynaudio's Focus series. You might also like Harbeth speakers.

What cables are you using?
 
I have a pair of Tetra 406 speakers that have a warm midrange, decent highs and bass and images great. It also has a small footprint. They can sometimes be found used on CAM and other sites.
 
I would look at the Amphion range. The Argon 3 or 3s would be a good choice of standmount.
 
The Totem Arro was my first "real" speaker, it was very special to me and I loved it! It was actually heartbreaking to let it go. I went up the Totem ladder to the Hawk, which basically got me "more of everything" as I was looking for at the time. When I sold it though I didn't have nowhere near the same feeling parting with it as with the Arro though.

I moved on to the PMC Fact.8 which I think resembles the look of the beautiful Totem Arro in many ways, not all speakers are good looking, but these two definitely are! The Fact.8 is bigger and way more expensive than the Arro though, but they have quite recently introduced a new line called Twenty.5 which is excellent and exists in different price ranges and both as floorstanders and monitors. I would recommend checking it out.

Im my view, one of the strongest thing with the PMC's, apart from sounding great of course, is their "transmission line technology", which I'm in no position to explain exactly how it works, but in short it fires the bass port forward instead of backwards. This makes it possible to place the PMC's very close to walls and in tight spaces. My space is very limited and I've tried a few speakers in my home, which I really wanted to like, but they just didn't sound good because I couldn't give them enough space from either back or side walls. The PMC's have had no issues with any of this.

Sometimes I'm thinking about changing speakers, as with everything else, but I always come back to the fact that no other speaker has actually performed as well as the PMC's in my home.... which might be worth thinking about if you live in an apartment and positioning is difficult.
 
While I wouldn't trade my maggies for anything, I am a huge PMC fan also. They really are all awesome, at least all the ones I heard years ago, FB1 to GB1 to OB1, even the little dinky boxes if that is all the budget someone had.

I would put another idea in your head; do you really need a preamp these days? Many "need it" but I sold my Mcintosh pre as the stage used in my exasound DAC is that good. Lost a little weight in the mid-bottom end but gained resolution and transparency. The topology is so much better than what they had years ago when some high end CD players had built in pre sections.

So If it were me upgrade speakers.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I've tried talking to a few dealers about what they'd recommend based on my budget, which I've set ~4-5,000 CAD. I'm not opposed to getting new but now that I'm getting up there in numbers, I'd really have to be convinced I'm getting a really good deal without having a warranty available.

I actually had a pair of Hawks originally when I had a tube setup and for what I was looking for I thought the Hawks weren't as clear but significantly more bassy. So I sold them and pocketed the difference.

I've auditioned some really high-end Tannoy Canterbury GR (I think) with Devialet, that was phenomenal. PMC with a Hegel 160 (so neutral I didn't find them very exciting). I had a Hegel H360 and tried Tannoy D10A and really loved them as well but their Revolution XT series with the same amp - the bass was so boomy and I had to shut it off after a couple songs, just way too overpowering!

From suggestions from dealers I'm looking at:

Totem Ember
Totem Sky Tower
ProAc D2 Monitor / ProAc D18
Harbeth (various depending on new or used)
PMC Twenty.22 bookshelf
Martin Logan Motion 40
 
Does your dealer drive Totem with tubes? Ours drove the Totem with Naim and other solid state and led me to believe they weren't all that tube friendly.
 
The dealer does have tubes, I believe some integrated Triode from Japan units. I should go over and see what tube pre's they have.

Mechnutt, you're the first to mention PSB actually! Perhaps I will see who carries them around here.

Matt_zak, someone has offered to let me audition their 3A MM's in their home which is very generous and fortunately isn't too far of a drive.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.
 
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