Bass, overall balance, good image but not the best I've heard

Timbres, not really involving or magical

I already posted to rave reviews on the Mani2, which I've been using for one year and a half. Up to now, I've never heard a speaker (regardless of price) that convinced me to trade my Totem. All did the same kind of things, things the Mani2 did with talent.

Then, something happened. I was looking for some speakers to set-up a smaller system, and borrowed Jean-Marie Reynaud's TRENTE (half the value of the Totem). For fun, I introduced them in my present system instead of the Mani2. Wow! Had I been deaf, during the past two years? The result was INCREDIBLE!

I often attend concert halls, and I had always found that timbres lacked magic on the Totem. But as all the other speakers I listened sounded this way (and, more often, far worse), I deduced that I had reached the limits of high-fidelity.

The TRENTE ushered me into another world. A world of delicacy, of music, of whispers and of shouts, of laughs and cries. I was stunned. Even the image, a strong point of the Mani2, was better with the JM Reynaud!

I asked audioreview to add his products to the database, with no result. So just a few words, here, especially since I immediately bought the Trenté and Jean-Marie Reynaud's flagship speaker, the Offrande.

Both of same can be compared to the Totem, since they are monitor two-way speakers. The relatively unexpensive Trenté and the Offrande better the Totem Mani2 in every way, except for bass performance. The Trenté has superb bass but does not go as deep. As for the bass of the Offrande, I cannot tell for the moment, since they are not burnt-in. They are said to reproduce 30 hz at 0 dB!

But the most important is the uncanny feeling of connection with the musician. They don't play in your listening room, no, it is you who are transfered to the performance venue. Image is OUT-STAN-DING! Timbres are to die for. Instruments have weight. I have to stop here. You owe it to yourself to listen to these. I thank God for the coincidence that made me get a pair of Trenté! Otherwise, I would have stayed a satisfied and ignorant audiophile, instead of becoming an over-the-top and blissful music-lover.

Check out www.jm-reynaud.com.

My system:
Helios Stargate CD Player
Brinkmann Monoblocks and preamp.
Harmonic Technology cables Pro9+ and ProSilway MK2.
Magic Stands from JM Reynaud.

So, new rating for the Totems, to which I owe good moments, though they were nothing compared to what I'm enjoying at the moment! The Mani2 are balanced, image well, perform well.

Similar Products Used:

JM Reynaud Offrande and Trenté, Thiel, ML Request

Speed, transparency, soundstage, detail, bass response.

Need superior amplification that MUST match the speakers.

I have personally been involved in audio for a number of years(~20) since my father fed me a steady diet of systems when I was younger and took me to several "High end Stereo" Shops. I now have had the means to purchase a "dream" system based on my budget. I have been fortunate to be able to listen to many well made speakers, however the Totem speakers and Mani-2's to be specific are some of the best speakers on the market today. They have a beautiful understated appearance. The sound emanating from them are extremely hard to beat, even with their somewhat steep price. I have heard many more expensive speakers that are not any better, and sometimes worse sounding than these. These speakers deserve very good electronics to get the best sound and also some very careful speaker placement to optimize the soundfield and the bass clarity/response. These speakers are actually in a combo 2 channel and theater setup with Model One signatures in the rear and a Model One Signature Center speaker with Velodyne HGS 12 handling lowest frequencies in movies. The preamp is a Proceed AVP and amplification is currently a Classe CAV 75 6 channel amplifier(not enough power for the Mani-2's). I have tested the Passlabs X-150 2 channel amp with moderate results on these speakers. The best match so far seems to be the Passlabs Aleph 5 or the SimAudio Moon W-5 amplifier. The speakers are able to reproduce faithfully just about any music genre you put at them. If your tastes are to extremely loud volumes then these speakers may let you down. If that's the case go to the Shaman's which have great dynamic reponse albeit at a slight loss in imaging ability. A word of warning to potential buyers: these speakers as with all Totem line require a long time to break in. Figure on at least 200-300 play time or about 3 months. Mine are still improving in sound. Happy listening(remember, that's what it's all about now isn't it!!)

Similar Products Used:

Totem Model One Signatures

IMAGE, SOUND STAGE, HARMONICS

POWER HUNGRY

I have been using the mani-2s for almost 4 years. Started with tubes sounded great. Went to a 100 watt solid state amp they closed up like a clam. I just bought a M F A3cr amp and pre amp. They have opened back up better than with tubes. Ive listened to some of the best speakers out there,in fact when i bought the manis they sat right next to B&W 801s. I bought the Manis. For my tastes these are the best speakers out there.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, POLK, ETC ETC

Delivery almost everything in acoustic spectrum.
New "Curly Maple" looks stunning!

Boxy shape (I really don't like square corner shape)

My audio gears are:
Pre Amp: YBA 2
Amp: YBA 2 HC-DT (high current - dual transformers)
CD Player: Meridian 508.24
Interconnect: Silver Audio - Appassionata (2 pair of 0.5m)
Speaker Cable: Silver Audio - 8' pair Symphony 48 (bi-wire)
AC Power Cord: NBS Monitor 1
Conditioner: Audio Power - Ultra Wedge 115
Speaker Stand: Totem (designed espescially for Mani-2)
Audio Rack: 3 Amp. Stand alone from Salamander.

I used Audioprism "burn-in CD" to break-in Mani-2 continuously 3 weeks in my Master bedroom closet after purchased it before Xmas'99. Each speaker faced to each other with 4" gap. They were connected in reversed phase, and covered by a soft blanket. All electronic gears were placed at outside closet. I set the volume at medium loud, and repeatingly on CD Player programming.
After 3 week vacation, I placed them in my huge living room and I invited my several "audio-nut" friends who invested multi thousand U.S dollars on their Power Cable only. After Mani-2 were played all kinds of music for more 3 hours, all of my buddy just said "INCREDIBLE" for my simple audio gears that sounded to that level! They commited that their 100K sounded no better than this!

For most people, Mani-2 looks not really impressive until it sang loud and clear against with Watt Puppy V Mk.II which one of my buddy brough in. It made many hi-end speakers out there ashame so badly. Now I am no more upgrade my equipment even I win a lottery of multi million. I completely satisfied.

Congratulation to all Mani-2 owners who I believe that they are all truely the Golden Ears.

Similar Products Used:

Sonus Faber Extrema, B&W Silver Signature

Wide soundstage, bass is low and tight, plays like a full range speaker, good detail and focus.

Needs very powerful amp and a good stands, midrange can be a little fuller and high frequency a little less dry.

Hi,

I have been using the mani-2s more then a year, they replaced Sonus faber Extrema's. The Mani-2s makes the reproduction of music a worthwile and gives a pleasure-and for me that is the most important factor. They are one of the best dynamic small sized speaker under $4000.

My room measures 6.5 meters by 3.5 meters.

My system:
Naim audio CDX
Krell KRC-HR
Krell FPB 200C
Meridian 504
Transparent audio Reference speaker cables
Audioquest Anaconda
Toshiba SD-9000 dvd+ Meridian 566 D/A

Similar Products Used:

Sonus faber's Extrema, Concerto grand piano, Guarneri homage, Thiel cs 3.6, Wilson audio Cub 2.

Very precise and clear

None I can think of.

Heard these a few times at a friends house. Very impressive sound out of a small monitor. I'm now in the market for a used pair if I can find them at a reasonable price.

Similar Products Used:

Bozak, Wharfedale, AR

Excellent bass extension, smooth midrange, liquid treble.

Very sensitive to equipment and cables. Low impedance.

As I have stated before, but my review seems to have been deleted from here!? Excellent little speaker...I have noticed that they sometimes can sound a wee bit harsh on the upper midrange. (This is a case of my equipment that is being used) The bass extension is fantasic. Not only do they extend into the mid 20Hz region, they can really resolve complex musical passages with ease.

I have been experimenting with different speaker cables lately ranging from Cardas to MIT to Kimber Kable. It is amazing the differences you can here in the cables with these speakers. I am currently using Kimber 8TC in double run bi-wire configuration. Imediately after switching to these cables I noticed a shift upwards in the upper midrange frequencies and at times they sound a bit harsh as I stated above so I am not that impressed with the Kimber 8TC. (Not with these speakers anyways.) The MIT so far has sounded the smoothest in the midrange region but lacked on higher frequencies and did not have the "air" that I like. The Cardas cables have the "air" and the smooth midrange but lacked in the lower frequencies in my opinion....I want to try out the Harmonic Technologies line of cables and see how they sound as well and see how they fair.

Too make a long story short, these speakers show strengths and weeknesses in all equipment that is being used and therefore require that you experiment to get the best sound out of them...

Similar Products Used:

Totem Model One Signatures.

I auditioned these speakers at a local streophile dealer, the Gammaphone in Baltimore, MD. In the same listening room, I also auditioned B&W's 800 and Martin-Logan's SL3. I initially came to hear the SL3's and 800's (or 801's), with every intention of getting the Martin-Logans. Listening was done with the same listening material (the demanding "Fanfair for the Common Man"), and featured Mark Levinson's No.333 amp, No.380 pre-amp and No.37 cd transport with No.36 D/A converter. The SL3's gave the typical Martin-Logan sound: very accurate, extremely wide soundstage and very "pointless" in nature. Next, the B&W 800 was incredibly powerful! Perhaps too powerful for my taste, they went incredibly low and still had the ability to play very well with less volume, reproducing the all instuments incredibly well. But, they did not sway me away from the Martin-Logans. Then the salesperson offered the Totem Mani-2's for comparison. I was blown away! I could not believe the sound that came from these mini-monitors! Full, rich bass that went low and stayed tight and fast, very clear highs and mids that spread across a very wide soundstage and truly sounded "pointless." And state of the art engineering: dual DynAudio 6 1/2" woofer drivers in a sealed enclosure firng in opposite directions: one firing to the front and the other firing to the rear, mounted magnet to magnet. This gives a "push-pull" effect that makes the bass sound tight and full, from such a small enclosure. It features a 1" SEAS tweeter. And the enclosure fully braced inside and lock-mitered, giving it a rock-hard feel. Only things to remember are to put them on some very good stands (fill them with sand...) and give them breathing room from behind.
The Totem Mani-2's strike me as perhaps the perfect "sensible" audiophile speaker. They have a wider, more transparent soundstage than B&W's incredible 800's. They have lower and more powerful bass bass than Martin-Logan's SL3's, and dare I say, better mids as well. And they are infinately easier to place and are more forgiving of your listening room than either of the two! For $4000 MSRP (still a lot of money...) they strike me as having answered every pro and con of the perfect speaker puzzle.

It never fails to amaze me how two people hear totally different things from the same set of speakers. Both Ken and Hummer found Mani 2's to have a large sound stage. I found nothing of the sort. Soundstage size was rather small, though reasonably deep and well delineated. Contrary to Hummer and Ken's experience, Mani 2's lack power and dynamics in the bass region. (Although for their size bass is remarkable.) This lack of mid and low bass power explains the small sound stage not treble prominence as Ken suggest.
As far as mids and high's, I'm clueless as to what Ken's listening for. The Mani 2's midrange is as transparent as any conventional speaker that I have heard. Vocals in particular are superior to Both Proac Response 1's and 2's.

I also found the treble to be just a bit bright, but it was very detailed and accurate. Triangle's, cymbals, the edge of snare's were all realistically produced. However that slight hash common to metal tweeters was evident in these speakers.

Rating these speakers is difficult. Judged on sound quality alone, they earn 4 stars. Partnered with accurate subs like Vandersteens or Rels, they rate a 5. Here's the kicker. These things cost $4000 a pair sans stands. For that kind of money I expect more.

Although this is not a speaker that I would buy, It still is a pretty good speaker. The only other stand mounted mounted speaker that I know to be better are Sonus Faber Extrema's. Response 2's are simple not in the Mani 2's league.I have heard them both in the same system, No contest. The Proac's are veiled in the mids and have a "woody" coloration in the upper bass that simply cannot be ignored.

As far as bass extension and dynamics, neither of these speakers cuts it. Geez, Mani 2's cost more than NHT 3.3.s.

I consider the Mani'2s to be pretty good speakers that are grossly overpriced. The Response 2's are simply average speakers that are grossly overpriced.