I agree with both Hummer and Ken Lee. The mani-2 can be made to sound not very good to excellent. It all depends on the qualities of supporting electronics and cables.
I've owned a pair of mani-2's for more than 3 years. There were times I wanted to replace them. But every time I replaced better cables I heard improved sound and I had come to ask the question what can I replace them with for the same money? I've heard many other similarly priced speakers and frankly they don't sound any better than the mani's, give or take a very few I have not tried out yet.

The secret seems to be, the mani's need a lot of breathing room. They should be placed at least 5 ft.from the front wall and 4 each from the sides. They should also be at least 9 ft apart and you the listener at least 5 ft. from the back wall. The speaker should be slightly toed in (for better imaging) and the room acoustically fine tuned.

Once you've done the above, the mani's will sound lifely, transparent and authoritative. Then, you will wonder what you can replace with for $4000.

Caution, stay away from them if you are not prepared to invest or feed them with top notch cables like Cardas Gold or Straightwire Virtuoso/Crescendos, and top notch power cords too!

I could not possibly agree more with Yee. This simply is the best stand mounted monitor that I've yet heard. They're completely coherent from lows to highs. The midrange is superb, better even than most ribbons and electrostatics. Larger high quality speakers have better and more powerful deep bass, but these Mani 2's have astonishing bass considering their size.
Definitely a 5 star speaker.

Yes, $4000 is a lot of money, esp. if you add the cost of a sturdy set of stands and top-notch cables (I totally agree on a prior reviewer's advice to get these). But other than that, I can't find much to complain about with Totem's Mani-2. I spent hours in listening rooms comparing speakers, but was able to find anything that sounded as crystal clear, transparent as the Mani's. Their bass is superb and continues to amaze me given the small size of these speakers. My listening preference is eclectic: lots of vocals and instrumental music, but also occasional deep-bass (e.g., organ) pieces. The Mani's are up to it. All in all, I've not regretted spending all that money for one moment. (An aside: the sound even won over sceptical family members who thought this audiophile stuff was just hype.)

The Totem Mani 2s require both power and space much as the Magnapans they replaced. I loved the Maggies, but space became a priority when I moved. The Mani 2s were practically as smooth as the Maggies had been with a great deal more dynamics. I play classical guitar and spent a number of years in the recording industry. As such, I suppose that I have a greater awareness of what live sound should sound like. It has been my experience that not all componants sound the same to all listeners, we are all biased. that's why the audio industry is so diverse! Very few pieces of equipment if any will deliver what might be called the "Ultimate sound". While there are speakers that do a better job than the Mani 2s, they are by and large considerably more expensive and larger. Stringed instruments shimmer and the bass is excellent, particularly on pianos and bass fiddle. While they are expensive, that should not be the criteria as to purchase. Guitars run in price from several hundred to ten thousands of dollars, each a little better than the next. Most of the quality is lost on the untrained litener. I for one listen to the music, I get lost in the performance. The Mani 2s perform admirably provided that one takes care to place them properly. By the by, I bought mine over the internet for approxamately half price..

RE: Totem Mani 2
It seems to me that the response letter of November 22, 1998 is a comment on Proac speakers rather than the Totems.

Clarity, transparency, bass

none

great speakers, small size but full range, need a high-quality solid-state 3-ohm capable power amp,
the best value in the Totem line.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 801, 805; PSB stratus Gold-i; Thiel 3.6, 5.0, 6.0; Dunlavy III, IV; Dynaudio Contour 3.0, 3.3; Sonus Faber Extrema; Wilson X1; JM Lab Grand Utopia; Martin Logan SL3, prodigy.

Full-range sound form a small cabinet, excellent coherence throughout the frequency range, almost free of any box colourations, very big sound.

Very difficult load, will drain all but the most powerful solid state amps (it likes though some tubes)

My first contact with the Totems was in a dealer showroom here in Athens. I had some idea of what the totem sound was like from my brief encounter with the Totem Rokk's when I auditioned them with a friend looking for a budget system 2 years ago. He decided then to go for the EPOS ES11 despite me urging him to go with the totems (why do they rake me with them if they are planning to buy what they want eventually?). Back to the Mani-2's ,the dealer proposed me to take them home for auditioning. I agreed since I thought the Brystons he was driving them with weren't doing them justice. All this happened at the time I was finishing the most difficult DIY project I ever undertook, the Passlabs A75 Pure Class A amplifier. The match was magical and it showed from the first note, I had a great weekend listening to my record collection afresh. Monday I had to return them back and then started my quest for finding the speaker that could beat them. For the next six months I listened to almost everything in the price range (I used the time to raise some cash also....)Proac 1SC, Spendor SP2/3, Spendor S100, Audio Spectrum Xanadu, Sonus Faber Concerto, Sonus Faber Electa Amator II, Sonus Faber Grand Pianno, Analysis Epsilon, Acoustic Energy AE1 II, Chario Milenium, to only come out a wiser (and welthier..) man. The Totems cannot ne beaten.
I since upgraded the amplifier for more Watts, better materials, I added the Bride of Son of Zen Single Single Ended Line Stage and I am now experiencing some of the best music I have ever heard, with the Mani-2's ofcourse.
The Totems are completely disappearing, the only comments one can make apply to instruments or sounds not in frequencies. Voices come out of living breathing persons accurately placed in space. Instruments are played by musicians and not by themselves. The bass is not imposing on the rest and everything remains clean and controlled even in proggramms with large quantitie of bass. This is the most impressive trait of these babies. I think this quality is the product of the double come arrangement. The second cone, besides providing that extra bass output, it also support the front cone so it can operate in a linear fashion over a broad frequency range. And then comes the high frequency unit; although I was never a fan of metal tweeters (they always sounded metal to me), if one takes a little care on his power supply and cabling (I found Van den Hull D102 III, although inexpensive here in Greece to be excellent interconnects, also some ferite on the power cables can make a lot of difference in the treble), he can hear an excelent reproduction of the high frequencies through these tweeters.
As a conclusion I can say that I can understand the mixed reviews coming from some of you about these speakers. I have auditioned over the past 2 years all the speakers I mentioned above either in my home for evaluation or at friends places or at dealers. I can confidently say that with the exception of the Electa Amator II (great speakers but definetly not full range), nothing comes close to this speakers. I would't reccomend the Totems to anyone feeling uncertain about their amplification. At best they will sound shallow and unrefined, at worst totally unlistenable, grainy and distorted (I have made a lot of experiments with my friends' amps). If on the other hand you are willing to spend a lot of cash on a super amp or spare the time on building the Pass A75 (or any other high quality DIY amp) I cannot recommed anything other than the Totem Mani-2. They posess all the virtues of big box multi-way speakers (bass, body, scale) without their disadvantages (cabinet-induced colorations, complex crossover networks). Their biggest advantage, however is their propensity to disappear, to step aside and let the music flow. What more can you ask from a speaker.

P.S. They are expensive though for such small speakers, but if you take into consideration the money other manufacturers ask you for much inferior products, they suddenly seem like a bargain. I urge you to discover for yourself what junk there is out there.

Similar Products Used:

Proac 1SC, Spendor SP2/3, Celestion SL6 (the original), Audio Spectrum Xanadu, Sonus Faber Concerto, Sonus Faber Electa Amator II

imaging, transparency, build quality, size, accurate and deep lows, almost perfect mids and highs...

amp power requirements

Out of all auditioned speakers listed above, Mani 2 came out as a hands down winner. I even wanted to like Linns or B&Ws better, since it is easier to run them and setup the home theater system... But, the difference in sound and image these speakers created was so big, that I ended up buying my first monitor size speaker I have ever owned...

Up until I put the Swan's Lake cd into the player, B&W 804 and Linn AV 5140 still stood some chance. After I heard some instruments on Manis, that I didn't hear on the other two set of speakers listenint to the same material, my audition was over. Mani 2 create sound image that is superior to any speaker I auditioned. Human voices are represented so naturally and effortlesly. Speakers are fun to listen and without strain. Looks of these speakers is kinda conservative at the first glance, but they grew on me over time.

Don't ever forget that you need lots of high current power to feed these boxes. If you do forget, you will regret it. Without enough power supplied, they sound flat and dry. I am biamping them using 2 Arcam Alpha 10 amps.. That is barely enough power...

Up to around 5000 dollars, there is no speaker that will outplay Mani 2. Period.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 804, Linn AV 5140, Vandersteen A3, HDG Revelation 3, Soliloque 6.3, Dynaudio Contour 1.8 and 3.0, ML SL3

Very sweet, compact, respond well to changes in room placement

none for me

I buy very few items of any kind that I don't regret just a little bit, but the Mani-2s keep making me happier. Getting them on sale helped, certainly. Playing a Rega Planet CD directly into a McIntosh MC275 tube amplifier, these speakers are sweet, sweet, sweet. No problems with having sufficient power, even with only 75 watts available. Couldn't vouch for the results with solid state, though. Listening to anything from string quartets to Steely Dan I finally discovered what "listening fatigue" means, since I don't experience it anymore. I'm a musician, not an audiophile. There is plenty of room here to upgrade cables, stick in a preamp, etc., but I haven't felt the need. After 8 months the system is still improving. Remember these speakers need lots of breaking in. The modest physical size is a great bonus for me. Have found lots of interesting tonal effects moving them around the room. It's easy to adjust the balance. And I love the simple, elegant look of them. Superb woodworking and veneer.

I borrowed a pair of Mani 2's for the weekend with every intention of buying them to replace my aging Celestion SL-6 speakers, which I've owned since 1983. Supposedly, the Mani 2's were state-of-the-art for a small 2-way minimonitor. My electronics are Rotel RCD-991 CD player Sonic Frontiers Line 1 preamp, Ayre V-3 amplifier and Nordost Red Dawn/Blue Heaven cables and interconnects. The Mani 2 totally underwhelmed me!! Bass went lower than my Celestions but it didn't matter...The midrange magic of the Celestions was gone and a flat, analytical presentation unfolded across a soundstage that was less holographic than the Celestions provided. Good speakers, but no magic. Was very surprised after the rave reviews. Can somebody suggest a better minimonitor than my SL-6's???