I have owned and enjoyed my Totem model 1s for two years. Driven by a Bryston 3B-ST, they have provided hour-upon-hour of Audio bliss. As other reviewers have stated, they are very, very reveiling. If the software (recording) is a piece of dung, the Totems will truely reflect this. If the recording is good, then what you will hear is excellent sound-staging, a tremendous mid range, and surprisingly extemded bass for such small speakers (No!, They will not come anywhere close to 20 Hz, but they do get down far enough so the bass does not distract from the music.). All I can tell others is - go and audition them.

I have owned a pair of Model 1's for 2 years, and in many respects surpassany other speakers I have owned or listened to! They replaced a pair of Martin
Logan Aerius, AND B&W 805's that could not match the Totem's imaging,detail,
or timbral accuracy.I am using a Krell KSA-50s amp, KSP-7B pre-amp,MD-2 transport, and a SBP-32X processor/ DTI-PRO.Cables are Kimber KCAG, and 8TC.
Stands are 100lb homebrew Target knockoffs,sandfilled and spiked. I highly
recommend the Totems if a pair could be purchased used at a fair price($800?)

I sold my first pair of Totem Model one signatures to a friend, then spent 3 weeks searching for something to replace them with because I started to get a little proud thinking " There has got to be a more musical better sounding out there for the same money"..... I tried everything my price budget would allow and FINALLY I found sonic heaven... Yup.. A black pair of Totem model one signatures... (Musta been the color I didn't like the first time) .

Perfect sound from this small Model-1, Totem. Especially for the New Age kind music, 3-dimensional sound image from Model-1 makes feeling heavenly!(I am classical music lover with more than six hundreds CD collection but sometime enjoy easy listenig kind including New Age)I bought this 2nd hand tiny pair with Spirit integrate amp(Thule from Denmark),Marantz 67SE CDP,Transparent The Wave speaker cables(biwired)and Audioquest Emerald interconnect three months ago since I moved in here for busuness from Korea. Except a little bit of feeling from bright treble (also with some grain but I feel that this is not from Model-1 but Marantz),I have no complaints at all. This is really nice gear I have ever tried. By the way, is it true that there is a stone(marble) pair of this Model-1? any one knows?

I've owned a pair of Totem Model one for more than 5 years. I was looking for a pair high quality small speakers and had listened to competitors from ProAc, B&W, Sonus Faber and others. B&W matrix 805 was my
second choice, piano sound were so beautiful but bass was not very clean. ProAc Response 2 impressed me but
was too expensive for me at the time, Response 1 was simple too expensive for the money.
At its price range, the Totem was the best over all speaker by a big margin. Transparency and detail is top
notch, well balanced and no obvious coloration, and imaginging is heaven!
I have one problem with this speaker. The dealer where I bought the speaker from was using a McCormack DNA-1
(rated 200 wpc) to drive them. The powerful Amp pushed out the 5-in more than a inch! And the bass was punchy,
room-filling (and the room was quite large), and so clean, better many more expensive floor standing
speakers!
However, I am using a Music Reference RM-9 tube amp (130 wpc) to drive them. I don't get the bass performance
anywhere near from the dealer's. I mate the Totem with a Velodyne ULD-12 subwoofer, still I mid and upper
bass performance is far below the dealer combination without any subwoofer.
But I am not going to buy the McCormack, having get used to tube sound and walk back to the same dealer, I
can't live with the vocal of the McCormick anymore.
If anyone had experience with the bass performance of this speaker, please e-mail me jdai@qualcomm.com

Accuracy, definition, soundstage, treedimentionality (wide and height)

little sound, lack of lower bass (of course), little dynamics, poor attack, sentitive to cables and amplifiers

In general good sound.
Not a good partner of bright amps and cables (like Bryston 3B-ST and Kimbers Monocle XL and 4 PR. Better with Audioquest Indigos and Forest, and Very good partner of the Bulbs an Hybrids (like Counterpoint).

Similar Products Used:

Celestion 300

Soundstage depth and width, bass slam and speed (truly sensational for a mini-monitor), build quality.

Mids and highs could be a little sweeter and more transparent like Matrix 805's, requires powerful amplifier to drive 4 ohm load, cannot be placed close to walls (I don't know if this a weakness but in my small room it was), underachieves with ROCK and Large Orchestral movements.

I have to diagree with the previous posting by Andres in that my Totem Model One Signatures mate very well with my Bryston 3B-ST amplifier. Bass is authoritative (for a bookshelf) and in no way sounds stressed or bright. Since both products are dynamic, as a sysytem, they truly excell when playing vocals, jazz and acoustic guitar.

Overall, a fine mini-monitor that plays much larger than it's size. When properly setup with solid stands, the Model One Signatures will disappear into the music and provide years of enjoyment.

My system:

Totem Model One Signatures atop Target R4 stands
Bryston 3B-ST
Wadia 830 cd player
Target B3 rack
MIT MH-750 bi-wire speaker cables
MIT 330 Proline balanced interconnect
Black Diamond Racing cones
Gut-Wire G-Clef power cords

Similar Products Used:

B&W Matrix 805 (sweet midrange!!!)

The Totem Model Ones are an excellent speaker for the money. You will have to spend a lot more , to surpass this level of midrange transparency, soundstaging, and adequate bass extension and power. However they can be brutally revealing, of upstream imperfections. Being a big Model One fan I have had my speakers modified, to smooth out some of the high freqency sizzle. In this configuration, they are superb!.

The Model One is the best speaker I have owned- not perfect in all respects, and without much deep bass, but the type of speaker I enjoy music through and don't think about, which is the whole idea.
If you are thinking about getting the Mani-2 for more bass (they don't drop off until around 35 Hz, significantly lower than the Ones), make sure that your listening room acoustics will handle the lower frequencies. You just might be better off with less bass. I now how some severe room resonance problems since I upgraded to the Manis...however, the Manis are still superb.

I agree with the others, I am not going to replace these for some time. Had Magnelplaner MG-I's for 15 years. These were the only thing I heard that made me want to part with them. These are better for my purposes. I will have time for a long time,that is unless I can get the bucks to buy the Manis. They are the Ones with the missing bottom. Don't listen to them and you'll never miss it. Besides they are 250% more money but not 2 1/2 times better.