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Listening Room<br />
Totem Model One<br />
With this small but gorgeous<br />
speaker, we were<br />
convinced that we were<br />
in familiar territory.<br />
The Model One is a known quantity. We<br />
reviewed <strong>the</strong> original one when it came<br />
out in <strong>the</strong> 80’s, and we did <strong>the</strong> Signature<br />
<strong>version</strong> in UHF No.65. Both times, we<br />
loved it. It is one of <strong>the</strong> world’s great<br />
speaker designs. The Model One’s very<br />
strong imaging power makes it a natural<br />
for a surround sound system…but only<br />
with an accompanying centre speaker.<br />
And this speaker sure looks like a<br />
member of <strong>the</strong> family. Think of a pair<br />
of Model Ones glued back to back, but<br />
sharing a single tweeter, like Siamese<br />
Twins. The enclosure includes two<br />
separate spaces for <strong>the</strong> two 14 cm Dynaudio<br />
woofers, each with its own reflex<br />
port at <strong>the</strong> rear. There are, as usual with<br />
this series, two pairs of <strong>the</strong> wonderful<br />
WBT binding posts at <strong>the</strong> rear. The<br />
mahogany finish on ours was…let’s just<br />
say you could buy <strong>the</strong> speaker for that<br />
alone.<br />
The Totem is small compared to<br />
<strong>the</strong> competition, but that could be just<br />
one more reason to choose it. At least<br />
it would if it turned out to be as terrific<br />
as <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r speakers in <strong>the</strong> series.<br />
Like o<strong>the</strong>r small Totems, this one has<br />
relatively low sensitivity, at least by <strong>the</strong><br />
standard of <strong>the</strong> current fashion. You<br />
can’t make a speaker this size with this<br />
ability to dig out extreme lows without<br />
Centre<br />
it showing up somewhere.<br />
Though <strong>the</strong> speaker is no larger<br />
than <strong>the</strong> first two tested, it projected an<br />
image of solidity you don’t expect from<br />
something its size. The two male voices<br />
in <strong>the</strong> first live vs recorded test had good<br />
body, without ever becoming artificially<br />
chesty. We were surprised by <strong>the</strong> higher<br />
frequencies, though, which were slightly<br />
elevated. We expected to hear sibilance<br />
on Reine’s voice, but Albert’s esses were<br />
a touch prominent as well. This is, as<br />
we’ve noted before, a brutal test, because<br />
a first-generation recording of our own<br />
voices gets us as close as we can get to<br />
an absolute standard.<br />
The Model One did much better<br />
than <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r two compact speakers<br />
on <strong>the</strong> two recordings, as we expected.<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Totem Model One<br />
Center<br />
Price: C$1595/US$1400 as tested,<br />
slightly more in some finishes<br />
Dimensions: 63.5 x 16.5 x 24 cm<br />
Impedance: 4 ohms<br />
Claimed sensitivity: 86 dB<br />
Most liked: Surprising body, plenty<br />
of dynamics<br />
Least liked: A somewhat elevated top<br />
end, occasional coloration<br />
Verdict: Add four more Totem speakers,<br />
plus a sub, and stir<br />
The strings on <strong>the</strong> 1948 Beethoven<br />
recording can be shrill to <strong>the</strong> point of<br />
brittleness, but <strong>the</strong> Totem pulled down<br />
<strong>the</strong> highs to a much more tolerable level.<br />
“I can still hear something odd in <strong>the</strong><br />
high midrange,” said Gerard, “but this is<br />
a lot better, isn’t it?” So was <strong>the</strong> Jennifer<br />
Warnes recording. The tight but ample<br />
bottom end gave her voice a richness<br />
that nei<strong>the</strong>r of <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r two speakers<br />
had been able to deliver. The percussion<br />
was detailed, with body but no tendency<br />
to boom. “This is a good speaker,” said<br />
Albert.<br />
But how would it do on movies? We<br />
listened to <strong>the</strong> pink noise during <strong>the</strong><br />
alignment phase, and noted how unlike<br />
our Energy speakers this Totem was.<br />
This is not a black mark by any means,<br />
though it reduced <strong>the</strong> chances that we<br />
might be able to get by with such a<br />
pleasingly small speaker in our Kappa<br />
system.<br />
Gerard noted with relief that <strong>the</strong> level<br />
of distortion, which had cast a greyish<br />
veil on dialog with <strong>the</strong> previous two<br />
speakers, had largely lifted. Reine liked<br />
<strong>the</strong> greater depth that <strong>the</strong> three front<br />
speakers were now managing, and she<br />
took interest in <strong>the</strong> proceedings once<br />
again. The choral voices on The Abduction<br />
From <strong>the</strong> Seraglio in Amadeus were<br />
better detached, and more lifelike, and<br />
even <strong>the</strong> applause was better rendered.<br />
Were we unanimous? Not this time.<br />
Albert found <strong>the</strong> voices more colored,<br />
and ra<strong>the</strong>r too homogeneous. “Even<br />
Katarina’s voice sounds like <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs,”<br />
he complained.<br />
With <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r two speakers Reine<br />
had complained of not being to follow<br />
<strong>the</strong> text, which is of course delivered<br />
with British accents. She found <strong>the</strong><br />
dialog clearer this time. “I could have<br />
written it down,” she said. Gerard also<br />
liked <strong>the</strong> rendition of <strong>the</strong> scene, despite<br />
<strong>the</strong> speaker’s tonal balance, which didn’t<br />
quite blend with our speakers.<br />
As for Albert, his doubts were growing.<br />
“I don’t like that coloration,” he said.<br />
“I can live with o<strong>the</strong>r forms of distortion,<br />
but not that one. The sibilance is too<br />
prominent, and <strong>the</strong>re’s gauze wrapped<br />
around everything.” The o<strong>the</strong>r two<br />
panelists looked at him quizzically. It<br />
looked as though unanimity was out of<br />
reach.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 35