LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2 still rate as one of the ...

Listening Feedback Room
Totem Mani-2
Signature
Were we the very first
ever to review a Totem
loudspeaker? We think
so. It was of course the
original Totem, the Model One. We
were impressed with it, as we still are,
and we eagerly awaited the Model Two.
This was the Model Two, with a clever
pun identifying it as the second model,
all the while tying it to the company’s
faux Native image.
The Mani-2, first reviewed in UHF
No. 43, impressed us too. Though in pictures
it looks like a slightly larger Model
One, it is different in both configuration
and sound. With its twin woofer setup,
it was capable of very deep bass that
was perfectly controlled right down to
its lower limits. We concluded that the
30 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
The Listening Room
Mani-2 was one of the world’s truly great
loudspeakers.
It did, however, have an Achilles’
heel. Its configuration was accompanied
by a strange impedance curve unlike that
anticipated by most amplifier designers.
Even Totem’s own (short-lived) Amber
amplifier was not recommended. An
inadequate amplifier could actually
damage the Mani-2!
But oh, how it sang when properly
driven! We recall taking a pair of them
to a show right after our review. The
first afternoon a blind visitor spent a
quarter hour listening before asking us
what subwoofer we were using.
Superficially the Mani-2 looks like
a bigger version of the Model One,
with its attractive finish (mahogany is
our favorite) and its rounded sides,
with gleaming WBT binding posts at
the rear. Not visible from the outside
is that, behind the woofer is a second
woofer, connected in tandem so that
the two move in and out together. That
gives the Mani-2 its unique way with
extreme bass and dynamics…and also
gives headaches to amplifier designers.
Just as invisible is that the cabinet is
veneered inside as well as outside, to
prevent warping of the monocoque
structure. The inside is not stuffed
with mineral wool, as most speakers
are. Damping is done with borosilicate,
an anti-vibration coating used in aerospace
applications, long ago adopted by
Totem for its speakers.
Since our original review the Mani-2
has been considerably revised, raising
its efficiency somewhat and making it
less fragile. And it is now available as
a Signature version. Would we be as
delighted as we had been a decade and
a half ago?
We set up a two-part review. We
would begin in our Alpha room, where
we had listened to the earlier Mani-2
(since that was our only listening room
back then). We would then move to the
much larger Omega room, and put the
Mani-2 up against our vaunted Reference
3a Supremas.
The Alpha room
The room is rather small, but our
Living Voice speakers are quite comfy
about 30 cm from the absorbent rear
wall. The tonal balance of the Mani-2’s
was a little strange in that position. Pulling
them another 15 cm closer to us did
the trick. Note that our photo shows the
speakers sitting on a pair of Totem’s own
T4L steel stands (C$775/US$750). Using
them would have meant filling them with
sand, however, and we opted instead for
our own extremely dead Foundation
stands. Dollops of Audio-Tak held the
speakers tight.
The power amplifier in that room
is a Simaudio Moon W-5LE, which
is explicitly not recommended for the
Mani-2’s. We were told off the record