Well I have spent some time in the forum of this website getting feedback and suggestions about all types of speakers. What to listen for what to stay away from, but the most common suggestion I recieved was to go and listen. Let my ears decide.
I auditioned speakers that were a little lower in price than these including Bohlender/Graebener Z-1’s (which were the nicest of the competition that I didn’t buy), Polk Lsi9’s (which I found bright and weak on midrange) PSB stratus mini’s and PSB b25 image which were nice speakers but the problem with those was that I heard the Totems first. I had listened to the same three songs on a demo cd from the dealer on NAD electronics and the Totems were amazing. I put a deposit down and left the store absolutely confident with my decision. When I return three days later, I picked up a mahogany version of the rainmakers along with 22 feet of DH labs T-14 silver speaker wire. I drove home as responsibly as possible and hooked them up. My gear consists of a vintage mint NAD 3240pe integrated amplifier, Project 1.2 turntable with ortofon om20 super cartridge, Sony cdx985 dvd/sacd changer, monster 3 audio interconnects and hts2600 surge protector/line conditioner. When I first hooked them up the sound was amazing but not as amazing as the dealer’s set which as most of you know were well and broken in by now. My first test was with Sting – Sacred love SACD, Detail was really great and I was surprised at how the bass extension was impressive considering how small these things are. I was going through my music with these things, Nora, Miles D. , Floyd, and after a couple of hours I started to notice how these things were just starting to really open up and spread out. I left them running with a cd on repeat for a couple of hours while my wife and I ran out for dinner. We also picked up Diana Krall’s love scenes CD and went back home. When I put that Diana Krall in the player and sat down, I heard no speakers. I heard diana and that bass in my room. The detail and imaging were so realistic that we turned the lights down and my wife says to me , “I’m so glad you got these”. They continue to open up and as I type I am listening to Charlotte Church knowing they will not be fully broken in until wednesday. Even if they did not get any better in sound than now, I would be thrilled with these. As it stands, I could not be happier with my purchase and feel confident these will be pleasing my families ears for a long time.
