TOTEM
- Rega RP3 TT
- BlueSound Node and Rega DAC
- Rega Integrated Amp
- TOTEM Sky floorstanding speakers
The
last time I heard the tiny Totem Sky floorstanders was on a side wall
in a largish room at the Munich High End Show back in May 2017 (reports
here and
here).
There they sounded fun, musical, lively, refined - mighty impressive
for such a slender, diminutive speaker. But here was a great example of
why its worth spending more than just a couple of minutes in a room.
Because on entering, the album "Avalon" was playing. The sound was
thin, dull, almost muffled and in colour terms - very grey, lacking
colour, insight and detail. A major disappointment. A second track on
the album was just as dull. But then we asked for the BlueSound / Rega
digital source to be fired up, and what a revelation. Now we had a
system that was full of detail, depth, emotion, light and shade, great
imaging and musical engagement. Superb. Two tracks later and we were
convinced of the little Sky's capabilities. But then on came the P3
again and it all fell flat and dull again. A suprising result as the P3
is such a well respected turntable, but here, if you'd only heard the
Totems with the turntable, you'd be looking elsewhere for something far
better. With the better source, they were fantastic.
