Transparency, Resolution, Coherance, Imaging and Speed. Super slim cabinet design yields zero box coloration. Unbelievable price to performance ratio.

Bass are extremely quick and precise but lacks the slam that most audiophiles are accustomed to.

My taste and priority in speaker has usually been about transparency, resolution, coherence, imaging and speed. However, I almost felt my budget is quite a bit more humble than my taste. There is a handful of affordable speakers that perform exceptionally well in regard to the above. A few examples would be the Merlin TSM, Totem 1 Signature, ProAc Response 1 SC and Revel M20. These are all well designed small monitors that does most things well with the exceptions of large scale sonic delivery and extreme LF. Although their prices are not necessarily out of reach for most audiophiles, they do get up to $2300 or more when you add quality stands. Then you have the Arro which does all the forementioned things for about half the price. Of course there are a few shortcomings to the Arro compared to the above monitors. The Arro''s midrange is "very resolved" but it is not as refined as these monitors. The Arro''s high are "extremely extended" but it doesn''t have that extreme delicate edge as compared to these monitors. The Arro also does not have that overwhelming bass, in fact, the Arro lacks the typical bass slam that most (but not all) people prefer. So why do I still think they are really great speakers anyway? Simple, their sound is absolutely free from box colorations of any sort. To be box coloration free and still deliver full scale bass, you may have to look at Wilson, JM Lab Utopia or the high end Revels. For budget oriented guys like myself, adding a small but quick subwoofer from Velodyne or Hsu makes more sense. I rather take the savings and invest in high quality cables and source components. System: Sim I-5 Integrated Amp ($1500 used) Rega Jupiter CD Player ($1300 used) Totem Arro Speakers ($1200 new) Homegrown Audio Silver Speaker Cables ($750 new) Kimber KCAG Silver Interconnects ($220 new for .5 meter) Room: 30L x 18W x 8H No acoustic treatments Musical Taste: Jazz, vocals, classical, scores

Similar Products Used:

Totem 1, Revel M20

Transparency, Resolution, Coherance, Imaging and Speed. Super slim cabinet design yields zero box coloration. Unbelievable price to performance ratio.

Bass are extremely quick and precise but lacks the slam that most audiophiles are accustomed to.

My taste and priority in speaker has usually been about transparency, resolution, coherence, imaging and speed. However, I almost felt my budget is quite a bit more humble than my taste. There is a handful of affordable speakers that perform exceptionally well in regard to the above. A few examples would be the Merlin TSM, Totem 1 Signature, ProAc Response 1 SC and Revel M20. These are all well designed small monitors that does most things well with the exceptions of large scale sonic delivery and extreme LF. Although their prices are not necessarily out of reach for most audiophiles, they do get up to $2300 or more when you add quality stands. Then you have the Arro which does all the forementioned things for about half the price. Of course there are a few shortcomings to the Arro compared to the above monitors. The Arro''s midrange is "very resolved" but it is not as refined as these monitors. The Arro''s high are "extremely extended" but it doesn''t have that extreme delicate edge as compared to these monitors. The Arro also does not have that overwhelming bass, in fact, the Arro lacks the typical bass slam that most (but not all) people prefer. So why do I still think they are really great speakers anyway? Simple, their sound is absolutely free of box colorations of any sort. To be box coloration free and still deliver full scale bass, you may have to look at Wilson, JM Lab Utopia or the high end Revels. For budget oriented guys like myself, adding a small but quick subwoofer from Velodyne or Hsu makes more sense. I rather take the savings and invest in high quality cables and source components.

Similar Products Used:

Totem 1, Proac Response 1

sub woofer excellent bass

none

modulus by infinity & acoustic sound design are two of the best decisions that i have made this year. The price was just under 1200 (a bargin)and the personilised service what i got from the people at Acoustic Design was great. They answered all my questions and even made suggestions thanks guys.

Similar Products Used:

celistion Htib

Good sound reproduction of a lot of material, precise, small, nice looking

Bass can''t go that deep as the woofer is too small to be physically able to go lower, my subwoofer does however easily cover that weakness.

Just to help you judge my statements: I don''t like the voodoo around high end, I think people who hear the difference between an optical and copper digital cable need consultation and think that the laws of physiks and information theory also apply to audio equipment. The Totem Arro''s are plain the best stuff I heard in the pricerand and up to tripple that (B&W 804 and alike are the first to beat them). I use my HK AVR 500RDS as D/A Converter and preAmp, my Cayin TA30 tubeAmp for serious listening. The speakers are also attached to the HK Amp directly for Movies (using a switch that would cause a heart attack to most high enders)... Cables are good enought not to warm up with >100A flowing, that''s all. In this setup, the CD Player (yes, not vinyl records played wet on a turntable heavier than my car) does almost not matter, as long as the PCM signal it creates is close enought to what ought to be on the CD. I bought the beaks because you can actually hear them improve the sound, and because they look nice and my girlfriend liked them ;-) Listen to any musik you like with them, they sound great. I kind of rediscovered "to live is to die" from metallica with the Arro''s, but also crappy sounding grunch (like Staind, Creed, etc.) is really good to listen to. Female Vocalists (Tori Amos, Kate Bush, etc.) I like to listen to really win a lot having good detail and soundstage. My rood is difficult, glass walls and an opening to a hall 18 meters long, but I found placement to be not so critical. The speakers are filled with sand, by the way not cosmically informed, to improve stability. Btw., I bought them run in, used.

Similar Products Used:

ELAC, B&W

I auditioned the arro based on the reviews from this website. I am happy with my choice after living with the arro for a year. So I think it is good that I send in a review to help future arro buyers. :) There would certainly be more of them :) This is an excellent loudspeaker for the price. Lots of detail and clarity, with superb sound staging and imaging. The arro was a little bright when new, but the brightness toned down once the drivers are broken in. Also, the combak speaker toys helped. Using a warm amplifier would help too. Also, I searched the web and found that during audio shows, totem arro was partnered with CJ CAV-50 or the Sim Audio electronics. So, if you are thinking of getting the Totem, it may be good that you check out amplifiers from both of these companies. Bass is actually quite good and clean, given the size of the speaker. But please be realistic, chest-pounding bass is impossible from 4 inch drivers. The arro is partnered with: Amplifier: CJ CAV-50 CD: Arcam Alpha 5 with Analog Reconstructor from Ortho Spectrum. VDH interconnect and speaker wires. Cheers, KW Tan

Crisp and clean, I love these speakers.

If I have to sum up in a one word to describe these speakers, it has to be "live". I was no one to mid-fi, let alone hi-fi. I wasn't going to add or subtract any of the reviews that were told truthfully for this wonderful speaker.I felt and absolutely still feel I have any qualification to say something about my rediscovered music world which I just entered with this speaker. However, when I noticed people to turn away from the speaker,I felt I have to add something here. So here it goes;

Yes, this speaker can be a bright sound or has treble glare with wrong gears. I generally agree with the reviewer saying a good match with a high end gear. I had a trouble with a Marantz sr-7000 receiver to tame the problem with a compressed sound. Then again it hit me with a brick
when I read some reviewers expressing an airy and clear sound as a virtue on them. If its sound is so clear, it can't be all soft to all ears.

I went out all the way as I could to get a used Bryston B60 to see how this speaker sounds. It was a revelation that I could listen to the breath of singers with this speaker.
As one reviewer told it as a special kind like it is, I couldn't agree more. With a better audio gear you have, you will be rewarded with a better sound with this speaker. It is THAT good,

I use these speakers in my large family room, with vaulted ceilings, hardwood (ok, actually Pergo) floors, and lots of drywall. Pretty reverberant, so I'm not listening to soundstaging. I'm purely evaluating the "boogie" factor when I'm washing dishes or cooking dinner. They boogie! Not tons of bass, but more than adequately loud in a huge room (contrary to what other reviewers conclude without trying it!). The speakers are fun to listen to, and even in less-than-ideal acoustic situation, I can clearly discern the difference between my Theta DaVid transport and my Yamaha CD player, so they have plenty of detail. I can't imagine why no one else has mentioned this, but tuning the speakers by adjusting the amount of fill in the base can make a dramatic difference in how good the speakers sound. I was very impressed when the bases were empty, but thought things were a bit congested. I put 50 pounds of lead shot in the base of each speaker, and the sound was horrible! Interestingly enough, I perceived the sound as being much brighter, even harsh. I finally settled on 25 lb of lead shot in each speaker as a good compromise between lively, smooth sound and accuracy. The speakers are pretty, too.

The rest of my system:
Parasound HCA-2200 Mk II amp/ Kimber 4TC/8TC biwired and Melos Grand SuperDuper Maestro Gold preamp or
Naim NAIT2 integrated amp with AudioQuest CV-4 wire
Theta DaViD transport or Yamaha carousel CD player w/ Monarchy DIP anti-jitter thingy; Monster digital cable
Parasound DAC-2000 D/A converter/ Monster AES/EBU cable
Monster M1000 interconnects

Take WEEKS to break in. The binding posts are difficult to tighten by hand, and won't accept a Postmaster

Great speakers for the money. If they don't sound good after a few weeks of break-in, fiddle with placement in your room and the amount of fill in the bases. That can make a HUGE difference. If they still don't sound good, your CD player probably sucks.

Similar Products Used:

Totem Model 1
Totem Mani-2
Spica TC-50
Paradigm Atom

Very small, two way system, with breath taking brilliant sound

Demand good recorded and produced material. Amp should be equiped with bass/treble.

In my tiny apartment I wanted to get rid of the large tower-like Rowen speaker. I started to search for HiFi Equipment with small dimension and good sound. I bought 4 different speaker until I discovered the Totem. Love at the first sight for the eyes - but not completely for the ears. Hard to explain, but on some records, all the bass is present, on other you really miss the deep frequencies. With the same records I never noticed a similar effect on my other speakers. It seemed as those speaker are especially sensitive for careless processed records. Several experiments with cables didnt bring the expected remedy. Shure I filled them with quarz sand - that did help a little. Since I have a tiny tube amp (Synthesis Ensemble) that does not allow any bass/treble tuning another solution had to be found to influence the low frequencies. I added a REL Subwoofer Q201E - and voilà. This subwoofer allows the missed control and is small engouth to hide in a record shelve - perfect.
Until now - every visitor was surprised about the sound quality coming from that tiny system, women especially do like the small size.
If your a looking for brilliant sound coming from tiny speakers you might be happy as I am with these. But I would not recommend to use them with an amplifier that has no bass/treble control without a sub.
--
Amp: Synthesis (Italy)
Phono Amp: Schaefer (Germany)
Phono: Gyrodeck, J. A. Michel Engineering (England)
CDs: Denon, Vincent (China), Marantz
MD: Sony
MC: Tascam
Sub: REL

Similar Products Used:

Other two way Speaker: Audio Physic, Ruark, Chario, Piega

Resolution of detail, soundstaging and imaging, well defined bass, unobtrusive size

Bass extension and ability to play “large” music convincingly, treble brightness, need for high quality sources

Let me start by saying that I REALLY wanted to like the Arros. I’m always happy to make the quality-for-quantity tradeoff, and I was looking forward to the “glimpse of the true high end” promise these speakers hold for many reviewers. I’m currently upgrading from a mid-fi system (NAD, Rotel, etc.) piece by piece, and the Arros fit my speaker price range well.

While the low-level resolution and transient detail of these speakers is truly amazing, I think they are probably “too good” to be used in many of the systems they are likely to end up in. Lest you think me a high-end snob, I’ll cut to the point and tell you that I passed these over for some so-so-reviewed Tannoy R2s, at $100 less than the Arros. Why? Because I think the R2s have the potential to be more “musical” in more modest systems. With the moderate-quality solid state gear that I used to audition the Arros (Myryad integrated and CD), the treble was annoyingly bright. I kept backing off on the level control while the Tannoys made me want to turn it up, drawing me in rather than pushing me out. I knew the Arros’ treble would become simply unbearable over the long term unless I completely overhauled my system.

The Arros probably mate very well with warmer-sounding tube gear or very good solid state, and jazz and vocals as opposed to large orchestral and rock. Pairing them up with anything that has ever been near a Circuit City will make your ears bleed. I would say they belong in a system where the speakers are a relatively small proportion of the total system cost (~20%). They are a great speaker for the price, but that can get them into systems where they don’t belong.

Similar Products Used:

Totem Rokk, Tannoy R2, Tannoy Saturn