AUDIO REVIEWS 4

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The MITES were placed on metal stands approximately 20" from the back wall, and 30" from the sidewalls, leaving them some nine feet apart, and slightly toed in. Different placements led to little or no appreciable sound difference. Thus, proving that much like the Dreamcatchers, the MITES are quite comfortable in any room placement. Amplification came from an Adcom GFA 535, Adcom GTP 450 preamp, and Toshiba SKR 755 DVD player. The interconnects were original Monster Cable products. The first impressions I had upon the first play of my demo disk were how effortlessly the MITES played the variety of the music. Part of this may come from the fact that the MITES are an 8-Ohm speaker. Yet, unlike other 8Ohm speakers I have heard, it still carries with it a depth that is normally the exclusive territory of 4-Ohm speakers. This was quite apparent in listening to James Taylor's September Grass. The light rolling of the bongos resonate with an ambience that enriches the instruments around it. The vocals of Melissa Et
heridge, stayed in the upper tenor realm, something most mass production speakers tend to push into the lower echelons. The MITES stay true to her Kansas upbringing showing off her slight nasal intonations from her first album. Sound dispersion, always a big issue with me, as I have a tendency to sit in several places in my living room when listening, is excellent. Vince Bruzzese mentions it as one of his goals in his interview. This is laudable, as very few of us actually have lives that allow for perfect seating. Either children, spouse, friends, or furniture interfere with optimum listening. The rising vocals of Phoebe Snow's chorus in Something Real I found reaches equally to both my center position as well as the couch, which resides along a sidewall. Imaging (always a tricky issue in my living room) is acceptable at very low volume, blooms when turned up to my true listening level (still very moderate). The rim shots in
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Cha-Cha Loco by Joe Jackson project up about four feet and slightly in from the left speaker. That delicious sense of elevation when found in a song is one of the great pleasures in audio. The extended drum roll in Steely Dan's Aja pings back and forth in a sweet salute to the studio genius of everyone involved that classic piece of recording. What about the bass, you ask? As stated before, I hate boom-boom; thankfully the MITES come with a pleasant deep end thump. Not exhausting or artificial, just plain comfortable. Much like that favorite weekend sweatshirt. When a deep note hit, I felt a quick thump, then just as quickly it left. This demonstrated the rigidity of the cabinet and the ability of the port to expel the lower tonal waves into the room. I did try the MITES in my family room bookcase, hooked up to my Harman/Kardon HT receiver. Once again, they were very similar to the Dreamcatchers in the ease of how they handled the enclosed space. The deep base was a bit exaggerated, but not unpleasant by any
means. If the Mites were to be placed on a shelf with other items to weigh down the shelf (books, etc.) I believe the bass would tighten nicely. In other words, these would make great bookcase speakers for the office, bedroom, or dorm. The MITES took on both hard rock of Led Zeppelin and The Who, performing extremely well, considering their diminutive size. They will never thunder like a fine set of towers, but the listener will feel and hear the strength of the music. With classical recordings, the reed instruments stand out in both clarity and soulfulness. Saxophones and clarinets find center stage on the MITES, then ride the wave to wherever the listener resides. The one puzzlement with the MITES is that they always needed a song to "stretch" to before they began to really sing. During the review process I had to be conscious of this, as sometimes a specific song would pop into my Affordable$$Audio

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head to play. I would then have to set up the system to play something else first while I went to another room as I didn't want the first song to color my impression of the how the choice song sounded. Conclusions Overall, the MITES are just plain fun!! From the ease of placement, to the simple good looks, these little speakers flat out perform. Their small footprint belies the big sound they put out. In most cases, the MITES all but disappeared leaving me with the pleasure of trying to locate the spot where a particular instrument placed itself. In the end, isn't that the goal, to let the music be the soundstage?

Describe what you consider the "Totem" sound to be? The Totem sound is one that is certainly unique. On and off axis reproduction of music in its entire emotional context is of utmost importance with all our speakers. This entails great phase accuracy on all planes: that is above the speaker , to the side or in all locations. Harmonics must be extended all the way to sixth order and clarity and point source imaging must be preserved in space and not shift. Decay patterns must be heard and felt in their greatest integrity and all this while maintaining proper pace, timbre and tone. 2. Is there a specific standard audio caveat that Totem Acoustic tries to prove wrong?

Interview with Vince Bruzzese, Founder of Totem Acoustic
By Mark Marcantonio History and encyclopedias have always fascinated me, especially odd bits of trivia. Back in the seventies (if memory serves) I remember a commercial talking about Carnegie Hall. Specifically, it dealt with the acoustical genius of its architect, William Burnet Tuthill. I can still visualize a couple of the scenes, showing Tuthill alone, tapping the walls and floor with his ear cocked, listening for any imperfections. Currently, in the audio industry there are a few individuals who are recognized for having what has best been described as a "golden ear". One of those with this reputation is Vince Bruzesse, founder of Totem Acoustics. Recently, I was fortunate enough to conduct an email interview with him. Affordable$$Audio !

We don't try to prove anything wrong but certainly excessively try to incorporate into even our modest designs, the absolute highest "Totem" performance that we can. Each model has to stand on its own with its own special personality bringing the highest standards at whatever the cost in time. 3. Each speaker in the Totem lineup uses unique components. In the age of standardization and cost containment isn't this a risky business decision? Why this is so important? We do not try to standardize parts throughout because that would totally compromise what we are trying to achieve...that is the most Totem oriented product that we can. Cost and complexity of inventory along with a long association with the proper sub-contractors ensure that we have a total performance Totem unit that is unique and accomplishes all that it can. We do not change models every
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few years as is the industry standard, but continuously refine the Totem models to remain unique and absolute class leaders. 4. Take us thru the process of developing a new speaker. The steps, construction, components, etc.? We use our own mathematical tables unique to Totem. It usually requires an intensive search for synergistic driver componentry, which is ear tested (tweeter and woofer) together for best assimilation. Usually a great variety of slightly different units are specifically built to our parameters and then if they meet these very rigorous parameters they are subsequently further joined together in a finalized initial product (production type enclosure) etc. Then the real work begins where these chosen elements are put to the task through a very long, tedious procedure where coils resistors and capacitors are specifically intermeshed for the finest result. This final crossover selection of parts generally takes anywhere from 6 months to over a year. We want to make the best that we can and the
permutations that are possible run into the hundreds. We believe we have the largest store of different specialized capacitors and other passive elements of any speaker maker. These are put to full use and advantage. In most occasions we will re-order specific made elements for the new project. 5. I consider it fascinating that interior walls are veneered. What is the Totem theory on taking such a step? This is to control any flexing through humidity and temperature change as well as giving a lighter box that can effectively dissipate quickly any resonance perturbances. It makes for a truly better long living product. 6. Speaking of cabinetry, it seems like most speaker manufacturers are in a battle against the cabinet. In hearing and reading over the

construction process you have I don't see this as a battle. Can you explain? We utilize the cabinet as a greater part of the speaker system. Our Shallow slope crossovers have a lot of inter-harmonic interaction, which gives the units a greater ability for a large and non-shifting sound stage. The boxes are made in an exact proportional configuration, which allows the box to harmonically interact with the speaker elements and add to the soundstage instead of inhibiting it. 7. For those customers that desire a custom veneer, what kind of lead-time does the factory need? The Mite comes in 5 finishes. No optional finishes are available except unfinished cherry (unstained/unlaquered)(6-8 week lead time) 8. Computer aided speaker design seems to rule the industry, yet from what I gather you rely heavily on your own ear. Are there any pitfalls you try to avoid? All of our speakers measure beautifully in the very large listening window they are designed for. We have computer software like MLLSA etc, but it cannot co
me close to achieving the sonic, emotional, sound staging results we require. Ten speakers can measure equally on A graph but 9 could sound completely unacceptable. Ears and twenty-five years experience in original speaker design simplify the process. We avoid all that is unmusical in the end. 9. In auditioning and reviewing the Mites, I find them to be very much like the Dreamcatchers in that they are not very picky about placement. Was that a design goal? That of course comes part and parcel of developing a Totem speaker That works well on all planes and angles. 10. My impression of the Mites as compared to the Dreamcatchers is that they are "factor" greater in sound quality. Much like the RainAffordable$$Audio

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