Being a sales rep in the electronics industry has its perks every so often...
Was in a store today, noticed that they had a pair of speakers boxed up and ready to ship to a dealer a couple of hours from where I live, coincidentally a place that I am going to be visiting in the morning. Figured I'd offer to drop them off, and seeing as they were already a demo pair, they said that I was welcome to play around with them if I felt like it. It's not often that I get this kind of opportunity, so how could I resist. Anyways, these puppies are a pair of Totem Winds, made by a small speaker company from Quebec Canada. They retail for around $9000 a pair up here, a price tag that I would consider to be high end for sure. Anyways, they're quite impressive overall, great bottom end and imaging, very even handed and balanced to say the least. Very realistic and refined at the same time. Fortunately, they don't blow my more modest Mission 783's away by four times the price, but it's a blast to have some fun with gear that you can't afford. All that I can say is that you should always insist on the in home audition as you never know what kind of impression a piece of gear is going to make in your system. I mean, these things sound great, don't get me wrong, but if I were going to shell out that kind of cash then there are alot of options and the system and room that they have in the store will not be at all the same as your own more likely than not. Regardless, I must say that this audio thing is a very fun hobby, there's so much great music out there and so many great pieces of gear to listen to it on. One thing comes to mind though, you can't beat live music. If you're in the right spot and the sound is just right, you can't reproduce that magic, no matter how much coin you throw down.