January 22, 2013

  • Totem Element Ember, Part 18

    20 years ago, the place to get the latest in death/doom metal was a tiny record store at one end of Santa Cruz's Pacific Avenue mall.  I'm sorry, but I have long since forgotten what the store's name was.  My brother already had Bolt Thrower's 1991 album, War Master.  So when I went to that lil' Santa Cruz record store, Bolt Thrower's then-new The IVth Crusade raised my eye brows.

    For the album cover, Bolt Thrower used Eugene Delacroix's "The Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople," which was completed in 1840.  Delacroix's other works perhaps inspired the Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.  Anyway, my roommate Will and I listened to The IVth Crusade all the way through.  As part of the death/doom metal vein, there isn't much shrieking or annoying high-pitched noise.  Thus, it's a relatively easy listen.  At first, Will said that The IVth Crusade sounded like the band was playing in a bathroom.

    As for our bathroom in the Crown-Merrill apartment, it was split into two halves, with a sink and toilet on one side, a sink and shower on the other.  I think the windows above are for the showers, not toilets.

    Ooh, ooh, ooh!  Here is the January 1993 issue of Stereophile magazine.  By far, its most popular feature was the review of the Theta DS Pro Basic II.  That sort of stole the thunder from the review of the Thiel CS2.2.  But in this issue, Stereophile undertook another ambitious "panel review" of nine "affordable" speakers.  So while Stereophile was comparing these speakers, Will and I were comparing The IVth Crusade to other types of heavy metal.  And what was our speaker?  The Pinnacle PN-5+ minimonitor.  And I wondered what improvements, if any, could be culled by moving up to a more upscale minimonitor, such as the original Totem Model 1.  Interestingly, in the January '93 Stereophile, May Audio (Totem's then distributor) did not place an ad.

    Will then changed his opinion.  He said that the droning The IVth Crusade sounded like the band was "underground," like "catacombs."

    I was listening to The IVth Crusade via the Totem Element Ember.  Hot damn, the Ember's clean and transparent personality correctly depicted the sound, vibe, and feel of The IVth Crusade.  No, I wasn't transported back in time 20 years, but the Ice white Ember did evoke memories of the college apartment's white interior walls, white refrigerator, white doors, white shower enclosure, white kitchen cabinets, and white toilet.

    The Peanut Gallery is always trying to get me to compare girls.  For most part, I'm not going to do that.  Likewise, my female readers always ask me to compare, from my perspective, guys.  For the most part, I'm not going to do that, either.  But several of you have been clamoring for me to compare the Element Ember to other minimonitors, such as Totem's own The One.  How do they measure up?  Okay, okay; time permitting, I'll blog about how the Ember and The One differ.