July 10, 2014

  • Totem Element Fire, Part 4

    On Friday, 5/14/1993, KJ, who was attending UC Berkeley, called me in UC Santa Cruz. KJ said she was coming down. On one hand, I was pessimistic that she'd pull it off. After all, throughout my college stay, KJ many times had to cancel those trips down to Santa Cruz. But OTOH, about twice a year, she did pull it off. I had an excruciatingly tough time, fending off the anticipation and excitement. To take my mind off of KJ, I tried studying. Nope, couldn't concentrate. Then I turned on the stereo [Sony CDP-520ES II; Adcom GTP-400 and GFA-535; Pinnacle PN-5+; AQ cables; RoomTune 24" JustaRack]. I did have the new May 1993 Stereophile. But it was the prior month's review of the original Totem Model 1, which held my loudspeaker interest.

    Before sunrise on Saturday, 5/15/1993, KJ got up, made it all the way to the 7th & Townsend S.F. Caltrain station, and rode all the way to San Jose. Since these were the days before cell phones and the internet, KJ had to use a payphone from the S.J. station, to let me know that she had indeed made it that far. Oh man, did my spirits go through the roof!

    We took a city bus from the Metro Station to Mission Street, went to an ATM, and ate breakfast at McDonald's. When we got to my on-campus apartment, it was empty. Apparently, my roommate Will had gone home for the weekend, and housemate Tron was working at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
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    We flipped on the TV, and on came the video for Bon Jovi's "In These Arms." KJ blurted out, "They're still around?!" You see, in the late-80s, KJ was a Bon Jovi fan. That was one of the things we had in common: a love of hard rock. But by 1993, grunge had taken over, and completely wiped out Bon Jovi's brand of glam metal. It had been years, since we had heard from the boys from New Jersey.
    Legs
    After "In These Arms" came to an end, KJ leaned back in the couch, put her hands behind her head, and said, "I'm exhausted." So she led me to my room, where she took off her jeans. Her legs were as smooth as ever. We got into my bed (lower bunk), where she took off her White Lion t-shirt, and then her bra. Tired from the trip, she just wanted to chill, snuggle, and reconnect. While we were kissing, my hands couldn't stop feeling her smooth legs.
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    Which reminds me. That original Totem Model 1, a tiny minimonitor, needed legs to stand on. That is, it needed speaker stands. At the time, May Audio was Totem's U.S. distributor. May Audio also imported Target stands. The pairing of the Totem Model 1 (then $1,495) and Target R4 (a whopping $675) became iconic. But combined, the Model 1 + R4 totaled $2,170. For that kind of money, most audiophiles went with floorstanders.
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    Totem's current top-of-the-line Element Fire also needs speaker stands. It is true that you can throw the Element Fire on just about anything [in May '93, my Pinnacle PN-5+ minimonitors were simply placed on the living room's end/lamp tables], and get decent sound. However, my friends and I have discovered that the Fire is of such high resolution, that it will tell you what each speaker stand sounds like.
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    One of the best all-around stands we have tried is the Apollo A4. However, with its small footprint, the Apollo A4 doesn't appear stable enough for the mid-sized Totem Element Fire. For now, I am awaiting the arrival of more stands. In the mean time, I can tell you that this particular Fire is not new. However, the owner and subsequent users must not have played much popular music. As I've subjected this Fire to more and more of Lummy's music, it has sounded more and more open, more and more transparent, more and more accurate. I'll have to pay attention to the issue of burn-in.
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    It is now 2014. We were playing Bon Jovi's Keep The Faith. Yes, Bon Jovi are still around, with only bassist Alec John Such having departed. Yes, Totem are still around, with the original Model 1 now in "Signature" form. But with the Element Fire, you can clearly tell that, despite giving Bon Jovi a somewhat grittier, Bruce Springsteen-like sound, producer Bob Rock made Keep The Faith sound better than his previous work, Metallica's air-brushed eponymous album. Assuming your front end is capable, check out Tico Torres' punchy Pearl drums used on Keep The Faith.