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$2,250.00 / Pair
Defying All Expectations
The made-in-Canada Bison Monitor redefines the luxury bookshelf speaker category by defying the visual expectations associated with such a small-volume enclosure. Purposefully designed to engage the broadest music lover audience to date, the Monitor Bison marries the signature Totem characteristics of enormous imaging, phase coherence, and remarkable bass response with broad amplifier compatibility and prodigious power handling.
Experience Totem’s never-ending quest for an affordable soul mover of the highest caliber. Regardless of what other audio components you pair this speaker with – whether it’s the KIN AMP, an exotic tube amplifier or a cutting-edge Totem surround system – it will reward you with a superior listening enjoyment.
| Design: | Ported 2-Way Monitor Speaker |
| Tweeter: | 1.3 in /33 mm Laser Etched Textile Soft Dome |
| Woofer: | 5.25 in / 133.35 mm Long throw (3 inch Voice Coil) |
| Impedance: | 8 Ohm |
| Sensitivity: | 87 db |
| Frequency Response: | 40 Hz to 29.5 kHz ± 3 dB |
| Recommended Power: | 30-150W |
| Crossover Frequency: | 2.5 kHz (first order) |
| Speaker Terminals: | 4 way Bi-Wire-able |
| Break in Time: | 70-100 hours |
| Placement (from rear wall): | 6in – 3ft/ 152 – 914.4mm |
| Placement (in between): | 3ft – 10ft / 914.4 – 3048mm |
| Dimensions | |
| Width: | 171mm / 6.732in |
| Height: | 333mm / 13.110in |
| Depth: | 243mm / 9.567in and 253mm / 9.961in (with Grill Installed) |
| Weight: | 29.75lb / 13.49kg |
“Tight, quick bass handling, superb midrange definition and sparkling detail result in a sound that is always enjoyable and often eye-opening when weighted against the cabinet size and price tag. Consider it proof that good things really can come in small packages.”
– Mark Craven, Hi-Fi News
“Where the Bison Monitor excels – and where it lives up to Totem Acoustic’s ‘luxury bookshelf’ moniker – is with its really rather exceptional imaging ability and mid-range resolution. It crafts a wide, open soundstage where elements are precisely placed, always natural-sounding and not fighting for space. And the speakers themselves become almost invisible, so your focus is on the sounds they’re making, and not the units themselves.”
– Mark Craven, Home Cinema Choice
“The Bison has all the qualities you’ll need from an audiophile speaker but in a smaller footprint… The sound of the (up to) 21 strings and the drone was clear on the Bisons. Quite an achievement for such a small, reasonable speaker from such a complex, unique instrument… The soundstage on both Shankar and Stravinsky was wide and deep and filled the medium-sized room. Monitor imaging was as expected. Precise… They look good, sound splendid, can take gobs of power, and have a natural, engaging sound in all genres. Recommended.”
– Anthony Kershaw, Audiophilia
Artisanal Cabinet Construction
The cabinet design features a lock-mitered, monocoque cabinetry with full cross bracing. Lock mitering produces a cabinet 4 times as rigid as V groove assembly and provides a substantially larger contact point for gluing. Expansion and contraction can occur over many decades without any sonic degradation.
Tweeters
The Bison series employs a brand new, custom-designed 1.3-inch laser etched textile soft dome tweeter that is neodymium magnet activated. This tweeter extends up to 30kHz and plays low enough to contribute to the midrange band, creating a seamless and captivating interplay.
Custom Woofers
The Bison series features custom woofers that are unique to Totem with the integration of critical proprietary elements and magnetics. These woofers are thoroughly engineered by Totem and then manufactured to the strictest standards to meet our especially unique parameters by the finest raw driver suppliers in the world.
Rear Ported Design
The double or single rear ports use the energy generated by the movement of the woofer to not only enhance the bass response of the Bison series but fine tune this bass response to be in perfect phase anywhere one listens to them in a room. These ports are carefully tuned in conjunction with the cabinet size, volume, and an internal critical labyrinth design to eliminate smearing at lower frequencies.
Connectors
Two sets of high conductivity gold plated connectors efficiently capture the incoming signal for superior speaker performance and allow traditional, bi-wire, or even bi-amplification options. They accommodate a variety of connection options such as bare wire, banana plugs, and spades.
Artisanal Cabinet Construction
The cabinet design features a lock-mitered, monocoque cabinetry with full cross bracing. Lock mitering produces a cabinet 4 times as rigid as V groove assembly and provides a substantially larger contact point for gluing. Expansion and contraction can occur over many decades without any sonic degradation.
Tweeters
The Bison series employs a brand new, custom-designed 1.3-inch laser etched textile soft dome tweeter that is neodymium magnet activated. This tweeter extends up to 30kHz and plays low enough to contribute to the midrange band, creating a seamless and captivating interplay.
Custom Woofers
The Bison series features custom woofers that are unique to Totem with the integration of critical proprietary elements and magnetics. These woofers are thoroughly engineered by Totem and then manufactured to the strictest standards to meet our especially unique parameters by the finest raw driver suppliers in the world.
Rear Ported Design
The double or single rear ports use the energy generated by the movement of the woofer to not only enhance the bass response of the Bison series but fine tune this bass response to be in perfect phase anywhere one listens to them in a room. These ports are carefully tuned in conjunction with the cabinet size, volume, and an internal critical labyrinth design to eliminate smearing at lower frequencies.
Connectors
Two sets of high conductivity gold plated connectors efficiently capture the incoming signal for superior speaker performance and allow traditional, bi-wire, or even bi-amplification options. They accommodate a variety of connection options such as bare wire, banana plugs, and spades.
Every single driver is completely unique to Totem and proprietary in design, engineered by Totem and then manufactured to the strictest standards to meet our parameters by the finest raw driver suppliers in the world. In some cases, where the technology is beyond the capabilities of suppliers or is wished to be kept secret, Totem can and will build our own drivers. Every driver exhibits phase linearity, speed, emotion, off axis natural presentation, and spatial articulation.
Totem crossovers don’t require many parts because of the synergy between our customized drivers, but the components are the world’s best. Our crossovers aren’t built on PCB’s because the laminated conductive tracks are weak and inconsistent. Instead they are secured to a thin piece of fiberboard or insulated polymers and components are mechanically crimped together because it simply sounds better. When we must solder, we choose WBT Silver Solder, the purest in the industry.
Meticulously hand crafted for peak performance that lasts decades. Lock-Miter assembly is an intricate woodworking procedure where edges physically interlock together. The resulting cabinet is up to 5 times stronger than conventional V Groove cabinets. Internal and external veneering resists warping, structurally fortifies, and ensures consistent peak performance. Industry unique Borosilicate damping manages dissipation, keeps the cabinet musically alive, and never deteriorates. Popular materials like poly fillers eventually decay, dramatically affecting the performance. Variable Density Fiberboard is denser at the extremities than the interior to reduce repetitive nodes and resonances.
Two sets of high conductivity gold plated connectors efficiently capture the incoming signal for superior speaker performance and allow traditional, bi-wire, or even bi-amplification options. They accommodate a variety of connection options such as bare wire, banana plugs, and spades.
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