Reach for the Sky

COMPACT “BOOKSHELF” speakers have their advocates, but I’ll admit up front that they’ve never been my bag. I guess you could say there’s something about the stateliness of floorstanding towers that appeals to my personal taste. And then there’s the problem of the shelf itself: every time I’ve tried to listen to compact speakers installed in a place where books would typically sit, I’ve been thoroughly unimpressed with the sound. Flat imaging, indistinct bass—to me, those are the hallmarks of shelved speakers. Not a problem for background music, but for critical listening, stands are a must.

Canada’s Totem Acoustic is a company that makes a wide range of bookshelf speakers (along with floorstanding, on-wall, and architectural speakers, and also subwoofers). And while Totem seems fine with applying the bookshelf label to its more compact