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Old 03-18-2019, 08:50 AM
audio bill audio bill is offline
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Chicago suburbs
Posts: 1,641
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You're certainly correct about the Mani-2s being a difficult load, due to a combination of their low sensitivity and isobaric loaded woofer configuration. I'm not surprised that your Yamaha at 70wpc into 8 ohms is being taxed driving the Totems. Since you seem to like their sound one choice would be to keep the speakers and invest in better amplification, but it seems like you've got the itch to try some different speakers. Since you're looking in the used market I'd suggest sticking with brands that you've previously been impressed with like PMC or Dynaudio which you specifically mentioned. Neither of those are of generally high sensitivity designs but wouldn't likely be as demanding a load as the Totems.

Unfortunately the only way to know how a given speaker will work with your existing amp or even another one you may choose is to try the combination in your room. The size of your listening space is also a consideration since it's pretty large which is going to also demand more power from the amp. If you have a local dealer who sells used gear seeing what they have available would be the best place to start since you could likely arrange to borrow used gear from them to try in your system before a purchase.

You can buy used gear from various online sources or dealers, but it can be a risk since you won't be sure that you'll like a given set of speakers better than what you already have. Shipping speakers back and forth can be costly and most individual sellers of used gear do not accept returns. Sorry I can't provide more specific suggestions but given your situation I think those are the options you should consider.
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