Canadian loudspeaker manufacturer Totem also has a number of accessories in its catalogue, including the TOTEM Tress, priced at €29 per metre. Despite the low price, the simple design using quality materials produces a sound that is far better than expected across the entire frequency range of the sound spectrum.
High fidelity doesn’t always have to cost an arm and a leg, as long as the technologies used by manufacturers are simple and the materials well chosen. This is how the cable from the famous Totem Acoustic loudspeaker brand is produced, consisting of a black and white twisted pair with silver-plated 1.8 mm² linearised OFC copper conductors. A Teflon dielectric shield makes the cable rustproof and limits interference. This composition, combined with the Totem Tress’ thinness and flexibility, makes it effective over long distances, adaptable as required, and can also be incorporated into a wall to make it even more discreet. Finished with bare wires, it can easily be integrated with forks or banana plugs, like the Viborg fitted to our test model, for a few more euros only.
The sound of the Totem tress
Compared to our benchmark models, some of which cost more than twenty times as much, the Totem Tress doesn’t show the same balance or, above all, the same suppression of background noise, but what it does over the entire audible frequency range is spectacular. The bass is round, the treble taut and very well timbred, while the midrange breathes with a range of nuances that are very well reproduced. Strings and vocals are revealed with realism, while the spatialization is beautifully full, with the cable’s ability to be forgotten so quickly as it doesn’t try to make its mark with extra luminosity or a particular emphasis on one part of the spectrum.
It makes all types of music simpler and better, from jazz and rock to electro and classical, with real definition of the various elements and layers. On a mid-range system, the Totem Tress already manages to render the elements as precisely as possible, whereas on a large system it only lets itself be surpassed in the extreme bass, which is less controlled. Despite this remark, this basic cable is enough to make a significant contribution to a well-composed high-fidelity system, where all the details provided by even very precise sources will come through with precision.
Our conclusion
It’s not every day that you find such an inexpensive product capable of challenging much more expensive cables. Connected to Viborg banana plugs, which are more practical than connecting bare wires to the terminal blocks of amplifiers and speakers, the Totem Tress succeeds in developing a very fine sound across the entire spectrum, maintaining nuanced timbres and an open, liberated soundstage. Like many of the speakers from this Quebec-based brand, this product is a great success!
Author: Vincent Guillemin
Technical sheet: TOTEM Tress
- Origin: Montreal, Canada
- Price: € 29 (per metre)
