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 Highlights

• Custom engineered 5.25 inch driversCustom engineered 5.25 inch drivers
• Custom engineered 1.3 inch tweeters
• Handmade crossovers
• Artisanal cabinet construction
• Available in White Oak, Satin White and Black Ash
• Magnetic Grilles

Speaker Highlights

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.

Customized Drivers

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.

Handmade Crossovers

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.

Artisanal Cabinet Construction

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.

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.