For me, I find speakers like Totems to be very competent, to the point of almost being boring. Don’t get me wrong. They do almost everything a speaker is supposed to do very well, and they are technically very good speakers. But they don’t have any personality. For a lot of people, that’s exactly how speakers should be. Wallflowers that stand aside, let the music through but don’t be aggressive about it. You can pay attention to the music if you want, but if you don’t, that’s okay too.

Personally, I prefer speakers with a bit of personality. Ones that push the music up front, grabs you by the collar and pulls you in. “This ain’t no background music. For the length of this disk, your ass is mine so don’t you dare ignore me.”

I see the Studios falling more into the second group than the first. It has what it takes to create an interactive and intimate session where the listener can dive in and explore the music. It’s not a perfect speaker, but what it does well more than makes up for its shortcomings.

In terms of sound, it has an upfront presentation. Nothing like the typical British sound where it’s warm and laidback. Detailed to the point where very bad recordings will sound bad. It has dynamics that you’ll never get with any audiophile bookshelves and they can play loud with ease. Can’t speak for the regular Studio 2’s but the Towers are pretty impressive with the bass. Not top quality bass when compared to say, a JBL 18” in 10 ft^3, but certainly deep enough to make you realize there’s a whole layer of music you’ve been missing with regular bookshelves. Can’t speak for the HF as I’ve never tried the Studios with the new tweeter.

Dynamic range, SPL and bass extension. These things are not only for immature head-bangers. Even for simple jazz trio music, they do more to create an accurate presentation than ruler flat frequency response.

When compared to your Josephs, the Studio may seem “unrefined”. Compared to a set of Totem-like bookshelves, the Studios are not as smooth and a bit “honky”. But remember, these Studios are only the starting point in Pi Speakers’ line up and “refinement” can be bought as you move up through the Theater, Stage and Premium line. The set of Premium 4’s I’ve heard sounds every bit as smooth as audiophile bookshelves. Coincidently, the Premium 4’s are about the same price range of your Josephs and if we were to compare the two, I’m willing to bet it does everything your Josephs do but with better SPL and dynamics.

Gar.