By If you’re not familiar with Totem Acoustic, they are a Montreal-based speaker manufacturer with a wide variety of audiophile speakers, from small bookshelf speakers to some beautifully designed full-range floorstanding speakers. I was excited when I learned that I would get the Totem Bison Monitors in for review. I had reviewed the Bison Tower speakers back in 2024, and I found them to be great and very accurate. The Totem Bison Monitor speakers have a similar heritage, but they are obviously totally different.
The specs for the Bison Monitor speakers are an eight-ohm ported two-way monitor speaker with a 1.3-inch etched textile soft dome tweeter, and a 5.25-inch-long throw woofer with a three-inch voice coil. Totem Acoustic reports the frequency response to be between 40 Hz and 29.5 kHz, the crossover frequency is set to 25 kHz and they are 87 dB sensitive. They stand 13.1 inches tall and 6.7 inches wide, and each speaker weighs 30 pounds. The Bison monitors are priced at $2,250, which places them into the midrange of bookshelf speakers, so let us see if they are worth you taking a look at them.
What Makes the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor Bookshelf Speakers So Special?
- The Totem Acoustic Bison speakers are designed and made in Canada. A lot of speakers are designed in North America, but many, especially in the lower price categories, are made in China.
- The Bison Monitor has color options. I am personally a sucker for wood grains, especially with my audio furniture, and the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor has a wood grain (white oak) to go along with the standard white and black options.
- The speakers are delightfully neutral-sounding. Everyone has their preference when it comes to speakers, and many of the most popular speakers have a signature tone to them. The Bison Monitor speakers are very neutral in their sound. I couldn’t detect any coloration of the sound, compared to that of any of the other speakers I had around the house.
Why Should You Care About the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor Bookshelf Speakers?
Spending over $2,000 on a pair of bookshelf speakers for most people represents more than digging around in your couch cushions. So, if you’re looking for accuracy in sound without adding any color to the sound, then I think you should consider these speakers. The other thing that shouldn’t be missed is that these are 100 percent designed and manufactured in North America, where most of Totem Acoustic’s competition, especially at this price point, are sending their speakers to China or other locations in Asia for them to be manufactured. Sadly, this doesn’t make these tariff-proof in 2025, but it does mean that they are likely to be subject to fewer tariffs than those coming from Asia.
Some Things You Might Not Like About the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor Bookshelf Speakers
• The industrial design isn’t very eye-catching. Totem Acoustic’s floorstanding speakers all have unique designs that are identifiable when you see them, but the Bison Monitor speakers would be difficult to distinguish from other brands at a glance.
• The bass response wasn’t noteworthy. I am doubtful that anyone buys monitor speakers for their bass response. You could hear the bass through the speakers, but it was not rocking. I would expect that anyone buying these speakers would also want to add a subwoofer to fill in the low end of their system, and that is totally okay.
• The bass response wasn’t noteworthy. I am doubtful that anyone buys monitor speakers for their bass response. You could hear the bass through the speakers, but it was not rocking. I would expect that anyone buying these speakers would also want to add a subwoofer to fill in the low end of their system, and that is totally okay.
Listening to the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor Bookshelf Speakers …
I tested the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor speakers with an Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2 amplifier, SPL Elector preamplifier, and a Benchmark DAC3 B DAC with a Music Hall CD25.3 CD player.
When testing bookshelf speakers, one of the tracks I enjoy playing is “Blue Orchid” (Compact Disc) from The White Stripes. This track comes from the duo’s 2005 album Get Behind Me Satan. The album is much more experimental than the band’s previous release, Elephant. “Blue Orchid: was the first single from the album. It reached the top 10 in both the United States and the U.K. The album also won a Grammy in 2006. While Jack White’s guitar is almost always front and center with the band, it is the drum track that draws me in when testing these monitor speakers. You get an idea of how well the speakers will handle bass as it thumps along in the track. I found the drum sounds to be detailed and easy to pick up. The bass, while not exceptionally low, had plenty of details and was still enjoyable to listen to, even if I think most audiophiles would still prefer to add a subwoofer to feel more of the thump. This is a distinct difference from the last set of bookshelf speakers I had reviewed, the Leak Sandwich 150s, which, while a fun listen, were very boomy in the low frequencies, where the Bison Monitors are much more neutral.
Another track that is great for testing out speakers is Arcade Fire’s “Intervention” from their second studio album, Neon Bible (Compact Disc). The album was recorded in a church that the band purchased and renovated in southern Quebec in 2006. What always draws me to this track is the use of the pipe organ. It is rare that the church organ is used in a modern recording, and the dynamics of the instrument alone can be a test, with the organ being capable of frequencies that range between eight Hz and going as high as 4kHz. The organ in this track sits much more in the midrange. To my ear, the pipe organ sounded natural and accurate, as did the upper frequencies that come from the xylophone. There are lots of audiophile goodies to be found, with the track’s density and many instruments, and the Bison Monitors made listening for each of them a joy.
The last track I used was “The Way You Look Tonight” by Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (Compact Disc). This track comes from a compilation album by these two jazz legends. All five of the tracks on the album were recorded in three sessions between 1953 and 1954. This particular track was originally performed by Fred Astaire in the 1930s and has been covered many times since then, with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and even Rod Stewart also making recordings. What makes this track noteworthy is how well the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor speakers were able to reproduce the higher pitches from Rollins’ saxophone, and how natural Monk’s piano sounded on the track. When listening specifically to Rollins’ tenor saxophone, I didn’t detect any harshness in the sound, even as it approached the higher frequencies, and the midrange portions sounded smooth and cool, smoother than the Paradigm Premier 700f that I used for reference, which can sound a bit warmer in comparison.
Will the Totem Bison Monitor Bookshelf Speakers Hold Its Value?
I would expect these monitor speakers to hold their value, as they are well-built and have a sound that should never go out of style. With that said, Totem Acoustic isn’t a household name (at least at the time of writing), such as other speaker brands, including Bowers & Wilkins, Klipsch and Paradigm. That isn’t to say Totem Acoustic doesn’t have their fans, as they certainly do, and in a review of the resale market, it looks like most of their speakers resell at around the 50 percent of their resale value mark.
What is the Competition for Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor Speakers?
The Bowers and Wilkins 706 S3 ($2,400), at nearly the same price, will be a very safe buy if you are not viewing these speakers as a long-term purchase. Bowers & Wilkins will almost always sell well in the used market. Jerry Del Colliano reviewed the speakers that are one step up from these, the Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3s, (buy at Crutchfield) and had nothing but fantastic things to say.
You may also consider the Dali Opticon 2 MK2 ($1,800). The Opticon 2 MK2 come in at a few hundred dollars less and, much like the Totem Acoustic speakers, they are not built in Asia (they are built in Denmark). These are four-ohm speakers that are not rated to go quite as low (59 Hz vs. 40 Hz) but are very comparable otherwise. I think many audiophiles, if they like the sound, would be happy to keep the money and put it toward a subwoofer instead.
Lastly, the Monitor Audio Gold 50 6G ($2,749 – buy at Crutchfield) in a lot of ways is very similar to the Bison Monitor speakers. I recently reviewed the floorstanding version of these speakers the Gold 500 6G, and they were also incredibly neutral speakers. These are a little more expensive than the Totem Acoustic Bison monitors, but they do include a folded ribbon tweeter, which in my experience leads to enhanced clarity in the higher frequencies.
Final Thoughts on the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor Bookshelf Speakers …
The bookshelf/monitor speaker market is among the most saturated in the audiophile landscape. However, if you are looking for a no-nonsense set of speakers that will fit into a small space, then the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor speakers should be considered when shopping in the $2,000 to $2,500 price range. While they lack any standout visual qualities that would help them stand out from the competition, the clarity and lack of color in their sound make them a set of speakers that many audiophiles should love having as part of their system. If your local dealer has the Totem Acoustic Bison Monitor speakers, you should consider auditioning them. They aren’t the biggest name in the speaker market, but they are a brand that I would challenge more audiophiles to get to know in the coming years.
