Bookshelf Speakers — KIN BY TOTEM KIN PLAY

The KIN PLAY is a powered two-way bookshelf pair carrying the KIN by Totem badge, the range of active speakers and electronics from Totem Acoustic of Montreal, Quebec. Totem introduced it on 15 December 2018 as its first powered full-range loudspeaker, aimed at computer audio, gaming and two-channel music. The pair was priced at USD 999 in the United States, and Totem now lists it at CAD 1,299. Unlike speakers that carry an amplifier in each box, the PLAY uses a master and slave arrangement - the left cabinet holds the electronics and the right one works as a conventional passive speaker.

Key specs that matter

Each cabinet pairs a customised 5 inch natural hybrid woofer with a customised 1 inch metal alloy dome tweeter in a rear-ported enclosure. A single class D amplifier in the master speaker is rated at 2 x 120 W RMS, and the quoted range is 50 Hz to 20 kHz within 3 dB. Both boxes measure 180 x 355 x 235 mm. The active speaker weighs 7.19 kg and the passive one about 5.4 kg. Satin black and satin white are offered.

Engineering and use context

Because the amplifier sits ahead of the crossover in the powered design, filtering happens after amplification. Sources connect through stereo RCA sockets that switch between phono and line level, so a record player can plug in without a separate phono preamplifier. There is also a 3.5 mm aux jack and an optical input that accepts 24-bit, 192 kHz signals, feeding a built-in high resolution DAC. Bluetooth with aptX HD handles wireless playback at 16-bit and 48 kHz. An AMP IN socket lets an external Wi-Fi streamer drive the amplifier directly, bypassing the internal preamp stage. The PLAY itself has no Wi-Fi, Ethernet or app. A multi-function knob sets volume, input and Bluetooth pairing, and an LED shows red for standby, blue for Bluetooth and green for a wired input. The metal remote adds direct input keys, bass and treble, mute and playback buttons, and a reset returns the tone controls to flat. Magnetic cloth grilles, adhesive feet, speaker wire, an optical lead and a power cord are in the box, and the warranty runs two years. The mains supply accepts 100 to 240 V at 50 or 60 Hz.

Pairing

The subwoofer output carries a 220 Hz low-pass filter so a powered subwoofer can take over the lowest octaves. A TV with an optical output, a record player or a phone covers most uses without extra boxes.

Alternatives

The KIN PLAY MINI is the smaller powered bookshelf pair in the same KIN by Totem range.