Напольная акустика — KIN BY TOTEM KIN PLAY TOWER II

The KIN Play Tower II is a powered floorstanding speaker pair from KIN by Totem, the sub-brand of the Canadian loudspeaker maker Totem Acoustic, designed and engineered in Canada. It succeeds the original KIN Play Tower and adds an HDMI ARC input, and it is priced at CAD 2,250 per pair. One speaker of the pair is active, with the amplifiers, DAC and inputs, and the other is passive.

Key specs that matter

Each tower uses a custom 1 inch infused soft-dome tweeter and two custom 5 inch Natural Hybrid woofers. The built-in amplifier delivers 2 x 200 W RMS. Frequency response is 30 Hz to 22 kHz ±3 dB. Digital inputs are optical up to 24 bit and 192 kHz, Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD and HDMI ARC. On the analogue side there is an RCA pair with a phono or line selector and a 3.5 mm auxiliary jack, and a subwoofer output is fitted. Bluetooth handles sample rates from 8 to 48 kHz, and the decoder supports MP2, MP3, WMA, FLAC at 8, 16 and 24 bit, AAC, MP4, M4A, WAV, AIF and AIFC. Each speaker is 1020 mm tall, 180 mm wide and 265 mm deep, and the active speaker weighs 17 kg and the passive one 16.2 kg. The towers come in a satin finish, black or white.

Engineering and use context

Placing all electronics in one speaker means only the active tower needs a mains connection, and the passive tower is driven through speaker wire from its amplifier. The switchable RCA input includes a phono stage, so a turntable connects directly without an external phono preamplifier, while in line mode the same input accepts a CD player or other analogue source. HDMI ARC lets a television send its sound to the speakers over one cable, the main change from the first KIN Play Tower. The two woofers per side share the bass in a slim cabinet. Both the infused tweeter and the Natural Hybrid woofers are custom drivers made for KIN by Totem rather than catalogue parts. The package includes a remote control, magnetic grilles, bases, adhesive feet, speaker wire, an optical cable and a power cord.

Pairing

The KIN Play Tower II needs only sources, such as a turntable on the phono input, a television over HDMI ARC or optical, and a phone over Bluetooth. A powered subwoofer can be added through the dedicated output in a room of about 20 m2 or larger.

Alternatives

The KIN Play is the powered Bluetooth bookshelf speaker from the same KIN by Totem range.