Swan Owner's Thread - Page 3

I picked them up at HiFi Buys for around $60 about 3 years ago. The closest I could find online were these, but the bases of mine are flat instead of curved and don't have the "feet" at each corner:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=240-804

I am going with the Swans :CHEERS:... 5.1 and C3 up front... For the rears, Would the 4.1s or 2.1, R3, or R2 on stands be better for movies/gaming? I will prob just use 2.1 or 2.0 for music. Thanks.

4.1, 2.1, R3, R2

I can tell you from experience with my Rocket RS550's that it will be even more distracting when you get the rest of the room dark. The reason is because the speaker will be one of the only things left to reflect light, so your eyes will be drawn straight to them.

I'm looking to get rid of my rosewood 550's because of this. And am on the hunt for some black speakers.

Btw, the tops weren't so bad as the sides were. I could live with the piano black tops.

I have 4.1 rears and I love them. However, since I got the swans my music listening has gone up considerably and I do more 2.1 listening than 5.1 (except for DVD-Audio for a couple of albums I have). So the 4.1 rears do not get as much use as I had expected. If cost is not an issue then go for the 4.1s other wise you can use a cheaper option.

are the 6.1's way better than the 4.1's?

I went from the 4.1s to the 6.1s about 6 months ago and can say that on the low end they're far-and-away better. The 6.1s can produce bass that will make you think you have a powered sub on in a small to medium room. The mids are a bit punchier but not a huge difference. The high end is nearly identical.

Stephen do you have your 6.1s set to small or large.

stephen, thats what i was expecting, a lot more in the low end and identical in the high end (since they use the same tweeter and are placed outside the box).
Good to hear though. Not sure if i'll do the same upgrade as you but it is tempting.

When I first upgraded I had the 6.1s set to large as i had not yet rebuilt my subwoofer. Now I have them set to small with a 50hz crossover, so they still get a bit more low end than most.

The difference in the 4.1 and 6.1 is most prominent in the low end but the mids on the 6.1s are punchier giving them a slightly different sound, even when used with a powered subwoofer.

Those of yall with the BC vinyl wrap... how do you feel it looks? Does it look "cheap" to you?

Definitely not cheap... a step up from most speakers that aren't real wood... they have some physical grain texture to them along w/ the photorealistic grain pattern. Side by side w/ the rosewood they're definitely not as nice but the BC color will likely appeal to a wider audience. I wouldn't have paid for the rosewood, just lucked into it on my 6.1s due to a shipping error.

Anyone have some pictures of the BACK of some 6.1s? I can find pics of the 4s and 5s and the .2s come to a nice teardrop curve...the .1s in the smaller models seem to be more flatish? But I can't find any pictures that show me what the back of a 6.1 looks like. I'd also like to see some pics of what the bottom posts on the .2s look like if anyone has them.


An aside here...for a medium sized room with questionable acoustics (posted elsewhere too many times)...Anyone know how the 4.2 stand up against the 6.1? w/o a sub.

I posted pics somewhere a while ago but I can't seem to find that post so here ya go:

Love my Swans!
6.1 mains
C3 center (with older top-mounted tweeter)
R3 rears
single 2.1 rear center
HSU VTF-3
all in rosewood.

I had the 4.1's in the BC vinyl wrap, and they looked phenomenal. My father-in-law, a lifelong carpenter, also thought they looked phenomenal. Pictures you see on the 'net really do not even come close to doing them justice.

In the absence of a picture, do the 6.1s have a round closed back like the 4.1s or is it flat and wider? there are no rear ports on them right?

The shape of the 6.1 is the same as the 4.1, just wider in the front/back. There are no rear ports on any Swans x.1 models.

EJ-

How did you get your HSU sub in rosewood? WAF will prevent me from going the HSU route based on what I currently see available on their website. In fact, I posted something on their forum about a rosewood offering and it was deleted soon afterwards.

I bought my sub 3 or 4 years ago. it is a vtf-3 1st generation. I see they are on 3rd now. At the time they offered rosewood. I don't know why they stopped, but it matches the swans perfectly.

Love my Swans too
Fronts: 6.1x2, 4.1x2
Sides: R3x2
Center: C3
Rears: 2.1x2
Sub: trusty SVS 20-39PC

It has been, by far, the best money I have spent on electronics. An investment I will enjoy for years to come.

ej

So what's the deal with these speakers? Are they Chinese-made, or are parts imported from Germany and China and assembled here? The Audio Insider and OZ are both authorized dealers, correct?

To those who have owned their Swan 6.1s for a little while now: How are they holding up?

Mine sound and look as beautiful as when I bought them 4 years ago.


i know they are manufactured in china, but am not an expert on the details.

ej

The drivers are all made by Swan's parent company HiVi Research. They are made in China. The only reference to Germany I've seen is the "German Silk" tweeter which seems to be a bit of marketing more than anything else (though they still sound great).

Thanks for the info. What do you guys have powering your 6.1s? How much wattage would a receiver need to adequately power these things? I really don't want to buy separate amps if I can get away with it.

I have an Elite 82TXs powering mine... before that I had a 1014TX. They both power(ed) the 6.1s adequately but they can definitely handle more. I'd say seperates will be in my future, especially if Emotiva releases a follow-up to the LMC-1 that will accept 5.1/7.1 PCM over HDMI.

Do they still make the older top-mounted tweeter C3???

I have 5.1 fronts, c3 center and 4.1 rears and was powering them with an onkyo 804. It sounded great when I frist got it...much better than the Aperion system I was replacing. However, over time I felt that the highs were not airy enough and the mids were not as punchy. So I added am emotiva lpa1. Right now I have the 5.1s bi-amped and the c3 being run with the emotiva. The difference is quite extraordinary. Suddenly the highs are much airier, the mids are much clearer, I can hear more detail in the instruments and the soundstage has improved. In each case, the differences are quite subtle actually, but in totality it sounds much more melodious.

I know that passive bi-amping is not supposed to be that useful, but it does seem to give just that little bit of difference which makes the sound that much cleaner. I tried it first tried using the new emotiva without bi-amping and did not notice as much of a difference but now it sounds really nice.

Yes, they do. There are a few reasons we elected to stay with the baffle-tweetered version, but the top-tweeter version is still in the wings.

Jon,

Do you have one in the Rosewood color?