Swan DIY 3.1A Speaker Kit: Finished Project Compared to 2.2A
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- This is a HiVi-Swans DIY 3.1A speaker kit I got off Amazon and was a fun project. This is a pretty easy DIY project that uses some woodworking + electronics and soldering.
This video is the final review and assessment of these 3 way DIY speaker kits. I have enjoyed this same company's 2 way model, I wanted to try the 3 way version! Love to hear your suggestions on possible woofer upgrade drivers or what I should try (crossover mods?) to get more bass out of them.
Here is the web page about the crossover mods:
sites.google.c...
You can buy them here:
amzn.to/3PsXvoQ
Here are the IsoAcoustics Iso-Puck Series Acoustic Isolators I like under my speakers:
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You can get the 2 way model speaker kit here:
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This is the sound deadening material I used.
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Here is my Patreon, as well as the donation page at my site, if you feel so inclined to help fund some of the future projects for the channel!
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Here is where you can buy T-shirts and other Merch with my fun logo.
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I built a pair of these (3.1A) earlier this year and hooked up to a Harman/Kardon 430 Twin have been magical! The Bass is phenomenal! I used the Selhin mod 4 crossover. Best speakers I've ever heard!
I've seen these speakers on Amazon many times and have always wondered what they were like. Thanks for bringing us these videos.
Glad I could help!
Beautiful finish on that two-way bookshelf speaker. The rounded corners look nice and probably reduce diffraction slightly. Good job! 💜
Thanks !
I own the 2.2A speaker kit and too love their bass! ;) I too considered getting the 3.1A Kit, but after doing a research I realized I would need to pair them with a subwoofer to get better output on the low end. When I researched the bass drivers on parts express I realized that the 3.1A has a HiVi L6-4R 6.5" bass driver with only 1 inch diameter voice coil and 30-60 Watts Max power handling at 4 ohm resistance, compared to 2.2A having a HiVi D6.8B 6" bass driver with a 3 inch diameter voice coil and 60-120 Watts Max power at 8 Ohms!! the 3.1A Kit is designed to be great in upper bass, beautiful in midrange and great at high frequencies, but not lower bass. For that you need to pair these with a subwoofer as they're not a tower speaker with a few of those bass drivers (as those drivers aren't rated to give a deep lower end as well). Parts express sells the bass drivers from the 2.2A Kit, each for $105 and about $50/bass driver from the 3.1A Kit (see the price difference?) the remaining price difference goes towards a great midrange and tweeter driver in 3.1A.
Anyway, if you can, please try to swap the bass drivers from your 2 way into 3 way speakers (they should fit, might have to make a temporary spacer and/or drill some extra holes for the screws) and you should be all set! I bet you won't even have to touch the cross over, their frequency response is identical, but not their power rating, voice coil diameter and load resistance. Hope you try it! I'm considering buying the 3.1's but either for my bedroom where I don't want a lot of bass or I know I'll have to buy a subwoofer for them in a living room placement. Also, I'm 37 y.o. Not your usual demographic, i know ;) Also I don't think you'll get any more bass improvement by listening/breaking them in (3.1A's) any longer, maybe better synergy overall but I'm not sure. My 2.2's didn't really change a whole lot, they were great from the moment I powered them on. ;)
I just swapped in a pair of their D6G drivers that have a 3 inch voice coil and are 8ohms, with no crossover change, totally transformed these speakers across the whole frequency range! Amazon has a few left for $76 each.
And you are right, breaking in the 3.1A didn't change them much, those cheaper woofer drivers just aren't very good.
I love the color on the 2.2 reminds me of Tiffany & Co. Thanks for the review. Good stuff
I am thinking of repainting the black speakers red to go with the yellow woofer cones :)
That would look sweet.
I just finished building these. I love the way they came out. I spent a few weeks sealing them. Painted them deep purple. Painting and sanding and painting and sanding. The hardest part was how long it takes. They sound amazing also.
Yea so I’m 70 years old definitely in the group with declining hearing. Especially in the upper midrange. 2 weeks ago got my first pair of hearing aids through the VA and wow!!! I had no ideal what sounds had moved out of my range over time. So much so that certain sounds actually startle me. I’m out of town and can’t wait to get back home to listen to my system with speakers that to me are muddy.
Nice work! I just did a video on my Swans 3ways. I love mine!
I think Danny at GR Research has commented on the mid-range dip in Klipsch speakers being due to the tweeter and woofer being wired out of phase with each other causing them to cancel each other out where they cross over.
Not only comment but has re-engineered a lot of the klipch and has made them the speakers they should have been from the factory . Cheers 🥂
love the looks of the speaker on the left for you on the right lol ... love the strong mid speaker there and how its flows into that nice tweeter ... love it
Dome mid-range units are what made ATC famous for its mid quality and why the studio engineers love them. Nice having the tweeter tight to the mid too. Shame if the bass unit is letting them down, but maybe the surround will soften up in time.
I'd recommend trying capacitor bypassing for the mid and tweeter circuits. That is the practice of putting a very small cap in parallel with a large one. The overall value isn't affected very much if the small one is very small, say like less than 5% of the larger. This is inexpensive because you only have to purchase relatively small value caps to add to the existing larger ones. People say doing this causes the combined cap assembly to take on the sounds character of the smaller cap. Miflex caps are a good place to start experimenting but the practice should work with any kind of cap.
Is there a result or reason for this... 😅I missed the part where that was explained. Thx! ;)
I guess you must be talking about OK sounding Klipsch brand... ;)))
REW and a good calibrated mic, I use umic or earthworks mic and you can do some nice speaker measurements
Ordered a Umik-1 and will use them in some future video!
I have the powered version of the Swan. The M3A. They sound fantastic.
These M3A’s are love, I heard the M300mk2 had an edge over these, I’ve never heard the them but you just can’t beat the looks of the m3a maybe you have, if so what’s your opinion?
The umik-1 or umm-6 from parts express and free software like REW should be enough to get usable speaker measurements.
Good review, thanks for your opinion. You know your stuff.
My pleasure!
Also...that is a bass reflex speaker. The port, box and woofer are meant to be tuned to one another. If you want to try other woofers you might also need to modify the port length. I would download winISD or even the AJ vented box calculator to make sure the woofer you are contemplating using will provide a satisfactory result with that box volume and port length.
Yes we'll explained!
Another interesting topic. Ludspeakers. I've had several expensive pairs of new speakers and never been satisfied. Always that "boxy" sound. Long ago I used to have full range Altec speakers, never again such a natural sound (perhaps a matter of nostalgia) Now I have new klh5, that's close. I am very interested in the open baffle concept when the pure speakers make the space sounds not the boxes maybe one of the topics, or just another one of my utopias.Thanks again for your enthusiasm, and sorry for my 😵💫
When you're ready/have time. Look into Q Acoustics - they're known for speakers with transparent, natural and non-colored sound. Because they put a lot of engineering in a box design to not have box or any other resonance sounds. They have budget/mid/expensive price tiers. I got their cheapest center channel speaker for $100 to try to blend it with my HiVi Swans 2 way speaker kit and was blown away high transparent it sounded, thus matching my bookshelves very well. I've tried quite a few others in the past. I think you'll like them ;)
@@IvanITpro Thank you so much for your expirienced advice. I am not in position to visit Hi-Fi stores and make a listening tests, because there's no one in my area. So i was forced to enssembled my gear on "blinde",reading net reviewes etc. And could tell you didn't missed much. For 6-7000$ just have wonderful sound. KlH 5 speakers, Willsenton R8 tube amp, Purifie Eigentakt SSD klase D amp. Topping pre 90. Bifrost 2/64,schiit mani 2, all wired with Anticablese, and pair od Choseal interconnects. My intention was to afford good sound for not so big money, and nowadays it's very much possible. Thanks again and all the best !!!
I would try switching the bass drivers between the two pairs and see if that helps the bass in the black pair. Both bass drivers seem very close in size. Might just sound incredible
Years ago I soldered in some Mills resistors. Not neutral and had to be removed. Replaced with Mulitple Eagle carbon film resistors for power handling, but they are discontinued on Madisound. I would try some of the new Mundorph ones they have which appear not to be wirewounds.
I'm hoping the 2.2a's get back in stock!
I went to the Sehlin website and the revised crossover makes it much more linear. Beware that it's only about 86 dB/W/M efficient and is a 4 ohm load.
I don't mind a speaker that doesn't have a lot of bass but has good soundstage and detail without being fatiguing because I can fx the bass by adding in a subwoofer.
Fair enough!
Magnet size does not a good speaker driver make. It may indicate power ability, but in does not indicate quality/accuracy. I would get better sound deadening in the box first(No-Res Gr-Research.) I threw away drivers based on small magnets and found out they were higher quality than the replacements I bought with larger magnets. I have both of these speakers and thought the 3-way had better drivers. The 2 way crossover may be jacked up in the bass. The three way is probably super flat through out the frequency range now, which many people don't like.
Not sure how more sound deadening is supposed to help the weaker bass response the 3 way units have. The 2 way crossover is stock. I'm not talking about the magnet size, I'm talking about the size of the voice coil. BTW I resolved the problem, I'll be posting a video soon.
The someone that has the hivi 3.1a 3 way one how do they sound with a powered sub i have a small 500 watt 12 inch subs with 2 passive radiators
The 2.2a's supply seems to have dried up. i asked where and when, and they said buy the 3.1a's.
Glad I got mine when I did!
I have done the crossover upgrades on the Swans, but am still thinking of replacing the woofers. I wonder if the Criton woofers would fit the Swans? The Criton woofers are amazing.
Not sure
By the way, have a Google for the Sehlin mod for those 3.1a's, that should help you out.👍🙂
I explain I did that exact mod in the video.
@@SkunkieDesignsElectronics Yeah, sorry about that, I was commenting before you got to that part.🤦😂
Try Parts Express's Dayton line of woofers. Best bang for the buck.
Any specific one?
Can you swap the woofers out between your speakers. If you can, it could be interesting.
I ordered an upgrade pair of HiVi woofers with 3 inch voice coils to try in these
I'm 41, anything above 16 Khz and it's just not there. Kind of ironic how as we grow older and more cultured, somehow we lose the ability to hear everything in a recording.🤦
16k is the average ceiling for folks anyways, so your ears are still healthy...
I am 63 and don't "hear" anything under 20hz. But noticed i can feel those frequencies very realistic. So don't worry. Maybe the human ears are not the only one sound receptors .
@@user-yd8dr4rt6y Under 20 hz? What the heck are you listening to? Test tones or music?
@@Mark-rw3kw tones are part of the music
As a matter od fact music is all maid of
tones
L enceinte 3 voies a le même médium que la wharfedale evo 4.2
How do they compare in the clarity of voices in movies?
I have no idea. I only use them for music.
Which one of those 3 is your first choice Steph? Rp-600m?
If I had to pick one right now, it would still be the RP-600m with the Jantzen superior Zcap upgrade on the tweeter cap.
What is the right speaker build?
The one on my right is a swan DIY 3.1A and the one on my left is the swan DIY 2.2A. Both are DIY kits.
Equalization should be done in digital domain only. Otherwise it will definitely bring "veil" and other terrible things like that.
Just get a Mic & REW it's free ( Calibrated USB or direct calibrate)
Any suggestions for a good mic?