New Swan Speakers
I just picked up a pair of Swan M200 powered speakers from the local CL for $100 and I thought it was a pretty good deal. I had heard good things about Swans price to performance ration since they use HiVi drivers. Well I got them home and there was a terrible buzz in the power supply! I was a little mad since the seller said they were in good condition, but I figured I'd just fix them and call it good since other than that they seems to be in great condition and the purchase price was 1/4 of MSRP.
Well I opened the left one up to reveal a +/- chip amp power supply that was fairly straight forward. With some testing, I figured out one of the filter caps was bad (revealed later by rust looking coloring under one of the leads), which is a pretty easy fix. Right now I am ordering the parts to replace both of the filter caps since the other might fail one day and I'm already doing surgery. I currently have an undervalued cap pulling cover duty, but the speakers sound great even with that in there.
As far as the rest of the speakers go, the M200 is a ported two way design with the HiVi TN25 Fabric Dome Tweeter with tapered rear chamber, and 5.25" HiVi woofer that I haven't been able to source yet. I have never preferred at 5.25" woofer in a two way as I've always thought a 6.5" or 8" woofer covered the lower frequencies better. But, I have no complaints with these speakers, especially since I am using them as near-field monitors.
The sound quality on these is great! I have never used HiVi drivers before, but they do make some great stuff and I may have to consider them for future projects, especially at their price point. The highs are detailed but not over-analytical and the bass is more than I would expect for a 5.25" woofer. The bass is pretty detailed but does get muddy from time to time. Where these speakers really shine is in the mids, especially with the vocals. Great speakers even if you were to pay full price new.
With the future ahead of me, I will be upgrading their crossovers since the integrated amp in the M200 is separate from their passive crossovers. I'm not sure which road I will taking with that upgrade, but I'm thinking either Jantzen Z-Caps or Mundorf M-Cap.
I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet, but I'll get them up soon; let's start there.
Well I opened the left one up to reveal a +/- chip amp power supply that was fairly straight forward. With some testing, I figured out one of the filter caps was bad (revealed later by rust looking coloring under one of the leads), which is a pretty easy fix. Right now I am ordering the parts to replace both of the filter caps since the other might fail one day and I'm already doing surgery. I currently have an undervalued cap pulling cover duty, but the speakers sound great even with that in there.
As far as the rest of the speakers go, the M200 is a ported two way design with the HiVi TN25 Fabric Dome Tweeter with tapered rear chamber, and 5.25" HiVi woofer that I haven't been able to source yet. I have never preferred at 5.25" woofer in a two way as I've always thought a 6.5" or 8" woofer covered the lower frequencies better. But, I have no complaints with these speakers, especially since I am using them as near-field monitors.
The sound quality on these is great! I have never used HiVi drivers before, but they do make some great stuff and I may have to consider them for future projects, especially at their price point. The highs are detailed but not over-analytical and the bass is more than I would expect for a 5.25" woofer. The bass is pretty detailed but does get muddy from time to time. Where these speakers really shine is in the mids, especially with the vocals. Great speakers even if you were to pay full price new.
With the future ahead of me, I will be upgrading their crossovers since the integrated amp in the M200 is separate from their passive crossovers. I'm not sure which road I will taking with that upgrade, but I'm thinking either Jantzen Z-Caps or Mundorf M-Cap.
I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet, but I'll get them up soon; let's start there.
Post edited by zingo on
Comments
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Nice pick!
I got my Swan M200MKII for $189. They are my favorite active bookshelves so far. Warm and smooth and fairly detailed. Bass goes fairly low.SDA 1C, SDA 2A, SDA SRS 2, CMT-340SE, Swan M200MKII, Swan D1080MKII, Behringer MS40
Outlaw Audio M2200 x2, GFA 555 II, BGW 750C
GDA 700, Outlaw Audio Model 990, Sansa Fuze, X-Fi Platinum Fatality -
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They are my favorite active bookshelves so far. Warm and smooth and fairly detailed. Bass goes fairly low.
I would agree that you really can't do better for the money.
They are the first pair of speakers I've had with time aligned drivers (slanted baffle) and I think the design of them is executed very well. -
Nice speakers I like the wood grain. Do they make subs for the computer?
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Very nice pictures.
How are you connecting these speakers to your PC?
ThanksCurrent HT setup
Mains: B&W 804s
Center: Polk CSi5
Surround: Polk FXi3
Sub: Velodyne DLS-3750R
Receiver: Pioneer SC-07
Amplifier: Sunfire TGA5200
TV: Sony KDS60A2020
DBP: Sony DBP-S350
CDP: Pioneer DV-48AV
Interconnect cables: SignalCable analog II
speaker cables: SignalCable Ultra Speaker Cables Bi-wire -
Nice speakers I like the wood grain. Do they make subs for the computer?
I like the woodgrain as well as think it adds a touch of class. The speakers are actually better made than I had originally hoped with thick MDF, internal bracing, heavy gauge wire between the amplifier, crossovers, and binding posts. Even the crossover components look decent with some poly caps and sandblock resistors.
Swan does make subwoofer for their "Media" systems, but they come in sets of 2.1 or 5.1, so you can't buy them separate. Plus, none of them would match the M200.
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Very nice pictures.
How are you connecting these speakers to your PC?
Thanks
I am running digital out from my computer to a DAC, then out from there to the speakers which have their own volume controls. It's a great little set-up that uses very few cables and components. -
I just replaced the stock sandblock resistors in the XOs with Jantzen MOX ones and it has improved the clarity and openness of the speakers a bit. Next time I get some discretionary money, the stock caps will be on the chopping block.
I also replaced both the original 10000uf power supply filter caps as one had already died and I figured both wouldn't hurt. The speakers are back to being dead quiet and working flawlessly. -
They're pretty, they look similar to Sonus Faber bookshelves."He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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Congrats-Nice Speakers.Linn AV5140 fronts
Linn AV5120 Center
Linn AV5140 Rears
M&K MX-70 Sub for Music
Odyssey Mono-Blocs
SVS Ultra-13 Gloss Black:D
