Swan Spectacular!

The Quick

Swans are big bold speakers with excellent build quality, great price, and sound quality to match. If you are looking in this price range, they will exceed your expectations.

Swan5.2f bottom closeup

Audition Equipment

Choosing Swans

HiVi Speaker Badge When I heard about the Swans I had high hopes. Here was a speaker that was VERY VERY hot in AVForum circles for a few years. Though the masses seem to have moved on to the latest fashion, owners raved and no one ever said bad things about them. Swans are manufactured in China by the well known and respected driver maker HiVi. They are sold through many retail shops throughout Asia, although at present they have a minimal marketing effort here in the US. In 2004 the Swans were updated to improve their drivers and enclosures while using the claimed largest anechoic chamber in Asia. Focusing on the speakers themselves, you've got to like the goods: two good sized woofers, a mid-range and a soft dome tweeter mounted on top. The enclosure is curved to dampen vibrations while looking great with piano polished rosewood veneer. All of this is important if you want great sounding speakers that also don't look like plastic boxes. Even better the Swans are priced aggressively. Is it true value? Or too good to be true?

Swan5.2f The Swans are exclusively sold by The Audio Insider (TAI). AV123 sold the earlier X.1 versions a few years ago before deciding to sell a wide variety of more expensive models. The Audio Insider Web site was somewhat disappointing (it has since been greatly improved), but I was especially impressed by the responses and information posted in their forum by owner Jon Lane, and by the universal endorsement of Swan owners past and present. Read Jon's responses and you'll see he really knows and is passionate about audio.

Swan4.2c center Before receiving the mid-sized Swan fronts (5.2f) and the 4.2c center, I called The Audio Insider to ask a few questions. Jon answered the phone promptly and he eagerly chatted extensively about speakers and audio. The Swan X.2 series flanks the 5.2f with the smaller 4.2f sporting a pair of smaller woofers, and the 6.2f with, yes, larger woofers. If you have a smaller room and a sub, the 4.2f will undoubtedly work wonders for HT. Even without the sub I'm quite certain a pair of 4.2 fronts will perform very well. The larger 6.2fs with their dual eight inch woofers should allow you to easily skip the sub entirely if you wish.

Swans Alight

A Swan is bigger than you perceive from a distance. The Swans that landed on my driveway were big indeed. They are double boxed for safety, and that is good, because one of the large boxes had opened. The inner box was well surrounded by styrofoam both intact and breaking, which kept it quite safe. Inside the inner box each Swan is enclosed in a white cotton drawstring bag held at each end by large pieces of styrofoam. If you get a Swan center, open it first as a pair of white cotton gloves are inside should you want to use them. A beautiful full color brochure from HiVi was included that shows the variety and complexity of speaker systems HiVi is capable of. The fronts come with serviceable gold screw-in feet. They have bottom rubber pads, though they will separate if moved across carpet. You may have to re-glue them. The fronts have two large ports below the woofers flaring from 3" to 5.25", and shipped with foam plugs. You may stumble across a Web post or two where some owners have suggested leaving one or both foam plugs in according to taste. Take, and leave them out. If you crank the bass on the Swans you can feel a lot of air coming out of those ports.

Swan5.2f bottom The terminals are high quality gold plated five-way connectors. One complaint given by other Swan owners is about the location of the terminals underneath the speaker. I would agree. Although once I set up the speakers, and started listening, I forgot all about it. Perhaps I might miss catching a gilded glimpse now and then as I mingle amongst my party guests, but I'll get over it. The Swans have only one pair of these good looking bottom dwellers, so if you're sold on bi-amping, you'll have to consider something else. With a reasonably powerful receiver or amp I'm sure you won't miss it, as the Swans are impressively 90dB sensitive for a 6 ohm speaker.

The Swans are built solidly and look elegant at the same time. The enclosure is reinforced bentwood curved around in tear drop form to all but eliminate vibration, while providing plenty of internal breathing space. The lacquered rosewood veneer is capped top and bottom by nice looking shiny black end pieces. The woofers and mid-range drivers use critically dampened impregnated paper cones which helps explain their composure under fire and high volume (read no discernible distortion). The top perched tweeter lets your guests know they are in for a sonic treat. It has a bullet like chamber and creates a wide sound stage from its roost. The manufacturer describes the tweeter as having a high-energy neodymium motor and ferrofluid cooling. I can tell you this translates to clean highs dispersed widely in perfect concert with its partner cones. The tweeter is caged behind a metal grill, which sometimes I wonder might be filtering an oh so small amount of detail. But then I forget about the thought and just enjoy Mr. Townsend leading us to a White City.

Swans Aflight

I test flew the Swans using a variety of amps. At my house I used an older but powerful Yamaha RX-V1000 receiver, rated at 130 watts per channel, and an Arcam AVR300 paired with a brand new Oppo DV981HD disc player. The Swans leapt into the air with nary a pause and soared gracefully before executing a perfectly timed piercing dive circling around the astonished listeners. That's what I'm talking about! Whoa. What disc to load in next?

album art - blue circle in yellow square Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues - Track #4 Slippery People
Behold the bass, solid clean and thumping even at a modest volume. Crank it and the rapid castanet wood sounds jump out right at you. You can "see" it right next to the microphone where it was recorded (though the Swans also reveal it as suspiciously perfect.) Smoothness across all the ranges. Direct but never harsh, the Swans get out of the way and let the music through. The bottom end rolls off cleanly and beyond where you'll notice. Kick it! YEAH! Track #5 Wild/Wild Gravity grooves through you next. Feel that kick drum. The held cymbal hits, the visceral voice of David Byrne, the echoing HUHNS of the chorus, the sinuous synth, the plinking piano keys, the deep accessory guitar. They are all there in perfect presentation, nothing hiding out, all front and arrayed before you, ready and willing as you pay attention to each and all. The Swans reveal the Talking Heads brilliance completely.
album art - band on bench U2 - How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb - Track #7 Little Sister
Weaving deeply and serenely, the bass line thrumming up and down. Sweet, listen to that! I turn down the volume as the kids are now in bed. Soon I don't care as the sound from the Swans continues to envelop me. Here the size of the Swans pay big dividends. Quiet power. The guitar strums azure, each string vibrating with delicate clarity. The music has moved me to poetry - okay, I'll spare you. I've moved to my couch sitting spot, close to center, but left about two feet. The Swans present evenly off center. Sure it's better equidistant, but I still enjoy the show without feeling like I'm missing something. The sound stage is still there, I just have a seat to the left. How about that!
album art - picasso abstract Dave Brubeck Quintet - Take Five - Blue Rondo Ala Turk
I know, I know. Some of you like your wine fine and are picky about the year. So let's pop in Brubeck and check out the scene. Brubeck's Blue Rondo Ala Turk has been the mainstay of my speaker audition routine. It starts out with the maestro's rapid piano to the right, quickly joined by the clear clean distinct notes of the deep upright bass, and on the left channel the crisp delicate cymbal work. The intensity is heightened as Paul Desmond's Saxaphone steps up and briskly pulls them all along. The entire piece is stunning work, yes. But it is also a fantastic piece to experience a set of fine speakers with. The distinctness of the instruments and the closeness of the microphone reveal them in stark reality. It is easy to know when the speakers are placing you right there in the studio. Oh, yeah. I forgot. I'm listening to speakers. Swans to be precise. That is what it is about. The "disappearance" of the speakers you hear touted so often. The dazzling cymbals are right there. Right over there, see where I'm pointing?
album art - abstract blue red city Hyperion Knight - Rhapsody : Works by George Gershwin
Stereophile magazine has released a nice series of excellently recorded CDs. What is particularly nice about them are complete descriptions of how they were recorded, the decisions made, and the orientation of the performance space. You know precisely where the microphones were placed and how the mix down was done. These are live recordings of professional musicians arrayed on a stage playing fabulous music. I'm going eschew flowery language of notes, reverberations, satisfying sonorous sustains, etc. to say simply that the Swans reveal the entire performance echoing everything discussed in the liner notes. Reading about the recording process reminds one that all recording and playback is a compromise for being there. Heck, even being there involves choices of where to sit and whether one had clean ears that day!
album art - abstract blue red city Stereophile Editor's Choice Sampler & Test CD
I purchased all the Stereophile test CDs. The Editor's Choice one is probably the best if you can only get one. It starts with a short example of a Fender bass guitar and its deep twang, before launching into 14 sample tracks from many of the Stereophile CDs, and finishing with some test signals. Gershwin may be heavy on piano, but rest assured strings, horns, and the like are exposed in all their finery with the Swans. I must mention Brahms track 6, (Brahms: Horn Trio in E-flat, Op. 40.) for its catchy horn riff and diversity. Track 7 presents Schulhoff: Sonata for Solo Violin, Allegro con fuoco with swift soaring notes and satisfying plucks that fully enjoy the echo of the room. But my blood begins to simmer on track 15 Ellington, arr. Harris: "The Mooche". Man, that does sway! Wait. I'm talking about the Swans, aren't I? Yep. The Swans put you where the recording intended. Enjoy!
dvd box art - red top white bottom Buffy the Vampire Slayer - DVD
Say what? Hey, how do the Swans sound with your basic TV DVD? Quite impressive thank you very much. The music in Buffy plays superbly and the panning effects across the fronts and center are seamless and engaging. I did notice a dip in volume for some baritone actors speaking a bit undertone (Giles the Watcher for one). This was odd as the 4.2c center clearly has great bass for a center. I have to place most of the blame on the DVD as I did not notice this issue with other material.
dvd art - red comic car dvd art - scary house Cars - DVD
Monster House - DVD
Say what you want, but I love the movie Cars - being a wanna be car buff myself. I never heard the dip mentioned before during Cars. Instead I heard the deep throaty roar of the racing engines and the heavy staccato of Mac falling asleep on the interstate. My kids were mightily impressed indeed with the new speakers. All month they trotted out old favorites to enjoy with the new toys (yes Toy Story too). Although I didn't have the matching sub to review, I did try the Swans out with a quality 8" sub-woofer to watch Monster House with the munchkins. Of note is the Spiderman 3 preview and it's deep rolling bass designed to warp any cone daring to try. At high volume the 8" sub buckled and flailed, but the Swans held true, playing deep bass until rolling off cleanly. A definitive example of what is meant by "clean roll-off." Which means the Swans will work well with any high quality sub to provide those few extra deep notes, should you demand them. Unless you're a bass nut (we all like bass right? So I mean a real bass NUT) you really don't need the sub. The 5.2s supplied plenty of clear deep rumbling bass. Just ask my five year-old who kept leaving the room in mortal fear of the belching monster house (it's okay, he kept coming back).

If instead you are a two-channel purist with shallow pockets you will be ecstatic with the performance of the 5.2s and the bass performance in particular. The Swans are designed to be clear and clean - top to bottom, and with the generous cone area and enclosure size, they put out! If you are both a purist AND an extreme bass nut, go for the 6.2s with their dual eight inch woofers. I'm sure you'll be writhing in ecstasy until you lose most of your hearing. I'd love to join you.

Man these are good speakers!

Audition table
The audition table
Audition speakers
The Swan fronts auditioned
Swan4.2c closeup
Swan 4.2c
Now, I've heard better to be sure. The $12k B&W 802s were fantastic. Of course I was also in a much better listening room. So I decided to see just how good the Swans are by dragging them to a better room that also happens to house a pair of Intuitive Design Summits, James bookshelves, NHTs, Avance Danas, and some more expensive amp choices. This should be fun! I think the Intuitive Design Summits in their beautiful black granite boxes are even better than the B&Ws for only $4,800, including matching granite stands (another great value if that is in your price range -- GearWolf will write more about the Danas and Intuitive Designs in the future). You can see that price alone does not tell you how good a speaker is. And I'm betting that if I were to buy either of these speakers and place them in my less than perfect listening space, the already shallow performance difference would shrink dramatically. Suddenly the $1,049 Swans would kick metaphoric ass, or at least drum! Of course I'm speculating, as I can't get either of those other speakers into my house. Still, I think you get my point. Most of us don't have great rooms and unlimited wads of 100 dollar bills stuffed into our end tables. I started this paragraph by saying I've heard better. Well let me put that into better perspective. The Swans are clearly on the same major league playing field as the better speakers I mentioned above. Are they superstars with Yankee sized paychecks? No. Are they has-beens playing for the local short season league? Most definitely not. Are the Swans MVPs for a mid-market pro team? Yep! And what a deal. The Swans field every thing hit their way. Plus they hit for average AND for awesome power at the same time. The Swans are the full package. If you don't have a great room, get the Swans and know you've probably got the best your room can reveal. If you do have a great room, but not an overflowing bucket of Franklins, get the Swans and know you've got speakers that will wow and impress, delivering sonic excellence with only a slight difference that you will not miss.

Sure there are a handful (I do mean way less than a dozen) other speakers that compete with the Swans at this price and sonic agility. But the Swans look better than any of the others I know about. For a grand, the Swans took quality drivers, though not the most stellar, and did the utmost with them with impressive results. More dollars for some speakers may give you incremental improvements, specifically in detail or imaging. For instance, the James provided a bit more detail for over $1800. But the similar priced NHTs were clearly badly colored next to the Swans and the other more pricey speakers in the room. The Swans held their ground with dignity and grace. The Swans are serious speakers with decent components that get nothing wrong and just about everything right. Can you eek out more performance? Yes. Be my guest. I hope you'll invite me to your summer villa. I'm guessing you'll be spending well more than twice as much searching for your elusive sonic grail. But who wouldn't if they could!?

For the vast majority of us, the Swans are simply a great deal that delivers exceptional audio quality. They excel at music, and power munch on DVDs when given the chance. Wow! Is it nearly 1:00am again? Listening to the Swans I'm having a real hard time getting to bed on time.