rb- The swifts are awesome! I don't have the ear or experience that some on this site do, but even I can tell that they present an excellent soundstage. Overall I would say they were neutral to a little bright- but that just being shocked by good clean sound after years with a pair of Klipschs. The bass could be a little more expansive (especially for HT purposes without a sub,) but again that's me coming off the bloated Klipschs. I listened to some B&W 602's and 603's, as well as Vandersteen 1C's when I was shopping around and ended up buying the Swifts without hearing them. (the reviews were that good!) I didn't make a mistake. The Vandy's outdid the B&W's fairly easily, but they are huge and somewhat delicate without a cabinet (an oversized scratching post for the cats.) The Swifts soundstage isn't quite what the Vandersteen's was, but I think they are actually cleaner sounding than the Vandys (which seemed a little muted) and had more bass.
Thanks for the suggestion,
dendritic