Heard the Swan Diva 2.1 s? Opinions?

Hi,

I had them for about 2 weeks and 100 hours and did not like them one bit. They were extremely bright and harsh. I returned them for full refund. I've tried quite a few monitors and these are by far the worst I have heard. Of the ones I've owned I like the Reynaud Twins($850), Magnepan MMG's($550), or Axiom M3ti($275).

I was really dissapointed with the Diva's. They are beautiful speakers and I had high hopes for them.

Good Luck,

Pete

I have had some extended listening with the 4.1's (good friend) and the 6.1's (I own a pair) and would not come close to classifying them as bright, and I am VERY sensitive to bright speakers. They have taken a significant amount of time to break in, but right now, both have a very good amount of "air" and naturalness at the high end, though I would not call the high end as extended as the best ribbon or titanium dome drivers. The image depth is not particularly deep, and the 6.1's seem to have a almost imperceptable touch of lower midrange, upper bass "fuzziness", but I have not been able to totally characterize it as yet. Perhaps the issue with the 2.1's is a difference between models "voicing", "vintage"/ crossover change w/respect to older models or amplification. I have listened to both the 6.1's and 4.1's with subs. I think that the 4.1's and the 6.1's are very competitive in their price range. I have CERTAINLY heard much worse at the price point. I have heard that there will be reviews coming out soon in some of the rags, you could wait to see those. I will post a more detailed review of the 6.1's after full breakin.

A few days before I posted this question, I had already
ordered the 2.1's. My wife finally got her wish and
kicked my big, old B&W DM330's out of the living room.
I was pretty happy with those B&W's, but sometimes you
gotta go with the wifes wishs, especially when it means
a chance to awaken those long dormant audiophile impulses.

I auditioned some B&W 602's, which I though sounded
great, but I returned them after seeing that the Diva's
were cheaper & had real rosewood veneer (i am a
sucker for rosewood). Also, while auditioning the 602's
I noticed that they would clip far earlier than my old
speakers... when I tried them out on a friends system,
no clipping. hmmm, problems in the amplification will
need to be addressed.

When I first got the Divas I felt, like Pete, that they were so bright... too, too bright. I began to consider returning them.

I have had them about a week now, playing them as much as possible. At this point, I am thinking I will to keep them.

Have the speakers "broken in" or have my ears just "broken in"? I dunno, but they seem to be sounding pretty good.

I might add, that the rest of my gear is not that great,
and until I read Pete's post, attributed the problems to
my 25 year old Nakamichi Amp (420), my Carver
pre-amp (CT-24). My CD player is a pretty nice Rotel, but not one of the higher priced ones.

Now I am considering a budget Integrated Amp (Creek or
maybe Arcam, or?) and hopefully get rid of the clipping
problem and probably improve the overall sound even
more.

Or maybe hold out, save more money for somthing even better.

I dunno, but thats where I am at with the Diva's. Still
more time to decide if they are keepers or not.

Thanks for the comments & I will keep on reading here
at Audiogon!

later,
-jas
http://dimbulb.org

I hope they work out for you. (<:

Check out the Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp. I'm very, very pleased with mine. It has a nice laid back sound.