HiVi - DIY 2.2A - DIY Speaker Kit - 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers Near-Field Use - Compact Wooden Cabinet - Pair - Black

Edit: I've purchased two pairs of Swans 2.2A kits and really enjoy both of them. The 2nd set had an issue with a distorting tweeter, but HiVi came through with a replacement. These are great for both music and home theater.1st pair review----------------------------INTRODUCTION. The Swans DIY 2.2A kit is based on the $1000/pair of Swans HiVi 2.1SE Monitors. From all accounts the DIY kit uses the same internals including the woofer (though it appears to be a variation) and tweeter. The cost savings comes from assembly – mainly soldering the crossover, gluing the panels, screwing in speakers, and finishing. It’s the finishing that really drives up the cost due to the 2.1SE’s real wood veneer and lacquer finish. Most of the kit’s assembly is pretty straightforward especially if you’ve done a DIY speaker kit before.SPECIFICATIONS. System Type: 2-way 4th-order vented box system / 6.5" bass-midrange driver / 1.1" soft dome tweeter / Frequency Range: 43Hz - 20kHz / Harmonic Distortion 53Hz - 20kHz ≤1%(2.83V/1m) / Sensitivity (2.83V/1m): 86dB / Nominal Impedance: 8Ω / Power Handling: 10W - 120W / Dimensions (W×D×H): 8.1"×12"×13.8" / Net Weight (each): 21.4 lbsTHE SOUND. For reference my main speakers are Klipsch RF-82II's (dual 8" towers). For music I am more of a Led Zeppelin/Metallica fan, but listened to music with more of a wide frequency range when I tested these. Mainly, I listened to classic Bee Gees, Duran Duran, and Chic. The Swans DIY 2.2A have similar bass response as the Klipsch towers so being those towers reach down to 33hz it is very believable the Swans reach their claimed 43hz. (At 1/3 the size). Their sensitivity is believable at 86db as I had to turn up my budget 2014 Sony AVR from 24 to 32 to match the level the Klipsch towers were playing at before I switched them over. Momentarily I did turn the AVR up above normal listening levels and there was no distortion or eminent feeling the speakers were at their breaking point. I am happy about this because coming from Klipsch speakers with 95+ sensitivities I thought the 86 sensitivity could be an issue on mid-range and below amps/AVRs.I am listening in my AVR’s stereo mode so the full frequency is reaching the speakers. I do not claim to be an audiophile, but to me the sound of the Swans 2.2A kit is smooth, full, detailed, and quite adequate in the bass department. I've had cheaper speakers that have a "thin" or "boxy" sound and the Swans are way above any budget line. Yes, they need a subwoofer to play full-range, but in my opinion every speaker really needs a sub including my Klipsch towers. Also the Swans have none of the Klipsch "harshness" some complain about. I don’t complain myself, however I really only use the Klipsch speakers for movies. But for music now I definitely prefer the Swans at this point. There is not much difference quality-wise overall to the Klipsch towers. Yes, the Klipsch towers are louder but we are talking about dual 8” towers vs. the Swans 6” bookshelves. I think as well as being smoother than Klipsch the Swans are more subtle, detailed and less “in your face”. And when I get a nice wood veneer on them I’m hoping the Swans will look as good as my Klipsch’s look.PACKAGING. When unpacking and opening the box there’s a sense of quality all around. The well protected MDF panels are precisely cut, the heavy woofers, and surprisingly heavy tweeters are both packed in protective Styrofoam in separate internal boxes. The crossovers come with PCBs (boards) for easy assembly. The only minor things missing are glue for the vinyl and grills, zip ties for the crossovers but otherwise the contents are massive and well thought out including speaker wire for wiring the crossovers to drivers and input posts. It also includes nice finishing touches like Swans logo stickers for the grills and a badge for the rear.INSTRUCTIONS. The instructions overall are helpful, but could use a little better English translation in a few areas. There is very little instruction on how to apply the vinyl covering, but I’m planning on doing a wood veneer, so that didn’t concern me. Some of the instructions are a little vague as well, but this is nitpicking because if you are going to assemble a speaker you’ve probably either done it before or have researched the process in advance. There is one mistake in the manual which reverses the resistors as R1 and R2. This is in the initial “Package contents” section. If you just go by the photos in the assembly section you are alright because they are correct.ASSEMBLY. If you've done DIY before it will be quite easy and I will not go into detail here. Like I mentioned before there is almost everything needed to fully assemble these speakers. The only thing that surprised me was using 45 degree MDF enclosure cuts which made assembly more difficult than straight cuts. Attaching one side wall to the inner window brace is the best way to start. I then added the back, the other side, the front, then the top and then the bottom. I couldn't really use clamps the way I normally do because of the 45 degree angle which moves the panel up when you tighten it. But I did it one by one with plenty of glue, let it stand overnight and had it playing the next day.SUMMARY. I highly recommend this speaker kit for music as this is where I believe they truly shine. I tried them as left and right for home theater (the new Wonder Woman movie) as well, and they weren’t lacking in this area either. So use them for both if you like. For me I’ll stick with Klipsch's for movies since I already own them. For music I’ll now go with the smooth detail and subtlety of the Swans DIY 2.2-A. I'd add a photo, but they are unfinished at this point. I am ordering a 2nd set (they are that good), and will post completed photos with that review.

After reading many very good reviews I was anxious to try out my HiVi bookshelves. I enjoyed building the kit . It was simple, but I have rebuilt several vintage speakers and built some speakers in the past . It’s a fun kit and the parts are very good quality. The box is very sturdy and well braced . The build quality , I believe, when completed is far above anything you could buy in this price . The really good speakers that I have heard to me are part magic . Everything is in harmony and when you listen you think “wow” . While these speakers do sound good . To me they lack the magic that makes a great speaker. I thought the midrange sounded thin and that they lacked some on the top end . I tried them on four different receivers and every time I found myself trying to adjust to compensate. While they do sound ok to me if I had heard them beforehand I would have gone another route . *UPDATE* I auditioned these speakers in a much larger room with my new Denon integrated. What a huge improvement. These 2 way bookshelves need plenty of room to breath. I am happy with them in this setup .

Great speaker if you get all the parts

These appear to have so much promise! The parts are of such high quality. I wouldn't imagine seeing this level of componentry in speakers costing hundreds more. But how do they sound? That's all that matters right? I didn't like them. The treble sounded way too hot, causing sibilance. Yes, I made sure the resistors were in the correct location in the crossover. If you like to tweak components in the filter network, this might be a fun DIY project, but that's not what I was looking for. I wanted $1000 performance for $200, so unfortunately I had to look elsewhere. If someone can perfect the crossover, that would be wonderful but for now, I suggest auditioning a pair of NHT SuperOne 2.1s.

My first kit-speakers. I'm not historically a high-end hi-fi guy, but I appreciate good stuff when I hear it (friends that own the good stuff). This kit, I believe, is a really solid value. I don't think you can go wrong with these. I am 'relatively' handy with tools and soldering already, I wrench on my own cars, I fix stuff around the house. So, while I am coming at this kit from a 'never built speakers before', I am not a total noob to assembling 'things', per se.My first piece of advice: when soldering the crossovers.. pay double attention to where you're putting the two big white resistors. On one of mine, I got complacent and soldered one resistor into the spot for a capacitor, and the 2nd resistor into the spot the 1st one should've gone. I caught the error right at that point and fixed it. But!, it was because I wasn't paying attention.. I got complacent. You have to feed the legs of the resistor in from the front, flip over, and solder on the back. I assembled first crossover this way. I thought I would short cut this already very simple process for 2nd one and just feed the legs in from the 'already-flipped-over' position of the board (i.e, I had the solder-side facing up at me, and fed the legs of resistor in from 'the bottom', as it was facing me at the time). Doh!... but, easy fix... de-solder.. move components to correct spots... re-solder.Caveat?... I assembled the entire box, all sides, before trying to put the crossover inside. It is cramped working through the speaker holes, but not impossible. You make the call if you think you can do this. The alternative is to leave one side (front or back I imagine) of the box 'off' in the initial box-assembly, then glue it in once you've done all the wiring and speaker installation. The speakers bolt-on from the outside, so you don't have to worry about them being 'inside' the box during assembly. The crossover installs on pegs on the bottom of the inside though.. it needs to be in there... it easily fits though the large speaker hole though.The 2nd tip: on the box assembly, use tape!.. I saw a vid online where a guy did this and I copied that idea and it seemed to help. The idea is, tape the panels edge-to-edge with them laid out flat on the ground, so that it makes a 'fold-up'able (if that isn't a word, it should be!) box (I used 3M 2"-wide blue painter's tape... worked great). You can more precisely align edges this way I think and test-assemble it non-permanently to check fit. The edges are all 45-deg mitered, so you will quickly see how it should work. Once you have this tape-job working, flip it over and put glue on the beveled edges, then fold it all back up for good. Any glue oozing to the inside of the box is fine.. leave it there, no one is going to see it and it probably helps hold stuff better. Leave the tape in place until glue dries.'My' pro-tip (someone else may have done this before me, I didn't see it in any videos): find two large pieces of sturdy cardboard to work on ... large enough to cover the laid-out-flat-but-taped-up panel assembly. When you need to flip the assembly, use the 2nd piece of cardboard to make a sandwich of the whole mess, pick up the whole sandwich and flip it. The reason being, trying to flip the taped up panels otherwise is kind of a floppy, unwieldy mess .. w/out the support of the cardboard sandwich. And I mean corrugated cardboard, not single-ply poster board. These panels are 3/4" thick, and kind of have a bit of 'gravity' to them, if you catch the drift.Now then, you have the taped panel assembly flipped over, glue applied to beveled edges, so that you can fold it into the box-shape. As you do that and join sides, add more tape to keep those sides together. When you get it all formed up, clamp it or bind it with straps (I think the direx indicate this already). Let it dry for a day, then remove tape.. some glue will have leaked out past joint-lines.. no biggie.. peel any left over tape bits.. then sand off the glue blobs.I assembled both speakers completely before doing any final finishing of the outsides for looks. I wanted to make sure I had working speakers before bothering to make them 'pretty'. They work great!.. and, yes, they are still ugly and unfinished.. lol. I don't want to take them apart to do that final step. I will... someday... maybe... probably... :)Hope I was able to help someone out with my meager tips and tale of caution.For the sound, again, all I can say is they sound great to me... once I found the sweet spot for them in my living room (they need to be -away- from walls.. they really are NOT 'bookshelf' speakers... I have them on 2' tall stands)... the sound really came out of them.Bottom line: fun, not too hard to assemble, sound great (subjectively speaking of course), and you can final-finish them to match your decor if such a thing matters to you... and that ain't easy to do for ~200'ish for any kind of really good speakers from what I've seen.Update: 3/7/2019Still very happy with these. What I've learned is that there does seem to be 'a thing' with letting speakers get broken-in. I was happy enough initially with the sound after I got them placed in a sweet-spot in my living room. Now, after a few weeks, they seem to sound even better. Maybe I've just gotten used to them, but the same volume level I usually listen to anything at, now sounds fuller to me. I notice stuff on my shelves buzzing from bass where it was not doing that initially. Same music, same volume. I used to chalk up the 'gotta break them in' notion to hogwash, but these speakers sound like they have now 'broken in'. YMMV... just reporting what it seems like is happening.Dialing in the 'aiming' of these has been a bit of an exercise, but not too much trouble. Mostly referring to getting the right-amount of high-end sound to hit my ears where I sit. Even a sloppy alignment sounds fine enough, but if you spend time just nudging them around on their stands, you will start to notice very audible changes in sound at your favorite chair. I'm still experimenting.At any rate, these still sound great to me, and I'm still pleased with the purchase and the kit. I did finally buy some cherry veneer to match my other furniture and will take them apart to do the finishing here soon. I've looked at a few other pics from another reviewer that did cherry on the 3.1 kit in the reviews, looked amazing!... mine won't look that good b/c I don't have the skill that guy obviously has. But, it'll look better than plain MDF. I'm also chickening out and going with lacquer b/c I don't trust myself to do poly.