DIY 3 Way Passive Bookshelf Speakers Pair - DIY Speaker Kit-Peak Power 120 Watt Home Theater Bookshelf Speakers for Surrounds or Front

My 3rd diy speaker build (after 2 from Part Express) and the HIVI-Swan 3.1a kit was a fun one to put together. After extensive research on ASR and Audiokarma.org plus the mostly 5 star reviews from the majority of the comments I was sold on ordering a set for myself. These speakers are dynamic and superior to any bookshelf I've owned or built, including the Klipsch rp 600m's they're replacing. Powered thru a recapped Sansui 5000a or updated Fisher TA 800 tube receiver (Soulpeak P2 switch lets me choose my weapon), these 3-ways are sonically stunning and pretty darn cool looking. Went with the Sehlin Perfection Mod 4 crossover to elegantly tame the highs. The Sansui is 55wpc and with the new main caps I can barely get the volume past 4 outta 10 in the 20'x 14' living room. The HIVI's are paired with an Infinity PS-8 sub. Did not care for the goofy midrange overlap on the tweeter so I recessed the mid and cut a radius in tweeter flange with a hacksaw for a flush fit. (see photos). I added a thin 10mil red oak veneer and hand-cut the radius openings, stained and finished with Danish oil, 2 coats ea. As many have mentioned, the instructions are limiting but adequate and with an abundance of online info and YouTube videos, it was not technically challenging. The kit was packed well and arrived a day early. I feel for what you spend and what you get, including an extra $35+/- on the Perfection Mod 4 parts from PE, for just over $400 you are getting a speaker worth 2x+ that; so an incredible value IMHO. Prior to final connections I bench-tested with 1 1/2" supplied dampening foam in one and the 1/2" PE Sonic Barrier in the other (adhesive side covered for easy removal). The supplied foam provided a superior overall sound so I stuck with that. Each day they seem to break in a little more and sound clear and dynamic, even in the bookshelf setup which may not be ideal since they are 3'"+ off the wall. My 70+ ears are still functioning pretty well (despite what my wife says) but these speakers produce sweet airiness of the mid/high ends while bass clarity and punch excels on all volume levels IMHO. A great investment for those who like the diy audio projects with a big payoff.

Absolutely phenomenal speakers! They can easily hold their own against speakers that cost $2k+. I did do the Sehlin Pefectionist Mod (option 4). You don’t need to modify the crossover, it just suited my preference more than the original. Many people prefer the original crossover design. I have built many different speakers from various kits and my own designs. The bass will surprise you! You’ll still want to run a subwoofer, but if you’re running these as near field speakers, then you may not need one. They have great clarity and sound stage. Some people say they can be a bit bright with the original crossover, but that never bothered me. I’d compare the “brightness” to Klipsch. These are replacing a pair of tower speakers in my living room. My son also built a pair of these for his dorm room. He gets tons of compliments on the sound quality, and maybe even a few complaints about the volume. If you’re on the fence about this kit, don’t hesitate. The components alone would cost you close to $600 of purchased separately, then you’d need to buy wood and build some boxes. I’m probably gonna pick up another pair so I can run 3 of these in an LCR configuration with Emotiva amps.

My 9 year old son and I tackled this project together. This alone made it all worth while. While I’m familiar with woodworking, neither of us had used a soldering iron before. Had we just assembled the kit as we received it, the project wouldn’t have taken more than two or three days to finish. We decided to make the best of it and add the perfectionist mod for the crossover, swap the double binding posts for high quality single binding posts, and wrap the boxes in custom milled Hawaiian Kou (not Koa) that I saved from a green waste pile. Going the extra mile was well worth it. It gave us more time together and the final product is heirloom quality. The best part of the build was when we hooked the speakers up to our amp and listened to our first song. I chose ‘Heart of Gold’ sung by Johnny Cash. The look on my son’s face when he heard the sound coming through the speakers was worth the money, time, mistakes and everything in between (yes, we did test each speaker with the crossover boards before assembling, but it was still a pleasant surprise for him). The speakers sound incredible. They do everything well—high, mids, and lows. Sound staging is excellent and instrument separation is elegant (distinguishable and harmonious). Although the lows are good, being that they are only 6.5” woofers means that they won’t be going into the 30 hz or lower range. We have a Klipsch sub that covers the low end. These speakers do everything else better than any other bookshelf speaker I’ve heard. They easily beat out my Klipsch RP-500m, which I very much like, in every way but compactness. Btw, I am running these with the little Aiyima T9 amp. I upgraded the tubes on that amp, but otherwise it’s stock. I Have never pushed the amp near its limit while playing these quite loud. I mostly stream music from my little WIIM or watch movies through an inexpensive but incredible little HDMI Arc dac. The speakers are incredible for movies, etc. I've owned the Sonos Beam 2 and tried the Sonos Arc. My setup costs less than the arc and is leagues better for movie sound reproduction, separation, and clarity. For music, Sonos is not in the same league and these speakers. Wonderful speakers in every way. I can’t imagine a better speaker experience.

If you want these to look good it takes a lot of work. I spent a few months on this off and on because I have very little spare time. After all the hard work it did pay off. you wouldn't think that after hundreds of hours of work it would be worth it but you'd be wrong. these sound phenomenal, out of this world. I used the sehlin mod #6, the most expensive upgrade. I used, I think tight Bond 2 and if you want longer set up time just add a little bit of water to it. If the veneer comes out crooked you can actually save it by misting the entire veneer and then iron out the warp. The ribbon tweeter and the mid-range blend in so well that even with your ears next to it it's hard to tell if sound is actually coming out of them, but you can make it out. The bass is actually pretty good, you would make it sound better with a subwoofer but to be honest I might not even get a subwoofer because they sound fine the way they are. It's not gut punching bass it's really detailed though, and not weak. If you don't have time you can buy there finished version of these for a lot more money, and it has a built-in amplifier but it does look kind of ugly. Even if you don't have good finishing skills you'll end up with speakers that sound fantastic, unless of course you use the standard crossover that comes with it.

One star off because the type of screws they included was psychotic. Self tapping socked head sheet metal screws? Not good. You can use whatever screws you want, it’s fine. Kit went together easy enough. Glued and brad nailed. You have to make sure you check the brace position as the front and rear baffle will not line up if you are not paying attention. I redid the crossover a little. Kept some of the inductors, but replaced everything else and did not use their printed board. I feel better about direct connections vs running the signal over a solder trace. Just me. I put the crossover on a 3d printed piece of PLA then hot melted and zip tied the components. Double stick taped that to the bottom of the box and hot melted it just to make sure. Used some of their foam, and crammed some polyfil around the port and in the top cavity. I did not attempt their crinkled vinyl veneer. Sanding sealer, sanded to 320, two coats of primer, two coats of white gloss spray, two coats of gloss clear. They look good. Long and short, they sound great. The kit is a good value…if you can get it. ;)

Hivi if you read this: Sell this kit without the crossover components besides the crossover board and cut the price. You would have a smoking deal of a kit. Either that or charge more for the proper crossover components. Also leave out the vinyl wrap and provide spades for the speaker connections. Small things for this kit would add a lot of value. I would provide better speaker gaskets as well. If you were really on top of it reworking the kit so the mid driver was recessed would be ideal. No one would complain about the speaker being an inch taller. Everyone else interested: With the crossover upgrade these are really quite nice speakers! I've listened to a lot of speakers when I did home theater system integration for living and these are quite good for the money. I have been listening to them side by side with my HS8 Yamaha studio monitors and these things have way better mid and high range. The 6.5" driver does a pretty damn good job of competing with the 8" on the HS8. Overall with the Sehlin Mod 6 crossover upgrade, I would recommend them. I can't speak for the original crossover as I got rid of all the parts and replaced them with the parts I will list below. Probably could have gone cheap on some parts but II spent about 200 bucks on the crossover parts and used higher quality components. Inductors 1.2mH Air Core Inductor 0.50mH Air Core Inductor 0.60mH Air Core Inductor 0.15mH Air Core Inductor Capacitors 100uF 250V Polypropylene Capacitor 10uF 400V Polypropylene Capacitor 5.6uF 250V Polypropylene Capacitor 2.0uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor 1.5uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor Resistors 6.8 ohm 20W Ceramic Cement Resistor 3 ohm 10W Ceramic Cement Resistor 2 ohm 10W Ceramic Cement Resistor

The sound quality is absolutely incredible. The highs are crystal clear. Voices are warm and natural. The lows are excellent. Each voice and instrument can be distinctly heard. These speakers will bring new life to my vinyl collection from the 60s and 70s. Streaming music (thru a vacuum tube preamp) is also impressive. This is a great do it yourself speaker kit. It comes with everything you need but the tools. Assembly was straightforward. I watched several videos beforehand so there were no surprises. Crossovers: Assembling the crossovers went without a hitch. I had never soldered components on a printed circuit board before, but I went slow and made sure each connection was good. I upgraded the crossovers with the Sehlin option 4 modifications. The additional components were available at Parts Express for about $35 plus shipping. Cabinets: I am a woodworker and built my own cabinet sides, tops, and bottoms from solid oak. The fronts, backs, and internal bracing were reused from the kit. The fronts were modified for a half-lap joint to allow for an oak boarder. The backs were just butt joined. All corners were rounded over to remove sharp edges. The fronts and backs took wood stain surprisingly well. The finished speakers weigh 22.8 lbs each. Sound: My Sony 100W x 100W receiver had no problem driving these 4-ohm speakers. The volume control was set at 15% for normal listening level for classic rock and blues in a 13 x 17 room. The sound is fairly loud even at 30% volume. I am waiting for the speakers to finish breaking in before really pushing them.

Mid range driver is blown. I've reached out to support to no avail. Trying to get a replacement so that I can get my speakers to work.

A very complete kit (besides Xover mod). Instructions are rudimentary, but believe it or not, a good thing. Makes you research everything, while learning a lot a long the way, from glue, to capacitors, to finishes. Don't rush the build, it's a hobby. I chose the #5 mod. My goal was to keep the kit inexpensive. Researched real veneers, decided on vinyl, don't regret. I could use the vinyl with the kit, it would work but boring. Supplied vinyl is meh. They sound great, detailed, but on the colder side for my liking as is. Some EQ from my amp (room correction) improves, warmer. My main listening speakers now. Happy. Building anything is not just about the final product... it's the journey. A rewarding project, will do something again.

Treble is indeed HOT. But with a proper EQ or just follow the Sehlin collection of mods, these really punch WAY above their price point. These produce an incredible amount of bass; mid is clear, just what you expect from an soft dome driver; the AMT tweeters can bleed your ears if not tamed correctly. The imaging left some to be desired but all round accurate enough (for my ears). Soundstage is decent, not mind blowing, but these aren't surround system so that is expected. My pair use the Sehlin mod 5, which agressively lowers the treble response. In the end, I did have to EQ the Bass and trebble a little bit to match my taste. All in all, these are amazing for the price. Looking forward to building them again given a chance.

Really great sounding speakers. I spent a little extra and did some of the mods for the crossover and used real walnut and oak wood veneers (the included vinyl covering looks really cheap) and they came out great. I had seen videos of people adding foam they bought mine came with all the foam to be cut and fill all the sides. This foam is kind of packed in the box like its for shipping protection so maybe they threw it out not knowing? Fun project with nice reward in sound. I’ve had an old set of decent enough JBL’s and side by side these are much clearer and pronounced, with tighter bass response. Definitely hear more detail in my records.

This kit ended up being the best bookshelf speakers I have ever heard. And I have heard plenty over the years. The dome mid range sounds awesome for vocals and it feels very well made. The MDF cabinet pieces included are very thick, which I wasn't expecting but am very happy with. It helps to reduce cabinet resonances. In fact, all Swan parts included feel very well made. This kit produces way more bass than expected and the sound stage is huge. Making this kit sound like a much larger speaker. Pull them out from the wall and they easily fill a medium sized living room and feel like they envelope you. The included ribbon tweeter is a bit too bright however. There are lots of instructions online on how to modify the crossover design to fix the brightness and balance it out. But I took a different approach. Instead of modifying the crossover, I changed the tweeter to a soft dome that matched the crossover design better. I would have preferred if Swan included a soft dome tweeter with this kit. The crossover parts are much better quality than I expected in this price range, except the sand cast resistors. I bought wire wound and used those instead. Buy this kit! These speakers are amazing and you will be proud of what you built when its all done. I am very proud of how my kit turned out.

A little expansive for a diy speakers kit but àt the end they sound realy great !