$1300 better spent on Swan or Ascend?

[Lord Nikon]

I noticed Ascend came out with new Sienna 1 speakers look pleasing, I enjoyed my CBM-170's before. I wanted to know if my money is better spend on Ascends of the newer Swans?

[Lord Nikon]

or any other speaker recommendations...bookshelf or floorstanding for home theatre

[D. Paul Navigator]

2008 is two years back, but I never miss a chance to discuss the Swans line. The Diva 6.2 has got some terrific drivers (most from HiVi, tweeter from German manufacturer), but every honest review (pubs) I've seen says pretty much the same thing: they sound like speakers cost 2-3 times as much. I like to think of the Diva 4.2, 5.2 and especially 6.2 as getting audiophile sound and cabinet design on a mid price budget. I own two sets of Swan speakers now, and would not hesitate to buy a new model without even listening to it before I bought it. Their engineers in California are that good, and sometimes we get so carried away on stats, computer designs, that we forget that some of the best speakers ever made were designed by craftsmen. I feel the folks at Swans are just that, craftsmen.