I got my Swan Diva 6.1s....** Review **

[abstracta]

One of my favorite speakers is the Focus Audio FS-788. It uses the Scan-Speak Revelator tweeter and an excellent 7" Eton woofer.

The Scan-Speak driver costs $179.00 and the 7" Etons go for around $130 or more. At least that's the price I paid on the four Eton's I have in my garage right now. I was using them for a DIY 2-way project but gave up because the Eton's die like a shot duck below 130hz. Not sure how you got them to work...{shrug}. Anyways, Scan-Speak build drivers that are amongst the best in the world, while the Diva uses a $12 tweeter. I don't care if you put the Scan-Speak drivers in a styrofoam cooler and secure them with duct tape - they'll sound light-years better than a $12 tweeter, and that's my point. Hi-Vi builds low to barely mid-fi gear, and one of the dominant rules of speaker engineering is that you can save money with labor in China building cabinets, and maybe using a lower end woofer or mid woofer, but tweeters and vocal mid-ranges are purely the result of their build.

ddd

As the "proprietary drivers'....I'm quite skeptical about this approach.

I'm not, and lets please stop comparing Paradigm to B&W.



[/QUOTE]

[Jon Lane]

The Scan-Speak driver costs $179.00 and the 7" Etons go for around $130 or more. At least that's the price I paid on the four Eton's I have in my garage right now. I was using them for a DIY 2-way project but gave up because the Eton's die like a shot duck below 130hz. Not sure how you got them to work...{shrug}. Anyways, Scan-Speak build drivers that are amongst the best in the world, while the Diva uses a $12 tweeter. I don't care if you put the Scan-Speak drivers in a styrofoam cooler and secure them with duct tape - they'll sound light-years better than a $12 tweeter, and that's my point. Hi-Vi builds low to barely mid-fi gear, and one of the dominant rules of speaker engineering is that you can save money with labor in China building cabinets, and maybe using a lower end woofer or mid woofer, but tweeters and vocal mid-ranges are purely the result of their build.

With all respect, the speaker industry -- as all of them -- has many secrets...especially the B&M business model and its real expenses, and the inevitable markups in any retail driver or system. Notice I said "driver".

Evidently Swan doesn't play that game.

Let's just say that you might be surprised at what a trip around the factories making many brands would reveal...