A review of the Swans 6.1 HT speaker system

[kexodusc]

Honestly, I wouldn't expect the Dynes to sound much better if they were being driven by a receiver. Dynes love current, I hope you were using a good amp with them.

Also what was the source? I know one of them was SACD, but if it was a budget player, then there's not much of a sense of what SACD can reveal.

The related equipment was just a NAD T753 receiver and a recent model NAD power amp I don't know the model too, but was purchased a few years back with the 82's.. The home theater channels ran off the receiver, the speakers off the receiver/amp combo...there was a Marantz universal player, as well...never thought to look at the number.

As I said, I gave the slight edge to the Dynaudio's but if I was building a home theater, I'd have a hard time justifying their price tag for the performance against the Swans.

Just cheap 12 gauge wire and standard AR interconnects if that matters.

I don't think the Audience 82's would be any problem for that NAD receiver...

Interestingly enough, I don't think you could find 2 speakers with more obviously different "personalities" both in looks and sound. It's always really neat when you can hear two really nice speakers that sound so different but are fun to listen to at the same time.

One last thing the speakers were pretty much in the same physical location (with one Dyn and one Swan on the outsides though). Results could be different as placement changes.

Edit: The Player is a Marantz 6400...still don't know the NAD amp model.

I don't know much about the quality of the Marantz, but I disagree with the budget player comment...I own a budget player and a mid-level unit, they sound pretty much the same to me (except standard CD sounds terrible on the budget player)...Even the Pioneer 563A and 45A's I demoed for a week way back didn't sound any different from one to the next either, the 45A's superiority was all in the video processing IMO (that and it was built like tank compared to the 563A). Some budget players cheat on the SACD side, some don't. I dont' think either of these speakers are so great that they would benefit more than the other from a more expensive player. Maybe. I'll admit I don't have much experience with Dynaudio's speakers. They sounded pretty damn good to me, if there was more in the tank that a better player would reveal, I'd assume the Swans would benefit somewhat too though.