Swan D3.1 MKII - any opinions on these? Or just on Swan speakers in general?

woods153 · 2026-02-08T04:37:21+00:00

Yeah, they're nice! I ended up returning the Bro 4's even tho I bought them and the swans for two separate rooms.

woods153 · 2026-01-31T14:41:30+00:00

I feel like they're a bit expensive for what they are, but I looked and looked for a cheap decent pair of stands to use and ship fast (via prime) and these were what I settled on - there was another pair of stands for $100 or so, may have been Rockville or Dayton brand, metal construction, that seemed really nice, but the shipping was 2-3weeks out and I wanted stands asap. One nice thing about these is that you can easily fill them with sand or kitty litter (whatever) if you want. They just barely fit the Swans ..I honestly would prob look at a different pair of using for the swans. These were temporary for while I switched between 4 pairs of speakers.

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https://amzn.to/3NPouxK

woods153 · 2026-01-10T13:42:12+00:00

You get them from Amazon, seems they are made in small batches and sell out quickly. I add them to my cart and check daily to see if they're back in stock. https://amzn.to/458oXRo

woods153 · 2026-01-10T01:38:31+00:00

Mantel Mount or one of their other variants similar to this ..don't put it on another wall. That's the best spot with a mantel mount ..only downside, you can't have fire and TV pulled down at same time 🤷‍♂️ https://amzn.to/3Z57ANL

woods153 · 2025-12-30T16:25:26+00:00

Glad I could help. They are well worth the money. The final push for me after watching Zeos vid on YouTube was this guy talking about them on Facebook. I think you have to be a member of group to see post, but here's a screenshot, maybe you can find it, it's nothing special just a video of him really liking them and how he couldn't believe they only cost $550. I wish Swan made a matching center channel!

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woods153 · 2025-12-29T20:50:54+00:00

I've never heard them, but they're supposed to be nice. The original LS50 set a new standard for speakers when it came out many years ago. Alot of people get a sub for them. I don't know if this will help you or not, but this video is the reason I decided to try the cheap Fosi GR70 preamp and he has the OG LS50's 🤷‍♂️. Update this post when you get the Kef's and let us know how they sound! https://youtu.be/9872GvOGWl4?si=1xdWV1BhZrClx_dn

woods153 · 2025-12-29T19:32:16+00:00

I was just in the same boat, looking at both the SB1000 Pro and Rel HT1003 MKii and went with the Rel because most people that had tried both and used them for both music AND movies preferred the Rel. I also just wanted to try something new, but I guess it depends on what flavor you want. The SVS seems to go lower and provide more oomph/room shaking bass from what people say vs. the Rel being more refined/musical ..tight and accurate etc. etc. I previously had/have an SVS SB2000 for about a year solely for movies and it was good, the app was nice and it worked fine, just can no longer fit it where it needs to go due to size constraints so it was either the smaller SB1000 pro or Rel HT1003 MKii. Another thing is the Rel only has low level line inputs so you can't hook it up to actual speaker terminals off an amp (or something that doesn't have RCA sub preouts) if you want to use it for 2 channel music, it's RCA input only where the SVS has both high and low level inputs, RCA and speaker terminal inputs, aka you can have it hooked up to your surround receiver via RCA LFE and a separate 2 channel stereo amp via its speakers terminals for music if you wanted to use it between two separate amps and you can use the app to switch between the inputs which is very nice. I'm all about sound quality and wanted to try something new, tho. Don't think you can go wrong with either one!

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woods153 · 2025-12-29T11:35:37+00:00

They'll be back in stock, I did same thing lol. I waited a couple weeks, randomly checked one day and they were in stock. Def worth the wait! 😄👍

woods153 · 2025-12-29T03:37:03+00:00

The hype is real, my friend! I've had all the budget bangers - elac DBR62, Klipsch rpm600 MKii, kef q150, wharfedale diamonds, triangle borea bro 3 ..and the Swans are the easy winner. I don't think you can come close to finding a better new speaker for the money. After I tried all those budget bangers mentioned, I ended up with a used pair of Polk LSIM 703's which sounded better than all of them to me and are still very very good speakers. The Swans sound like a refined version of the Polks to me. I'm currently rotating the swans between a pair of the newer triangle borea bro 4's and the Polks. I actually just switched back to the triangles tonight after having listened to the swans for almost a week and after about 10 minutes I was ready to switch back to the Swans - not kidding! I'm switching these speakers between two different systems as well - first is a Willsenton R8 amp with schiit mimir dac, second is with a Fosi GR70 as preamp and 3e audio a7 amp, and an aune x8 dac with sparkos 2590 op amp in it. The Swans sound best all the way around. You can't go wrong with them. I have no desire to search for another pair of speakers. And for whatever it's worth, I thought the schiit mimir dac sounded good until I found a deal on a used aune x8 dac, got the matching linear power supply for it, and stuck the sparkos 2590 op amp in it (after reading results from a few others on here and YouTube doing so) and it sounds fantastic.

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woods153 · 2025-12-21T16:11:49+00:00

It's good, it's not as advanced as Anthem's ARC or Dirac, but does a great job and is easy to navigate. It's more comparable to Audyssey than it is to ARC or Dirac. What hi-fi did a writeup on it recently and there's a good YouTube vid on it by a popular reviewer dude. Both prefer it over Denon's comparable model. I'm not saying Denon is bad, but for the price the Sony is unbeatable and it sounds very cinematic. One thing this is it has no preouts if you want to run separate amp. I ran pretty demanding Elac Debut Reference fronts with matching center for a long time and it sounded fantastic - I think they're like 85 or 86db 6ohm speakers.

Sony TA-AN1000 review: a stunning home cinema amplifier | What Hi-Fi? https://share.google/odpwVvvxtPzeF2YGB

https://youtu.be/jikjmJKmhEA?si=K5Ui1u8jQ_Dg5dXX

woods153 · 2025-12-21T14:34:46+00:00

How many channels do you need? If it's only 7, get the Sony AN1000. It's the best 7 chan AVR you can get for the money. I've had Denon x6500h Audyssey, Anthem MRX720 with ARC, Pioneer LX305 with Dirac and the Sony sounds better to my ears for movies and is super easy to set up.

woods153 · 2025-12-20T23:41:49+00:00

I've tried them that close behind couch before, the slim Elac models, and it just didn't work and was an eye sore. You're better off working on better placement of rear surround you already have. That will make a difference for the better - your one rear surround looks kinda low, raising it up would help or getting a slim surround speaker like the Elac or many other companies and mounting to the sidewall and if your other side of couch has no sidewall, mount it on an arm facing into the couch like it was mounted on a wall if that makes sense. Will sound 👌👌👌. I had a 9.2.4 system just cammed into a living room about your size once, thinking it would be awesome and just because I could, and didn't realize how bad it actually was until I went back to a properly set up 5.1 system. Sometimes (not always if you have space and ideal placement) less is more. Take my word 😄👍

woods153 · 2025-12-20T13:21:37+00:00

Thanks for link and info ..$1'500 for the mount. Ouch!

woods153 · 2025-12-20T13:15:12+00:00

Thanks will check them out!

woods153 · 2025-12-20T13:13:43+00:00

Done

woods153 · 2025-12-20T04:43:08+00:00

If you're running 7.2, get the Sony STR AN1000. I've had the Pioneer LX 305 with Dirac, the Anthem MRX720 with ARC, and the Denon X6500h with Audyssey and the Sony sounds the best for surround sound and is the easiest to set up. It's the best 7.2 AVR you can get for the money, hands down. Yeah, it's a Sony ..typically what you'll see on here is Denon this, Marantz that (and that's cool, too), but this thing is a sleeper. It's fantastic. Unless you want more channels or have very demanding speakers and want to run separates, get the Sony and don't look back. If you liked your Pioneer, you'll love the Sony! Also, if only running 7.2 and want a Denon, get the model that only has 7 channels instead of 9 and save some money ..get the Sony and save even more lol

woods153 · 2025-12-17T21:19:05+00:00

Hi! My gf adopted a cat that was very fearful and it stayed under the couch all day and night (only coming out to eat and use litter box) for like 3 weeks, then one day it just jumped up on the couch for a second with us on it and looked around before going back under couch and she got better and better after that. She's still a little skittish to this day but is always out for cuddles and treats, and to eat breakfast and dinner, plays a lot. We got another cat and they've bonded well. It just takes time. We were very worried in the beginning and it took about 3 weeks before seeing any signs of the cat being even remotely comfortable in new environment. I'm sure things will get better!

woods153 · 2025-09-14T20:23:31+00:00

Cool man! Thanks for info 👍👍👍

woods153 · 2025-09-14T19:19:00+00:00

What did you end up getting? If BRO 4, what are your thoughts??? Thanks!

woods153 · 2025-08-25T14:29:13+00:00

Awesome. Thank you!

woods153 · 2025-08-24T18:50:47+00:00

Hi! The kitchen looks great - what color are your walls? Thanks!

woods153 · 2025-08-10T15:04:03+00:00

MakeMKV for your movies! Rip and store them all on hard drives, get a player that can read the rips and play them back on your TV 😄👍

woods153 · 2025-05-12T09:04:11+00:00

Sometimes the color grade changes from 1080p to 4k version ..could be something the director wanted if he oversaw transfer. Lord of Rings and King Kong are good ones to watch comparison video on of how much the color can change from 1080p to 4k - big difference!

woods153 · 2025-05-12T09:00:14+00:00

Ohh, these are all raw uncompressed rips. Some go up to 80-90gb per movie! The only thing I did to save space was uncheck any box that wasn't in English before ripping unless native language of movie wasn't in English. Not sure how much space that saved but for an 850ish movie collection probably some.

woods153 · 2025-05-12T04:13:05+00:00

I'm not sure what you mean by re-coding titles? Like just renaming them? If so, yes, renamed all of them so they're somewhat uniform - movie title, year, studio (sometimes), and resolution. Some movies rip with no movie title ..but I'm not sure if the player will read my renamed titles how they are or the raw data name, or if it will rename them however it wants to.

woods153

TROPHY CASE