DIY based on Swans Diva 6.1

[infurno]

Looking for a 5.1 HT DIY speaker project that will give me the most bang for the buck. I have been impressed by the Swans HiVi metallic drivers in terms of performance and especially price. I have been looking over projects based on them but something different caught my attention.

I spotted a Swans Diva 6.1 and immediately recognized all the components. I loaded my shopping cart at parts express:

2x HiVi F6 6" Bass/Midrange
2x HiVi TN28 Fabric Dome Tweeter
4x HiVi M8a 8" Aluminum/Magnesium Woofer

My total is $344 for a pair.

The Diva 6.1 appears to be well thought of. Reviews are all positive and this looks like a well proven design. Swans provides frequency response curves and everything looks great.

I am going to build a bigger enclosure. I'm also considering replacing the HiVi F6 6" with something else... Everything I read points it out as the weakest link. I don't want to stray too far from this design since it appears to work pretty well.

Is this a good idea?

Are there other drivers I should consider?

What would you change in the design?



Charts and graphs on the 6.1 here: Product information:Swans 6.1F

[DPL]

I taking the shortcut on also building a facsimile of the Diva 6.1, mainly because I've used the MxN Series woofers before. I'm using the MxN series to match the existing openings, maybe not as pure as the MxA series but plenty good. The new 6.2 series references a German silk tweeter mounted on top rather than the TN28, and because I didn't want a top mount, I decided to go with a Morel silk dome instead, mounted inside.

Donor Cabinet - Jamo E680 - 1" tweeter, 3" mid, 2 - 8" woofers. The cabinets are very similar with a similar arc back, and have a cherry wood vinyl finish (looks very nice). About the biggest variation is the mid, going down to the 3", but the crossover is set for it, so I'll stay with that size.

2 - Morel Cat408 tweeter - $72.30 ea and $144.60 total
2 - HiVi M3N - midrange - $14.90 ea and $29.80 total
4 - HiVi M8N - woofers - $41.78 ea and $167.12

Amazingly all of the speakers fit without cutting, and the existing crossover is well within the range of the drivers used. I guess I'll never know until I put the group together and try them, having used the MxN series on several projects I really like their detail.

Good Luck and report back how yours turned out.

[mayhem13]

The weak link is the TN28.....a real piece of junk. The M8a's are a nice driver for the price but there's better options than the F6 at that price point. A dedicated midrange would be better as there's no reason for the 6" driver with the M8A's.....they'll extend cleanly to 700hz or so.

Consider this for midrange duties....
https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...361bc0eb6c00cd

or this

Tang Band W4-1337SD 4" Titanium Driver | Parts-Express.com

As for the tweeter, take a look for yourself....

Zaph|Audio

[blue934]

a dedicated mid range may be be better, but don't count out the f6 because of weakness. everyone i've talked to who has used it claims it sounds quite nice and be possibly the highlight of the hivi f series midwoofers.

unfortunately i haven't used it myself so can only pass on second hand info.

david

[infurno]

Woah! Never expected to see my old post back up here, gave up on a response some time ago.

I did put together a prototype with a simpler passive and later on an active crossover. An early picture of it:



It sounded nice and my frequency response measurements looked pretty good.

However, shortly later I got my hands on some RD50 planars and ended up converting the "Diva 6.1" cabinets into 5x m8n line arrays. No longer pursuing this project but best of luck to anyone else. Some good advice here already.

[DPL]

Originally Posted by mayhem13

The weak link is the TN28.....a real piece of junk. The M8a's are a nice driver for the price but there's better options than the F6 at that price point. A dedicated midrange would be better as there's no reason for the 6" driver with the M8A's.....they'll extend cleanly to 700hz or so.

Consider this for midrange duties....
https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...361bc0eb6c00cd

or this

Tang Band W4-1337SD 4" Titanium Driver | Parts-Express.com

As for the tweeter, take a look for yourself....

Zaph|Audio

Your response is a bit harsh, but I do agree there are better tweeters (my choice is the Morel tweeter).

[wolf_teeth]

I've hreard the F6 in a simple vented box with the XT19, and also a simple 12dB network on both drivers. All I could say was "WOW!"

I honestly think the F6 has a glorious midrange quality, and is rather easy to tame. The cone is a well-damped fiber/kevlar/poly blend, and is even neater to see in person. The breakup is never shouty, and is a nice sounding driver as a whole.

...and about just 'one person' saying a driver is a no-go, maybe there are better ways to use it, and it will still sound good. I used the TN25 in my Sophomores project, and it was supposedly a BAD driver. It's a nice and sweet tweeter when you treat it right, and one of the smallest-format cheap units that can play to 3kHz.
That said- I have not heard the TN28 other than in the cabinet-mounted-style portion of the TM1a dome 2-way driver, and in there it was very nice!

Later,
Wolf

[DPL]

Originally Posted by wolf_teeth

I've hreard the F6 in a simple vented box with the XT19, and also a simple 12dB network on both drivers. All I could say was "WOW!"

I honestly think the F6 has a glorious midrange quality, and is rather easy to tame. The cone is a well-damped fiber/kevlar/poly blend, and is even neater to see in person. The breakup is never shouty, and is a nice sounding driver as a whole.

...and about just 'one person' saying a driver is a no-go, maybe there are better ways to use it, and it will still sound good. I used the TN25 in my Sophomores project, and it was supposedly a BAD driver. It's a nice and sweet tweeter when you treat it right, and one of the smallest-format cheap units that can play to 3kHz.
That said- I have not heard the TN28 other than in the cabinet-mounted-style portion of the TM1a dome 2-way driver, and in there it was very nice!

Later,
Wolf

The TN25 is in my M200MKII, and I agree that it is a very competent tweeter, and the TN28 comes in two version (see Swans Hivi hompage), and one is identified as high end (also shown as used with the Diva models) and I can only assume that's the one with the German silk dome. I've never found that version available in the parts stores, but even the regular TN28 is competent (the output is flat from 2000-20,000), it's just not the best tweeter made. HiVi seems to be utilizing their development capital for the ribbon line, as all of the their top speakers use ribbons.

[wolf_teeth]

Yes- and the RT1.3 has become the platform for most of them, whatever form they choose to place it in. It's a nice tweeter too!



I didn't know there were 2 versions of the TN28.
All I know is that the DMN-a and TN28 make up the TM1a:
Overview TM1A_HiVi, Inc.





HiVi makes some really nice sounding drivers.
Later,
Wolf

[DPL]

Every project I have has one of these three brands, HiVi, Vifa or Morel (tweeters only). When I get my speaker rebuilt with new drivers, I'll post and let those that want see what you can do with bones and parts.