First impressions are everything, and these gave the absolute best I've ever experienced. The two boxes were much, much bigger than the specified dimensions, and upon opening them you discover that there are actually two boxes, separated by styrofoam. After opening the inner box (the one with the goods), you notice the speakers have been enclosed in a soft cloth drawstring pouch of sorts. Impressive. The next thing you may notice is the binding posts: They're huge! I've never had such ease hooking up speakers, but the banana plugs may have also benefitted me in this area. Next was of course the actual listening. I'm rather unexperienced in noting the smallish differences between similar speakers, but I will tell what I can. Before these beauties, I had a pair of Boston Acoustics VR 975's, and the sound was perfect to me. The looks, however, were similar to having some pagan obelisk in your living room: Not attractive. And due to getting married and moving into a smallish apartment, something with lesser bass output was necessary. So, because I loved the BA's so much I went with them again. To make a long story short, I had the BA CR75's, traded them for the BA VR-M50's, and finally traded those for the Swans 4.1's. Bottom line is I'm very happy I did. Other than flat out bass output, I can't tell you the difference between the Swans and my old 975's. The treble always sounds accurate, the midrange clear, and the bass nice and tight while suprisingly deep for a pair of 4.5" drivers. One way I like to test speakers is to throw some heavy rock at them (and I mean heavy) to see how well they handle it, and the Swans just get it right. The "snarl" of guitars is spot-on, and the vocals are always crystal-clear. I find it easier to notice subtelties on tracks as well, including movies. I haven't had a chance to test their limits yet, as I'm in an apartment and don't want to wake/anger the neighbors. I've had them for maybe a month, and they haven't been used yet to their reccommended break-in period, but if they only get better then I'm a happy, happy camper. And I hate camping.

There are some weaknesses, not in sound but in quality control it seems. First, one of the bottom feet just would not screw in the entire way. It's not a problem yet as they're on carpet, but when I move to a hard surface, I'll either need a new one or one 4.1 is going to look a little funky. Another unfortunate experience was with one of the drivers, it was making some odd distortions, but only on certain material it seemed and only at certain frequencies. So, with the advice and blessing of the reseller here in the states I opened it up and looked at the driver, noting no oddities. Then I took the other one out to compare and immediately the noise went away. So I'm not quite sure what was wrong, but it's gone now for whatever reason.

These are an extremely beautiful, extremely capable speaker that deserve a listen if you're looking for something in this price range (and given The Audio Insider's 30-day home trial period, it's also possible on your own terms). For those interested, I have them powered via a Boston Acoustics AVR-7100, with a Harman/Kardon HDCD-player and HK DVD-Player (DVD-27).

Customer Service

Phenomenal. Customer service through the Audio Insider is superb.

Similar Products Used:

Boston Acoustics, Athena Technologies