DIY Swan's Diva 2.1 Clones??? (1 Viewer)

[Stephen Hopkins]

The Swan's Diva line of speakers were amazingly popular here at the HTF when they were being sold by AV123, but faded away when the Onix Rockets were released. The Audio Insider picked up the Swan's Diva line and started offering it in a more affordable black cherry vinyl finish. Earlier this week I received the 4.1 main speakers I ordered and love them. I've since ordered the 2.1 bookshelfs and C2 center to round out a 5.1 system.

While poking around on the Swan's speaker website i noticed they sell raw drivers through parts express under the Hi-Vi Research name, including all the drivers used in the Diva line. I've always been interested in DIY speaker building and have built a few Shiva and AV12 based subs for my friends and myself, but have never built a speaker with a crossover.

I'm curious to whether or not it would be possible to build a Swan's Diva 2.1 clone using the drivers from Parts Express and an exact copy of the crossover design Swan's uses? I assume I would have to measure values for Caps and Inductors using a multi-meter, but I'm confident in my ability to build the crossover assuming i can get the right measured values and find corresponding Caps and Inductors to purchase. Is there any fundamental flaw in this process? Also, is there anywhere I can go to find actual values for the components they use?

I know I can't copy the curved enclosure of the Divas, but will this change sound of the speakers if i keep the internal volume, baffle dimensions, and driver spacing the same?

If I can do this, I would use my Diva 2.1 clones as back surrounds in a 7.1 setup when I move into a bigger HT room, and as main speakers in a 2ch bedroom setup until then. The main reason would be to delve into speaker building while avoiding crossover design, but ending up w/ a resulting product that can be incorporated into my current setup.

Thanks for your help and input

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

The only way to do this would be to get your hands on a schematic for the crossover. If your lucky, the cap values might be readable from the caps themselves, but measuring the inductor values would be a huge challenge. Get one wrong by more than 10% and there could be trouble. Since this is no longer a commercailly sold product, perhaps some kind sole will provide you with the schematic.

I agree that you can get away with changing the cabinet shape as long as the baffel dimensions, relative driver placement, internal cab volume and port are close to the original.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Everyone thinks the Diva line is no longer comercially available, but it is. I'm going to try to contact Swans and see if they'll give me the crossover design or find out how much a replacement crossover would cost pre-built from them.