Hivi 3.1A DIY Speaker With Sehlin Mod Review

[Cal_Cobra]

My Swan Hivi 3.1A DIY speaker build is coming along. I have both speaker boxes glued, sans the front panels which I'll install after installing the interior speaker foam, crossovers, and the speaker cups. I decided to go with Sehlin crossover mod Option #5 with Dayton audio upgraded parts, and all of the parts arrived today.

The more I think about it though, the more I'd like to just go ahead, and go for Sehlin crossover mod #6 {might as well do it now while the crossover's out).

Crossover option 6 reduces the value of woofer inductor L4 from 1.5 mH to 1.2 mH and increases capacitor C5 to 100uF. I believe the mod designer stated that you could unwind the appropriate length of the included L4 inductor coil, but does anyone know the length of wire to remote/cut?

L4 1.2 mH
Capacitor C5 100uF

I found 1.25 mH coils that looks similar, and look like they're compatible with the L4 PCB mounting. I'd assume the extra 0.05 millihenrys isn't a deal breaker? Also for the 100uF C5 capacitor replacement, I assume a 100V cap will work? It appears that 100 uF/100V caps are uncommon, but would these suffice? https://www.amazon.com/MAS-Polarized-Electrolytic-Capacitor-100/dp/B0CG5HQ1ZJ

TIA!

 

[Cal_Cobra]

The Swan Hivi 3.1A DIY speakers are coming along. I watched a ton of YouTube videos on building this speaker set, heck I even suffered through all four Zeos videos [should get a medal for that, that's hours of my life lost haha]

The videos were [for the most part] useful to learn tricks and tips from others mistakes (like tapping in the crossover mounts before building the speaker boxes), AND if you use the tape method to build the boxes, you don't need a dozen clamps along with the dexterity of an Olympian to get the panels together

I decided to build the cabinets and leave the fronts off until after the speaker boxes are fitted for acoustic foam, crossovers installed, speaker cups soldered & installed, etc.

I went for the Sehlin crossover upgrade option #4 ("Perfectionist Mod") and option #5. This afternoon I stuffed the circuit boards with the crossover components, I'll hot glue the components to the PCB, and get them soldered up over the weekend.

 

[Mudjock]

My Swan Hivi 3.1A DIY speaker build is coming along. I have both speaker boxes glued, sans the front panels which I'll install after installing the interior speaker foam, crossovers, and the speaker cups. I decided to go with Sehlin crossover mod Option #5 with Dayton audio upgraded parts, and all of the parts arrived today.

The more I think about it though, the more I'd like to just go ahead, and go for Sehlin crossover mod #6 {might as well do it now while the crossover's out).

Crossover option 6 reduces the value of woofer inductor L4 from 1.5 mH to 1.2 mH and increases capacitor C5 to 100uF. I believe the mod designer stated that you could unwind the appropriate length of the included L4 inductor coil, but does anyone know the length of wire to remote/cut?

L4 1.2 mH
Capacitor C5 100uF

I found 1.25 mH coils that looks similar, and look like they're compatible with the L4 PCB mounting. I'd assume the extra 0.05 millihenrys isn't a deal breaker? Also for the 100uF C5 capacitor replacement, I assume a 100V cap will work? It appears that 100 uF/100V caps are uncommon, but would these suffice? https://www.amazon.com/MAS-Polarized-Electrolytic-Capacitor-100/dp/B0CG5HQ1ZJ

TIA!

If you wind up trying mod 6, the capacitors you linked are the same as I purchased for the same purpose. Also 1.25 mH is good for L4. When I'm unwinding, I have the inductor hooked up to an LC meter - or I unwind a few turns and remeasure to get an idea how many turns it will require and so I don't overshoot.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

If you wind up trying mod 6, the capacitors you linked are the same as I purchased for the same purpose. Also 1.25 mH is good for L4. When I'm unwinding, I have the inductor hooked up to an LC meter - or I unwind a few turns and remeasure to get an idea how many turns it will require and so I don't overshoot.

Thank you, and thanks for sharing your crossover design and still answering our questions. I decided I might as well go for mod 6. Unfortunately I don't have an instrument to measure inductance to unwind the Hivi coil, so I ordered these 1.25 mH 18ga inductors for L4: https://www.ebay.com/itm/385485487381 along with the 100V 100uf capacitors.

I'm really looking forward to finishing up my speakers and giving them a listen.

 

[Moth]

Slowly gathering items for my build. (This was supposed to be a quick and dirty build for my workplace, but I'm obsessing.)

What resister did you source for R1? It looks like the closest option Parts Express has is 7 Ohm:

Dayton Audio DPR10-7.0 7 Ohm 10 Watt Precision 1% Audio Grade Resistor

Dayton Audio DPR10-7.0 7 Ohm 10 Watt Precision 1% Audio Grade ResistorDayton Audio's Precision Series Audio Grade resistors are designed specifically for use in high-end, no compromise crossover networks. The nickel-chromium winding, a high thermal conductivity ceramic core, welded construction...

www.parts-express.com

 

[HighFutility]

I just wanted to share a quick REW in-room sweep. The blue line is with a Denon x3500h receiver set to defaults, and the teal colour is with an Audessy x32t. Interestingly, the Audessy x32 gives me a high-frequency bump despite showing in the app as a ruler flat. The speaker with my room gain gives me usuable frequency response down to 30hz. I was honestly amazed by the amount of bass these gave out. Smoothing is 1/1.

Orange is again without any DSP but at 1/24,1/12 If I recall correctly.

I forgot to mention I went with mod #6

 

[Mudjock]

Slowly gathering items for my build. (This was supposed to be a quick and dirty build for my workplace, but I'm obsessing.)

What resister did you source for R1? It looks like the closest option Parts Express has is 7 Ohm:

Dayton Audio DPR10-7.0 7 Ohm 10 Watt Precision 1% Audio Grade Resistor

Dayton Audio DPR10-7.0 7 Ohm 10 Watt Precision 1% Audio Grade ResistorDayton Audio's Precision Series Audio Grade resistors are designed specifically for use in high-end, no compromise crossover networks. The nickel-chromium winding, a high thermal conductivity ceramic core, welded construction...

www.parts-express.com

A 7 ohm resistor is fine. There are some ebay sellers that carry 6.8 ohm, 10 watt wirewound resistors. mtg-90 and timelyrain001 are two that I have either dealt with directly or at least successfully used their products.

 

[Mudjock]

Thank you, and thanks for sharing your crossover design and still answering our questions. I decided I might as well go for mod 6. Unfortunately I don't have an instrument to measure inductance to unwind the Hivi coil, so I ordered these 1.25 mH 18ga inductors for L4: https://www.ebay.com/itm/385485487381 along with the 100V 100uf capacitors.

I'm really looking forward to finishing up my speakers and giving them a listen.

That's the right source for the inductors. I know the owner personally, so I might be biased - but he's always been a stand up guy who underpromises and overdelivers.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

That's the right source for the inductors. I know the owner personally, so I might be biased - but he's always been a stand up guy who underpromises and overdelivers.

Thanks, good to know. I'll keep him bookmarked, he has a nice variety of crossover components, and his prices are quite reasonable.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Slowly gathering items for my build. (This was supposed to be a quick and dirty build for my workplace, but I'm obsessing.)

What resister did you source for R1? It looks like the closest option Parts Express has is 7 Ohm:

Dayton Audio DPR10-7.0 7 Ohm 10 Watt Precision 1% Audio Grade Resistor

Dayton Audio DPR10-7.0 7 Ohm 10 Watt Precision 1% Audio Grade ResistorDayton Audio's Precision Series Audio Grade resistors are designed specifically for use in high-end, no compromise crossover networks. The nickel-chromium winding, a high thermal conductivity ceramic core, welded construction...

www.parts-express.com

They were out of the sandcast resistors for R1 and R2 when I ordered, so I went with these audio resistors for R1 and R2, same specs but higher tolerance (not that it probably matters for this):
R1:

Parts Express: Speakers, Amplifiers, Audio Parts and Solutions

Your Audio Solutions HQ Since 1986. Shop Audio Parts from Speakers and Subwoofers to Home Theater and Pro Audio. Top Gear at Low Prices and FREE Shipping

www.parts-express.com

R2:

Parts Express: Speakers, Amplifiers, Audio Parts and Solutions

Your Audio Solutions HQ Since 1986. Shop Audio Parts from Speakers and Subwoofers to Home Theater and Pro Audio. Top Gear at Low Prices and FREE Shipping

www.parts-express.com

 

[Cal_Cobra]

If folks are building these speakers and haven't found these videos on the Swan Speakers facebook page, they're well worth the watch and I believe this fellow, as humble as he portrays himself, is the speaker designer:

Swans DIY Kits Building - HiVi-Swans Speakers

Swans DIY Kits available at Amazon US

www.facebook.com

 

[Cal_Cobra]

While I debated going for mod#6, I started soldering one PCB So I got to practice my desoldering skills (note to self, get a solder sucker) to remove L4 and C5 on the one board, but everything else is soldered up on both crossovers. I'll do the speaker wires next, and then start with the acoustic foam installation. Getting closer, but still far away.

Now they look lonely... And so the wait begins...safe travels and godspeed USPS lol

 

[direwolf08]

If folks are building these speakers and haven't found these videos on the Swan Speakers facebook page, they're well worth the watch and I believe this fellow, as humble as he portrays himself, is the speaker designer:

Swans DIY Kits Building - HiVi-Swans Speakers

Swans DIY Kits available at Amazon US

www.facebook.com

Those videos were so helpful to me when I built mine!

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Those videos were so helpful to me when I built mine!

How did yours turn out? So many possible ways to go to finish them

 

[eksine]

I just got my kit, box was heavily damaged but everything inside was ok. Strange thing is I measured the crossover components with the der ee de-5000 with kelvin clips and they are extremely tight tolerance. One of the iron core inductors was exactly 1500 uHenries. I'm worried that it's got a steel core though, I heard that is undesirable because of heresis, or whatever it's called. I also learned it's easier to just attach the MDF together one edge at a time with duct tape and pull hard on the tape and use it to clamp all the corners. Clamps are probably harder to use. Also it lets you see the exact edges so you know if there's a gap where the wood wasn't meeting or not, that's why I left parts of the MDF without tape so I can see the wood.

It took over 15 mins to glue all the edges with titebond 2 and was worried glue would dry before I could assemble and tape the whole thing up. I added a capful of water to a condiment bottle to make it dry slower . Titebond 3 separates in the container. I saw it at the store and it has dark patches of oily stuff that settled on the bottom . I ordered the parts for mod 6 using audyn Q4 caps mostly. So how necessary is it to replace the metal core inductor with a fully air core one ? Is it going to make that much of a difference? It's probably expensive too, I already spent $152 at parts express.

Also I have experience with basic autobody and can spray 2k automotive paint and I have the same $500 Tekna prolite spray gun that body shops have. I can do metallic paint and clear coat, anybody think I should do that...or I also can add veneer and do an airbrush shadowing technique and give the wood a stain and starburst pattern like on expensive speakers. I've seen some of your guys paint jobs and would like to give some of you tips on how to paint cause some of them are really bad, it looks like it came straight from a spray can without any extra polishing done to them, orange peel and all.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

I ended up using extra wide blue painters tape and a single band clamp ($9 delivered from Amazon). You could do it without a clamp, just make sure you take your time, use ample glue, and make sure to get everything lines up. Still, one clamp did an incredible job of tightening the box up, and provided some peace of mind. I'll use it again when I glue the front speaker panels on.

I left the front speaker panels off as I felt it would be easier to do the foam and crossover wiring/install without it. I'll glue them in after I do the foam, install the crossovers, and solder the speaker wires & terminal blocks cups. I toyed around with the seemingly endless ways to finish the speaker cabinets, and decided to paint the front, back, and bottom satin black with Rust-Oleum 346951 Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Spray Paint+Primer, 12 oz, Satin Canyon Black. It took a lot of sanding (finished in 600 grit) and several coats, but it came out really nice for rattle cans! The sides and top I'm going to veneer and stain, hoping to get at least one speaker completed within the next few days. If I have enough leftover veneer, I'll do the bottom as well, although it'll likely have to be two pieces spliced together, which for the bottom is a non-issue IMO. I toyed around with doing a carbon fiber wrap over the speaker panel, and using some linen or mesh speaker grill cloth, but decided to keep it simple. I did the speaker grills already. I saw one video that used a hot glue gun to do the grill cloths which looked nice, but in practice it was a hot mess on the one I tried it on. I ended up pulling it all apart and starting over. Doing it exactly the way the Swan Speaker assembly videos show works terrific, right down to the cuticle trimmers ha ha It's easy to do magnetic speaker grills too, but I'll stick with the Swan speaker pegs.

My father is retired from 40+ years of auto body repair and paint. He painted my 1989 Saleen Mustang convertible with a blue pearlescent white paint, and he redid the factory stripe kit and it looked great. That color would look great on these speakers. Unfortunately he's been out of painting for so long, that when I brought up him painting my speakers with some cool paint, he wasn't interested. There's some really neat paints you could shoot to make them look like a million bucks! Honestly these aren't difficult to paint. Knock off any of the access glue, and sand it down. I started with some 120 grit, then went to 320 and finished with 600. Then I painted them, let them cure and sanded them again with 320 and 600 only on the second pass and then painted them and they came out really nice.

 

[eksine]

I ended up using extra wide blue painters tape and a single band clamp ($9 delivered from Amazon). You could do it without a clamp, just make sure you take your time, use ample glue, and make sure to get everything lines up. Still, one clamp did an incredible job of tightening the box up, and provided some peace of mind. I'll use it again when I glue the front speaker panels on.

I left the front speaker panels off as I felt it would be easier to do the foam and crossover wiring/install without it. I'll glue them in after I do the foam, install the crossovers, and solder the speaker wires & terminal blocks cups. I toyed around with the seemingly endless ways to finish the speaker cabinets, and decided to paint the front, back, and bottom satin black with Rust-Oleum 346951 Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Spray Paint+Primer, 12 oz, Satin Canyon Black. It took a lot of sanding (finished in 600 grit) and several coats, but it came out really nice for rattle cans! The sides and top I'm going to veneer and stain, hoping to get at least one speaker completed within the next few days. If I have enough leftover veneer, I'll do the bottom as well, although it'll likely have to be two pieces spliced together, which for the bottom is a non-issue IMO. I toyed around with doing a carbon fiber wrap over the speaker panel, and using some linen or mesh speaker grill cloth, but decided to keep it simple. I did the speaker grills already. I saw one video that used a hot glue gun to do the grill cloths which looked nice, but in practice it was a hot mess on the one I tried it on. I ended up pulling it all apart and starting over. Doing it exactly the way the Swan Speaker assembly videos show works terrific, right down to the cuticle trimmers ha ha It's easy to do magnetic speaker grills too, but I'll stick with the Swan speaker pegs.

My father is retired from 40+ years of auto body repair and paint. He painted my 1989 Saleen Mustang convertible with a blue pearlescent white paint, and he redid the factory stripe kit and it looked great. That color would look great on these speakers. Unfortunately he's been out of painting for so long, that when I brought up him painting my speakers with some cool paint, he wasn't interested. There's some really neat paints you could shoot to make them look like a million bucks! Honestly these aren't difficult to paint. Knock off any of the access glue, and sand it down. I started with some 120 grit, then went to 320 and finished with 600. Then I painted them, let them cure and sanded them again with 320 and 600 only on the second pass and then painted them and they came out really nice.

Man that's kinda lazy of him. paintscratch.com or sites like that sell you car paint in a spray can. it's better than the rustoleum you were using. also car parts store usually carry car paint in a spray can, it's not as good but still better than your hardware store paint. they sell 2k catalyzed clearcoat too it's called spraymax 2k or something like that. the magic is actually in the body work, bondo and many layers of 2k high build primer and a lot of sanding down to 400 or 600 grit is the secret to a good paintjob. sanding is like 50% of the work. that's weird you got it to work with just painters tape and 1 band clamp. the edges don't touch unless you clamp it all down, the side panels were warped on mine.

 

[eksine]

While I debated going for mod#6, I started soldering one PCB So I got to practice my desoldering skills (note to self, get a solder sucker) to remove L4 and C5 on the one board, but everything else is soldered up on both crossovers. I'll do the speaker wires next, and then start with the acoustic foam installation. Getting closer, but still far away.

Now they look lonely... And so the wait begins...safe travels and godspeed USPS lol

View attachment 378683

there's actually a video on youtube where a guy puts a signal generator on one inductor and an oscilloscope on another with a speaker and he shows that unless you have inductors perpendicular to each other they cause electromagnetic interference. with the board layout here unless it's 12 inches apart they will interfere. you need to rotate 2 inductors on this board 90 degrees vertical to do it properly and spacing it apart more would be better. those caps and resistors also cause interference believe it or not and they are too close. also I really don't trust that board to properly conduct current. I bet you there's too much resistance , like a restricted water pipe that's undersized. I would use wire instead and ditch the printed board.I'm thinking of using the entire box as the board, meaning place the parts all over the place to increase their distance. I thought about an external crossover too, but not sure if it's worth it.

 

[Scoobis]

For anyone interested. for my 1..5mH indutors, removing 16 turns from the 1.5mH inductor made it 1.209mH.at 1khz and 1.227mH at 100hz.
Both inductors were reading the same and I removed the same number of turns on both inductors ... Inductance readings were taken with a DE-5000 LCR meter..
I know this is a sample size of 2 but 16 turns seems to do it.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

For anyone interested. for my 1..5mH indutors, removing 16 turns from the 1.5mH inductor made it 1.209mH.at 1khz and 1.227mH at 100hz.
Both inductors were reading the same and I removed the same number of turns on both inductors ... Inductance readings were taken with a DE-5000 LCR meter..
I know this is a sample size of 2 but 16 turns seems to do it.

Thanks for sharing this, good to know.