Hivi 3.1A DIY Speaker With Sehlin Mod Review

[ROOSKIE]

he are a couple finishes on these to give an idea.
sorry about image sizing in a sort of hurry.

 

[wwenze]

Means without the mod it's indeed pretty bright

Sparkly top end seems to be a "house sound" of Swan?

 

[bunkbail]

Looking at this pic, my Wharfedale EVO 4.2 is suspiciously looking like a clone of this kit, especially the use of dome midrange and kevlar woofer haha

 

[Ericglo]

@richard12511
I hope I have this correctly as I have not built this set.

https://imgur.com/a/GvjB52R

That link also has part numbers, which should simplify ordering.

 

[Azookey]

I built these about a year ago. By far the thickest and nicest wood cuts I've ever received for a kit. When you get them together there are no seams, very clean look. Actually left them totally unfinished for a quite a while, then when work-from-home started back in March I found the time to finish them in my down moments. Several coats of black spray paint over the course of several days, and they look good to me.

Currently use them for home theater speakers. Very clear, and loud, when needed. Powered with a Hypex nc252mp board in a Ghent case (thanks Archimago).

 

[sweetchaos]

Several coats of black spray paint over the course of several days, and they look good to me.

Show us!

 

[chych7]

Glad to hear this DIY design came out good with the HiVi tweeter. Starting a build of the Keramiskas myself, which use the HiVi RT1.3WE.

 

[TimVG]

Suggested EQ:

 

[MZKM]

I agree. Could anyone give me an estimate of approximately how long it would take to put these together (you can safely assume that I have zero skill in this area)? I am always on the lookout for fun projects to do with my son.

Zeos has a 4 part series, without painting the cabinet.

 

[edechamps]

I have added the HiVi Swans DIY3.1-A Sehlin mod to Loudspeaker Explorer where it can be compared to other speakers.

Consistency within the listening window is okay as long as you don't put these speakers above ear height:

 

[BYRTT]

Thanks to Amir for another good interesting acoustic review ..

Amir's spindata with other tecnical overlays listed in legend..

Amir's spindata with traced overlays of the published curves for option-4 modded XO filter..

Radars with multiple of frequency overlays, first verticals then horizontals..

EQ exercise animation below using three different targets, not that i have this speaker myself so cant comment on how any of the targets will sound in whatever room enviroment but think its a good educational exercise study how polars will look for the different targets when case is directivity index is not so optimal smooth thing as are for some other builds and therefor on a objective paper target a smooth PIR looks not a bad ballance of compromise..

 

[Walter]

Great to see a review of these. I'm not too surprised at how good they sound. When I moved to Nanjing, China in 2004, I spent several evenings and and weekends looking for audio gear. It was a daunting task, as most of the locally made stuff was absolutely awful, although the speakers at least looked nice even though they sounded horrible. The electronics were a nightmare. ChiFi had most definitely not arrived in Nanjing at the time. There were a couple of stores selling imported speakers--I remember Bose and Bowers & Wilkins in particular, but at huge markups. Then I came across HiVi/Swans/Diva, courtesy of a life size poster of Frank Hale on the door of the shop. (it really was not clear from their English language material exactly what was the brand name, what was the model, etc., and some of the speakers in the same set had one name and some another.) I knew almost immediately that I had found my answer. I bought this set, or one that looked just like it from memory and what I can see in my photos. I bought a Yamaha 5.1 receiver from a different dealer. It was their bottom of the line model, but it was the best thing he had and it sounded far far better than any of the Chinese amps. I paid somewhere around $600 for the speaker set, and that was only a 5% discount off full retail. Prices have apparently gone way up since then, or maybe it is the cost of shipping and additional people in the distribution chain. I happily listened to them for the 2 1/2 years I lived in Nanjing--usually just in 2 channel mode. That was the single best audio bargain I have ever encountered.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Zeos has a 4 part series, without painting the cabinet.

You have to be able to stand Zeos for four videos, though.

 

[Vini darko]

Price for uk is scary.

 

[Vini darko]

No brainer option.

 

[Robbo99999]

Well this speaker has impressive DNA that can be brought to the surface with some EQ, some most impressive potential then! Not only that, it's quite a cheap speaker, especially for the performance. Is this the best DIY speaker that we've tested here? Could be the best DIY speaker to get in this form factor!

 

[Ericglo]

You have to be able to stand Zeos for four videos, though.

One of the more annoying youtubers that I have seen. I glanced at his Epson pj review and came away knowing less about pjs than before I watched it.

 

[Thomas Savage]

Note to self , don't let Amirm in your speakers with a pair of pliers .

 

[Azookey]

Show us!

Before'ish and After'ish

 

[amirm]

Price for uk is scary.

It is. I should say this things is very heavy. The drivers are not but the cabinet is built out of proper MDF so weighs a ton.