Have never heard them, but have a gut feeling at least that
they may turn out to be something of value for you,
especially at $250. Just looking at them I can see that they
use HiVi M-series woofers, this series of drivers in this
size and as well as the 8-inchers they make, while not as
expensive as you might think, are actually surprisingly good
sounding woofers and have a very good reputation -
particularly in their x-max performance - the spec of which,
based on observing the 8-inch versions in my own rig (not
Swans), if anything seems rather conservative. Can't say how
well the Divas would match up to your ST70, but in my own
case I've found the 8-inch woofers to offer up extremely
transparent and dynamic bass.
The tweeters look like Swans has made some sort of partial
attempt at time alignment by off-setting them. Could be very
good, but they evidently did not do much more in the way of
diffraction control than to create that beveled dip on the
top of the cabinet. Expect a little diffraction there, but
probably not too serious, hopefully. It's at least possible
they have taken much of the diffraction response into
account in the xover design. If so, then placing any felt
material in that dip may cause the highs to become rolled-
off sounding and loose their sparkle. If not, the highs
will likely gain in clarity, focus and smoothness. The
silk tweeter looks like a diffraction-free design all except
for the screen grill and, since they are fabric domes
(pretty durable), you might want to consider investigating
whether or not they could be removed once your setup is
complete which should also give you clearer and more focused
highs, although the point made about the xover taking the
diffraction into account still applies to the grills, too.
However, the tweeters are isolated from the front baffle
giving them a bit more dispersion than most. If your room
size is on the moderately large side, then this will be a
good thing - a larger and more coherent soundstage. But, if
your room proves to be too small or your sidewalls are too
close to the tweeters without any absorption treatment, then
the highs may sound congested, vaguely defined or even
harsh. Experiment when in doubt, with all that. Not
technically reclined enough (and not enough info) to comment
either way on the 4th-order xover, but the graphs appear to
me to be plausible enough, anyway. All in all I'd venture to
say that they could be a right good bargain if their
condition is verifiable, although I don't have any way to
know how well cabinet resonances have been dealt with and
all that. Hope this is of some help, FWIW.
they may turn out to be something of value for you,
especially at $250. Just looking at them I can see that they
use HiVi M-series woofers, this series of drivers in this
size and as well as the 8-inchers they make, while not as
expensive as you might think, are actually surprisingly good
sounding woofers and have a very good reputation -
particularly in their x-max performance - the spec of which,
based on observing the 8-inch versions in my own rig (not
Swans), if anything seems rather conservative. Can't say how
well the Divas would match up to your ST70, but in my own
case I've found the 8-inch woofers to offer up extremely
transparent and dynamic bass.
The tweeters look like Swans has made some sort of partial
attempt at time alignment by off-setting them. Could be very
good, but they evidently did not do much more in the way of
diffraction control than to create that beveled dip on the
top of the cabinet. Expect a little diffraction there, but
probably not too serious, hopefully. It's at least possible
they have taken much of the diffraction response into
account in the xover design. If so, then placing any felt
material in that dip may cause the highs to become rolled-
off sounding and loose their sparkle. If not, the highs
will likely gain in clarity, focus and smoothness. The
silk tweeter looks like a diffraction-free design all except
for the screen grill and, since they are fabric domes
(pretty durable), you might want to consider investigating
whether or not they could be removed once your setup is
complete which should also give you clearer and more focused
highs, although the point made about the xover taking the
diffraction into account still applies to the grills, too.
However, the tweeters are isolated from the front baffle
giving them a bit more dispersion than most. If your room
size is on the moderately large side, then this will be a
good thing - a larger and more coherent soundstage. But, if
your room proves to be too small or your sidewalls are too
close to the tweeters without any absorption treatment, then
the highs may sound congested, vaguely defined or even
harsh. Experiment when in doubt, with all that. Not
technically reclined enough (and not enough info) to comment
either way on the 4th-order xover, but the graphs appear to
me to be plausible enough, anyway. All in all I'd venture to
say that they could be a right good bargain if their
condition is verifiable, although I don't have any way to
know how well cabinet resonances have been dealt with and
all that. Hope this is of some help, FWIW.