[lessblue]

Hi all, I've owned the original Swans M200 desktop speakers for almost 10 years. They, along with my JBL L112's have served as my main music listening speakers. They still work fine but I was wondering what would be an actual upgrade to the Swans.
 
Active speakers that I would use for music listening on my desk and sometimes serving as small living room speakers. My budget is $500 max and my ears prefer warmer speakers, pronounced highs cause me fatigue.
 
Would love to hear from anyone who specifically upgraded from M200s also.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Hi all, I've owned the original Swans M200 desktop speakers for almost 10 years. They, along with my JBL L112's have served as my main music listening speakers. They still work fine but I was wondering what would be an actual upgrade to the Swans.
 
Active speakers that I would use for music listening on my desk and sometimes serving as small living room speakers. My budget is $500 max and my ears prefer warmer speakers, pronounced highs cause me fatigue.
 
Would love to hear from anyone who specifically upgraded from M200s also.

 
I'm not the expert, but if I was you, I would be at least checking out the Emotiva Airmotiv 5s and 6s studio monitors.
 
You your thinking at all about a 2.1 set, check out Monoprice.
http://www.monoprice.com/category?c_id=115&cp_id=11504&cs_id=1150401
(5" studio monitors with a 10" sub)

 

[lessblue]

   
I'm not the expert, but if I was you, I would be at least checking out the Emotiva Airmotiv 5s and 6s studio monitors.
 
You your thinking at all about a 2.1 set, check out Monoprice.
http://www.monoprice.com/category?c_id=115&cp_id=11504&cs_id=1150401
(5" studio monitors with a 10" sub)

Thank you for the suggestion, I'm going to read up on the Emotiva monitors. I wonder how much of an upgrade they might be from the Swans M200.
 
I'm hoping for the most musical speakers I can get but without a sub, just a 2.0 pair. I know bass will be sacrificed to a certain a degree.

 

[PurpleAngel]

 
Thank you for the suggestion, I'm going to read up on the Emotiva monitors. I wonder how much of an upgrade they might be from the Swans M200.
 
I'm hoping for the most musical speakers I can get but without a sub, just a 2.0 pair. I know bass will be sacrificed to a certain a degree.

After rechecking out the Swan M200.
I'm guessing even the $170 Monoprice 5" studio monitors would be an upgrade, to the Swans.
With the Swams, at most they would have each unit (speaker) powered by one amplifier.
Where as with the Monoprice studio monitors, they have two amplifiers built into each unit.
 
Monoprice 5", $170 for the pair.
JBL LSR305,  $300 for the pair
AirMotiv 5S, $400 for the pair
Airmotiv 6s, $500 for the pair
 
So  you may not have to spend $500 to get an upgrade.
If you want to spend all $500, cool.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Hi all, I've owned the original Swans M200 desktop speakers for almost 10 years. They, along with my JBL L112's have served as my main music listening speakers. They still work fine but I was wondering what would be an actual upgrade to the Swans.
 
Active speakers that I would use for music listening on my desk and sometimes serving as small living room speakers. My budget is $500 max and my ears prefer warmer speakers, pronounced highs cause me fatigue.
 
Would love to hear from anyone who specifically upgraded from M200s also.

 
What source(s) will you be plugging this stuff into?
Do you have a DAC?

 

[lessblue]

  After rechecking out the Swan M200.
I'm guessing even the $170 Monoprice 5" studio monitors would be an upgrade, to the Swans.
With the Swams, at most they would have each unit (speaker) powered by one amplifier.
Where as with the Monoprice studio monitors, they have two amplifiers built into each unit.
 
Monoprice 5", $170 for the pair.
JBL LSR305,  $300 for the pair
AirMotiv 5S, $400 for the pair
Airmotiv 6s, $500 for the pair
 
So  you may not have to spend $500 to get an upgrade.
If you want to spend all $500, cool.

Ah, I see. The Swans have a single amp rated at 15Wx2 RMS (5 ohms, 1Khz, THD85dB). I'm reading up on the ribbon tweeter in the AirMotiv. The JBL LSR305 is liked but some say it is more bright than warm.
 

   
What source(s) will you be plugging this stuff into?
Do you have a DAC?

I have an EMU USB 0404 external USB sound device I use as a DAC.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Ah, I see. The Swans have a single amp rated at 15Wx2 RMS (5 ohms, 1Khz, THD85dB). I'm reading up on the ribbon tweeter in the AirMotiv. The JBL LSR305 is liked but some say it is more bright than warm.
 
I have an EMU USB 0404 external USB sound device I use as a DAC.

 
I'm in no way an expert on studio monitors, my current Monoprice 5" units are the first one I've ever owned.
I just tried to list studio monitors that seem to get good reviews.
 
Your EMU 0404 seems to have some decent specs (117 SNR).

 

[lessblue]

   
I'm in no way an expert on studio monitors, my current Monoprice 5" units are the first one I've ever owned.
I just tried to list studio monitors that seem to get good reviews.
 
Your EMU 0404 seems to have some decent specs (117 SNR).

I've had that EMU 0404 for 10 years as well I'm looking into the LSR305 some more, seem pretty good. but once they were described as being brash, I'd prefer the music to be more in the middle ground rather than the background or foreground in terms of listening experience.
 
Thanks for the posts, pointing out the amplifier spec was really helpful for me. I wondered if an upgrade would've been really worth it, especially if it was too costly. Now, I think for $500 and under I can find a few speaker possibilities that would be a noticeable update from the Swans.