Swan m300 vs m200 mkiii+

Which model would be a better option for my home office? The room is approximately 10’x12’ with a 12’ vaulted ceiling.

I realize they both get really loud but most of the time I would b listening at reasonable to lower volumes. I’m much more interested in the overall sound quality in relation to the size of the room.

The placement would b on stands (not desktop) about 7’-8’ from where I sit. I also plan to use a Chromecast Audio into the optical input.

Any help would be appreciated.

I’m actually in the same predicament that you’re in right now and I’m leaning towards the m200 mkiii’s. I don’t think that you could go wrong with either of them. From what I understand, they both sound great.

I ended up going with the m300s for two reasons:

Swan website says they are best listened to from a distance (although they don’t specify how far).

Towards the end of the Zeos review he turned the m300s way down and said they still sounded good (at least compared to the Edifiers).

Like you said, can’t go wrong either way.

Setup my m300s…first impressions:

  • Definitely not designed for a desk. These are large/heavy bookshelf sized speakers and should be on stands.
  • GIANT sound. Extremely clear, possibly a bit “cold” sounding. With that said, this is right out of the box. Still need to be broken-in, settings tweaked, etc.
  • Imaging – it’s there, but I need to spend some time with the speaker placement…sometimes I feel like vocals are pulling towards the one side. Probably more to do with the room dynamics, placement, etc.
  • Scary loud – ear bleeding, make the kids cry, blow the windows out of the room.
  • Retain good sound quality at low volumes – this is very important to me.

I would go with the Vanatoo T1E for a desk. MUCH smaller and they would look more appropriate on a desk.

They are not going to get as loud as the M300 but your room is small and if you’re listening nearfield your probably not going to need to push them too far anyways. Bass is excellent, they have plenty of features, and are around the same price point.

Thx

@fsturbo Thank for the msg. Since I’m sitting ~8’ from the speakers I’m a bit outside of the typical near field range. Also, although my office is small it has a vaulted ceiling which makes the overall volume of the room larger. Still a relatively small room but now that I’ve had the speakers a few days, have started to tweak the settings, positioning, etc. I’m appreciating the larger size/power but equally as happy that they sound very solid at lower volumes too.

I’m curious about the swans. I also want speakers for my desk but I haven’t heard any to test. I want the vanatoo t1 because of the small footprint but I also like the m300s and I’d be willing to put up with the size difference. What do you think of the base/low end on the swans? I wouldn’t call myself a base head but a lot of the music I listen to requires something punchy. I hear nothing but great things in that regard on the t1 but the swans are 6.5 so I’d assume they would do it better, though most people only seem to talk about the mids and highs of the swans. I have the money and ready to spend it. Just can’t decide on which one yet. The s3000 pros are a tad to expensive for me atm. :confused:

Also, I plan on getting the Klipsch headphone amp and I’m pretty sure I can’t use the preamp aspect of it on the vanatoos. But not positive. However if the vanatoos are better for base then I’d be willing to deal with that.

I have the m300s and I think they would be wasted on a standard desk (30" deep). Physically, they’re just too big/bulky, and more importantly, not really intended to be used for near-field listening. Sure you could do it, but it would be complete overkill, to the point where it would limit a lot of the special sonic qualities of these speakers.

Even from a simple volume perspective…I’m ~8’ away from my m300 and the volume starts to get uncomfortable at 25%. I can’t imagine having these 2’ from my ears.

From a footprint perspective the t1 are definitely the more desktop appropriate set.

I haven’t heard the t1 but I’m sure the bass is very good relative to their size. My experience is the m300s have excellent/punchy bass. They also have a wider (deeper) frequency range (38 Hz vs 48 Hz) which is expected because they are much larger speakers.

:thinking: So perhaps I’ll buy the swans for my living room. t1 is still my top pick for my desk then… on a side note I really wish they would make a 6.5" too :sob:

Any direct comparisons between the two?

Good luck if your Swan speakers need service.

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