The second card board box of Swan Hivi M50W.
For the past 2 years I have been resorting to headphone for listening to songs, watch movies and play games but I always been craving for a speaker that can serve better for watching movies and computer games. After scouring the internet, I stumbled upon a speaker that isn’t covered much on popular review site. All there is are bits and pieces of rave reviews from users that took the plunge. That speaker is the 2.1 Swan Hivi M50W.
Don’t let the size fool you. The sub-woofer is heavier than you might think.
After some quick auditioning at the Jakarta distributor at Mangga Dua, I walked away very impressed by the M50W and promptly did the payment rituals. At one point of the audition, I had to check if they had the M60 5.1 speaker switched on because everything in the audition room is shaking. It felt like I was transported to one of those THX equipped theatre in Indonesia and I instantly fell in love with it.
The box is quite heavy for a 2.1 speaker. Most of the weight comes from the sub-woofer which is surprisingly heavy for the size. The packaging is nice and I understand why they bother to put stuff a cardboard inside another cardboard. To HIVI the M50W is a premium speaker and they did their best to make sure that it comes to the customer hand in the best condition it can be even if it means that the cardboard housing the speaker is in good condition.
Cables, Controllers, White gloves and speaker packaged nicely and neatly.
Inside the box you will find the usual cables and a white glove. You might wonder why they bother to put in a white glove and I soon find out the reason why. The top part of the speaker and sub-woofer is piano black plastic which is very nice but is a fingerprint magnet and is easily visible. One thing I hope Hivi can improve – give us a stretchable and bigger glove. There is no point giving a glove that your customer can’t use it.
Once the plastic is gone, the top of the speaker will be a finger print magnet.
The M50W looks beautiful. The wood and piano black plastic really matches well and gives a classy and premium feel to it. Photos don’t do justice on the M50W and you have to see it yourself if you like it or not. The volume controller is also very nice although it could use more function than adjusting volume and switch on/off. It gives off a blue light when switched on and red light when its on standby. There is no headphone out on the controller and to change the bass, you have to change it at the back of the sub-woofer.
Things aren’t all nice and well though, the volume controller has a large scratch that ate through the surface. Thankfully the distributor is very helpful and agreed to change the controller so everything is forgiven.
Finished rig. No manual needed 
The setup is quite easy everything is labeled clearly on the back and color coded. The only thing that you have to be careful is the plug for the volume controller. If the plug cannot insert easily that means that the direction is wrong. Do not force it or else you will break the plug. I finished setting up my rig in 10 minutes (including taking photos) so you should be able to setup in less than 5.
Swan Hivi M50W physical impression rating: 3.9/5.0
(+) What I like
Classy and Premium feel
Very nice controller
Setup is very easy and doesn’t require reading the manual
(-) What I dislike
Top part of the speaker has a piano black plastic finishing which is finger print prone
Controller came with a deep and large scratch
Sub-woofer bass knob is at the back
No headphone out on the controller
That is all for the part 1 of the review. I will be taking a some time to test the speaker and give it time to let me have a better sound impression of the speaker. In the meantime do check out the photos below.
I would recommend having the subwoofer placed directly on the ground to have better sound.
Thanks for the comment. I will change the positioning when I finish clearing up my room.