newbie, comparing my old Athena setup to my new Energy Micro RC setup - doesn't make sense (1 Viewer)

[RogerWilco]

In an effort to reduce clutter, I decided to change around my home theater setup a bit. I picked up a set of Energy Micro RC 5.0 satellites (not the 5.1, no subwoofer with this set) and paired them up with an older 8" Onkyo sub and Harmon Kardon receiver. These are tiny little cubes, amongst the smallest I've ever seen. My prior setup was a set of considerably heavier Athena WS series speakers (WS-100 front, WS-15 rear, WS-60 center). with the same sub and receiver. The fronts and center channel are these longish speakers with solid aluminum housings, with many drivers, and I remember paying quite a bit for them several years ago. I am listening to them back to back and the new setup with the lighter, smaller impossibly small little cubes sound BETTER. I'm listening to a Sting Live in Berlin concert on blu-ray (DTS Master 5.1) How is this possible? Or am I fooling myself? Or perhaps my relatively weak receiver wasn't driving the Athenas to their full potential? thanks in advance!

 

[Jason Charlton]

Originally Posted by RogerWilco

Or perhaps my relatively weak receiver wasn't driving the Athenas to their full potential?

I doubt it was a matter of power. The Athenas actually have a slightly higher sensitivity to the Energy speakers (90dB to 88dB), so they require less power to produce high volume levels.


The Energy speakers are very highly regarded as excellent value speakers whose performance belies their small size.


The old adage of "more is not necessarily better" may very well apply here (in terms of drivers). Of course, there could be lots of other factors - like in-room response, calibration, etc. In the end, the important thing is that you are happy with them, and it sounds like you are.