Athena AS-C1 (1 Viewer)

[Lee M T]

Hello all,

I'm beginning my speaker research phaze and there are quite a few options on the table at the moment. But, I have one question for the time being. Does anyone own or has anyone heard an Athena setup with the AS-C1 as the left and right speakers? I like what I have heard thus far from Athena and the reviews are great and the price is nice...although I would be willing to spend more. Say around the Paradigm Monitor 5 ballpark. Anyhow, the Athena floorstanders require too much power (Yammie RX-V640 owner here) and I'm not sure if the single woofer bookshelf speakers will quench my thirst appropriatly (I'm used to three-ways with a 10" woofer in them). But the two 5 1/2" woofer AS-C1's seem nice and Athena says the center channel can be used as any of the five main speakers.

Thanks,
Lee

 

[Lee M T]

Hmm...a light just went on. Are the Athena power handling specs RMS or max? If they are max, then my Yammie may do well with Athena floorstanders.

 

[robert.cohen]

This link should help:

hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_3/athena-as-c1-7-2003.html

 

[Lee M T]

Thanks mucho Robert.

I've just found the Athena sct Series and now I'm all googly over that now. Any experience with them? I only see talk about the Audition series. But I love the interchangability between the bookshelf and subs on the sct. Really nice. I'm thinking the S3's on top of the P2's with THE C1 as center and S1's as rears would sound terrific in my room.

 

[Jaime B]

Lee: I've had my S3/P2 combo for over a year now. Beware of the C-1 center, it is a piece of crap (IMO). I even called API, the manufacturer in Canada to tell them that it is a toy, a piece of junk. ( API makes great lines like Mirage, Energy and the Athena line replacing the Sound Dynamics line).

This shallow (5 inches) center speaker has the same tweeter as the S1/S2/S3, but then they installed a 4" driver to handle everything else with a 5 cent passive radiator to "help-out" with the upper bass. Well, guess what, it will crap-out at high volume levels and sound (in my system ) very nasal and pinched. I ended up with the previous model it replaced , the 20 pound Sound Dynamics center with much better performance!

From the pictures I've seen, the lower priced AS-C1 should be much better with two active 5 1/2" drivers and a deeper cabinet.

Hope this helps.

JaimeB

 

[Lee M T]

Thanks Jamie!

What are your thoughts on the S3/P2 combo? That same combo is very high on my list at the moment, even though I have not heard them yet.

What are you powering them with? And if you don't mind, how much did you pay for each piece?

Thanks,
Lee

 

[Jaime B]

Lee;

Driven with a Yamaha DSP-A1. Connected with Oval Analysis 12 speaker cables. S3/P2 is a good combo, slightly bright with my Yamaha, but I have them equalized @ -6db @ 12.5 khz. Previous main speakers, Def. Tech BP-20 w/ Velodyne sub. Slightly less efficient than the BP-20, to my surprise!

Bass is satisfying, but can sound bloated a times, but i know this is my room acoustics. The P2 have a slight peak at 26-30 HZ and in movies with a lot of bass content there will make them sound too full. It took me a lot of trial and error to adjust the P2 volume level to balance them with my problematic room acoustics. Good thing is you can have just one or the two subs on, depending on what you are listening to. The S3 image very well in two channels (something the BP-20's could never do), and will sound dynamic in 5.1. They are rear ported, my left side S3 (worst side of the room) the woofer was wobbling too much (wild back/front movement) so I added some speaker syn wool stuffing in the port to control this erratic movement. Again, its my room null/live nodes interacting with the system. In your house, they may need no hassling adjustments!

I paid MRSP since I mail ordered thru The AUDIO ADVISOR.

Any more question, just ask!!!

JaimeB