Athena technology SPeaker systems (1 Viewer)

[HoiT]

Hi there,

Just curious, has anyone auditioned/owned/has experience on the Athena Technology speakers? The Audition and Point 5 systems both recieved great reviews and "Awards". Can anyone comment on it? Thank you vey much in advance.

HoiT

 

[brentl]

You could simply do a "search" and find out what you need to know.

I love my AS-f2s, esp for the money. $600Can on boxing day was great.

The centre channel is fine, not capable of the clean output that the F2s are, but oh well what can you say for $200 Canadian.

Brent

 

[HoiT]

Brent,

Thanks for the message. You got a great deal for the F2!! I am actually thinking of using the F1 as the front (less money). Jusy curius did you use the brand new surround (AS-R1) for your rear channel. I could not find any shop that carried it?!

My notion is that I would like to stick to Canadian brand since I am in Canada. However, comparing with PSB, Paradigm, Energy, Mirage etc. Athena seems to be the best value!

HoiT

 

[Michael.M.C]

I have an Athena ASP-400 sub that I love but a more important quality to the Athena company is the assistance they gave me even when I was not using their other speakers. (If I needed another set of speakers I would buy Athenas over many others)

 

[Adam.Heckman]

I am slowly upgrading my system, and my mains were the first to be replaced. I bought Athena Audition AS-B2's. I love them. I'm upgrading from a HTiB, mind you, but the sound is great.
I've also read glowing reviews of the F2's. Comparing them to speakers that cost 2K USD a pair.

Seeing as how you're using the floor standers for mains, you could consider the AS-B1's or 2's for your surrounds.

Take it easy and let us know which way you went and how it sounds.

 

[brentl]

R1s aren't available yet, Probably in a few months. I'll Just keep looking at Future Shop until they come out. LUCKILY the R1s come in singles so I can buy sides and rears and a rear center.

Brent

 

[HoiT]

Brent,

I have actually called up Athena and talked to someone in marketing about 2 weeks ago. He told me that the R1 is ready to be delivered to the store. Price should be around 350 cdn a pair(not totally certain). Unfortunately, when I went to one of the dealer (2001 Audio & Video), the sales person did not even know what I was talking about ?!

I shall just do what you mentioned - keep an eye out on Future Shop. One big problem I have is that to find a shop that would set up the whole system and let me listen.

HoiT

 

[brentl]

I guess it's been a coupla months since I checked. So that timeframe may be more accurate.

Most FSs have the F1s and the center set up, and when they get the R1s I'm sure they would set them up.

Chances are they will have them setup already in one of the "sound rooms". Not perfect, but it should do the job.

Wait till they go on sale!

Brent
I would think the R1s would go on sale for around $250 a pair.

 

[Jaspaul]

The guys at the Broadway FS here in Vancouver were happy to setup one of their demo rooms for me. The manager said he would get it ready between customers and I could come back in the morning to hear them. I asked for the AS-F1, AS-C1 and AS-B1 after giving them a preliminary listen just sitting on the display shelves.

When I got there I noticed that they had conveniently setup the AS-F2's beside the F1's to try and sway me. Regardless of the salesman's intentions I'm glad they setup the F2's. The system was hooked up to a HK AVR330 and a Pioneer DV-563A.

I came to the conclusion that both of the towers needed an accompanying sub...the F2's are slightly better but not good enough to be the only low frequency speakers in the system. I also found the F1's to be a better match to the C1 center channel (at least to my ear). I decided to save the $200 by buying the F1's and put the money in the bank for a sub. Then I heard of the good deals on the Hsu STF-2 at compusa so I drove over the border and picked one up (it's only a 1/2 hour drive for me so it wasn't that inconvenient). I ended up with:

Athena AS-F1 front
Athena AS-C1 center
Athena AS-B1 surround
Hsu STF-2

The total Athena set was $650 Canadian (~490 US) and the Hsu was $340 US (~450 Canadian)...all prices before any taxes.

So far I have been very happy with the purchase. I don't think I could have done much better considering what I spent. When FS has the AS-R1's in stock long enough to start cutting deals, I may move the AS-B1's to my computer room with a cheap receiver, but apart from that I think I will be happy with this setup longer than I normally am when it comes to electronics

 

[HoiT]

Jaspaul,

Wow!! You got the Athena at a very good price. The F1 listed at 500 cdn, C1 at 200, and the B1 probably at around 250 - total ~950 cdn. andd you paid only $650cdn!!!

Correct me if I am wrong, I am sure that Athena has a subwoofer that goes with a surround setup.

HoiT

 

[Christopher E]

Jaspaul,

I also live in Vancouver, and have always wondered how much it would cost to bring a sub (or any speaker for that matter) bought in the US back to Canada. If you don't mind could you tell me how much you had to pay when you brought the STF-2 across the border?

 

[Drew_W]

The Athenas are fantastic. Remember that these speakers have 50% markup, and as such, you should be able to negotiate a *great* deal with your local Future Shop salesperson who is behind on his quota. *wink wink*

The R1s will be sold as singles, and were due for release already according to the e-mail I got from Athena. I guess they're behind.

In my experience, most of the people at Future Shop/2001 A/V/other big box stores are uneducated and lack fundamental product knowledge. There are exceptions of course, but for the most part, they are just excellent sales people who are on commission. Go in there knowing what you want, and alot about what you want, and don't give in to their BS.

I'll give you an example. A guy at 2001 A/V told me that the Athena/Yamaha combination is the best one out there, because Athena exclusively uses Yamaha amps to demo their products. *ahem*. This is the biggest crock of s*** I've heard recently. If you search my posts, I used this as an interim solution while waiting for my Pioneer Elite and it made my ears bleed. Bright+bright = bad. And even with the Pioneer Elite, I need to use THX to further tame the speakers down to more neutral levels.

I'm running an Athena system in my basement with a Pioneer Elite receiver and I couldn't be happier. It does pure movies, no music. Only spot where it needs improvement is the sub. I need a new one, but it's far from a priority at this point.

And as always, calibrate calibrate calibrate. SPL meter + AVIA disc is the best investment you can make in your system.

 

[Jaspaul]

Wait until they go on sale at FS. I got them during the boxing week special when Athena was giving pretty nice discounts on the speakers and then FS was matching the discount.

List for the speakers during the sale was:
AS-F1 - $380 for the pair
AS-C1 - $170
AS-B1 - $170 for the pair

After some haggling with the manager I paid:
AS-F1 - $340 for the pair
AS-C1 - $155
AS-B1 - $155 for the pair

It may not be fair to compare these prices now as neither Athena or the FS head office is offering those huge discounts, but it probably wouldn't be out of line to get the sales manager to give you ~$75 on the set.

As for bringing stuff back from the states:

Thanks to NAFTA there is no duty on any american made electronics brought back to Canada. You do have to pay GST and PST however.

For non-american made speakers the duty rate is 6% plus the aforementioned taxes. Now there are some things you can do to make it a better deal depending on if you get lucky with the customs officer:

1) We left around 6pm the day of, but decided to go down to Seattle so we didn't get back until about 1am...technically we were there for 2 days which turns into a 48 hour personal claim period of $200 a person.

2) There was 4 of us and nobody else bought anything. Now technically you cannot add your personal claim amounts and apply them to one product (ie. we weren't allowed to add up our $200 each and buy one $800 item) but it was 1 in the morning and I don't think the customs officer could be bothered.

3) Head to Burlington and pick up some Krispy Kremes. Even if you do have to pay taxes and duty at least you'll probably be so happy and on such a sugar high you probably won't care You could also try to use the doughnuts as a bribe, but luckily I didn't have to resort to this and got to keep all 12 for myself

So luckily I paid nothing bringing the sub back, but I was prepared to pay ~$70 US

 

[Drew_W]

All of the Athena speakers are made in China except for the subs, which are Canadian made.

And Athena is a Canadian company as well.

 

[Jaspaul]

My AS-C1 and AS-B1's say they are manufactured in China, but the labelling on the AS-F1's says they are manufactured Canada...dunno if that has changed in the last month.

The Hsu is also made in China.

 

[Jaspaul]

*edit

I looked at the receipt again and it was another $25 up to $675 for the set...I must have been thinking of one of hte offers I had given them and not the final price.

 

[Mark gas]

Paradigm Titans for $269 are better than the athena asb 2's. I have both and the asb 2's sound seems compressed compared to the Titan's. If still want the b2's I can sell u mine.

 

[PaulT]

Yes it is. The parent company API owns and manufactures Mirage, Energy and Sound Dynamics products.

 

[Drew_W]

The now defunct Sound Dynamics yes. I think Athena was the replacement for that division.

 

[Emile]

I have had Athena audition speakers for about 9 months now, and I love them. I have the AS-F2 for the L/R fronts, AS-C1 for center, and the AS-B2 for the surrounds, as well as the AS-P400. I would have to agree that for bass intensive movies the mains are just not good enough, but the AS-P400 seems to work admirably. I got the F2s for 380/pr, the B2s for 180/pr, the C1 for 120, and the sub for 259. With tax that only came to 995 USD, which is incredible for a good 5.1 home theater system. DTC companies are much more, such as Aperion, which sells for 1500. I'm happy with my system.