Athena... what's up??? (1 Viewer)

[Randy Prue]

Wow! The Athena speaker folks, who also make Energy speakers, had three distinct (all excellent value) speaker lines:

Point 5 (all six for $800 - $1,100. CAD)

Audition Series (two tower models, two bookshelf models, one centre)

The S-P series (three S models for front/rear, three subs, one centre).

Their web site now only shows the S & P range!

If they are discontinuing the other two, rush out and buy some! They are all shielded and sound as good as speakers twice their price. The AS towers have the pointed feet things. They're extremely efficient, with a huge sound stage.

The $300. CAD/pair bookshelves (the larger ones), working alone (stereo), create a sound stage about 15 feet across!

 

[MikeH1]

I would like to audition these since I have heard the other makes that API owns. I have seen their advertisments around town. It seems to me they are marketing to the college crowd. I hope it works well for Athena but like I said I want to hear them.

 

[Randy Prue]

Michael:

Last time I looked, their Web site listed Future Shop as dealers for the Point 5 series and the Audition Series. Both are great. Other dealers sell the S-P line, which is their high end. I have only heard them once, and was not overly impressed. The price is okay on the speakers, but they bolt onto sub-woofers, so you end up with two subs, or else just the tops (there are three subs, three or four tops).

I'd go for another demo, but if you want to hear the other two, head for Future Shop.

 

[Danny Tse]

The Point 5 and the Audition Series are new products. I've been waiting for them to show up at my local dealer. As far as I know, the Audition Series use the same tweeter as the S-P Series, so the only difference I can tell is the lack of the subwoofer-docking option, which doesn't appeal to me anyways.

 

[Randy Prue]

If they are new, then maybe the Web site is being updated or something.

The Point 5s have the distinctive tweeter shape that the S-P docking subs have, but the AS do not. I started with a prejudice towards small speakers, but the Point 5s were the best-sounding of everything under $1,500. and would probably serve me just as well as the AS.

I have the B2 (largest bookshelves) and the F2 (largest floorstanders), and have been swapping them as fronts. The B2s are not yet really broken in, but I cannot tell much difference (I can in the demo room, but not here).

What made me start investigating is the January 2002 article in What Hi*Fi where smaller speakers delivered more of the sound than the same company's large speakers. The test results are based on good stands, too. I can get the 5-star Atacama Nexus 6s locally for a good price, and may just go for four B2s, instead of two F2s and two B2s. I listened to just about every speaker under $3,000. (for 5 speakers), and nothing has the sound stage and even response across the entire audible (to me) spectrum that any of the Athenas deliver.

It seems that large speakers (lots of air to move) muddy up the sound somewhat, and that small speakers on good stands are like floating in space and can focus all the sound where it belongs.

The F2s have pointed feet, too, like speaker stands have.

I'll monitor the Athena Web site to see if they come back up again.

 

[Sebastien David]

Randy,

I thought Centre Hi-Fi was the dealer for those Athena modular designs... Never saw them in a Future Shop.

 

[Randy Prue]

Sebastien:

See earlier post:

"...Future Shop as dealers for the Point 5 series and the Audition Series. Both are great. Other dealers sell the S-P line..."

The S-P line is the one that Centre Hi-Fi (and other dealers) carry.

 

[Larry Rasmussen]

Randy, I wanted to second your opinion regarding the use of small speakers all the way around for home theater vs towers for the front. I also read the British Magazine

article on the topic with some interest, always nice to see your opinion confirmed in print.

A pretty popular idea now per this forum is that it is best to set speakers to small and run one or two subs to fill in under the more or less standard crossover. This is the way I've always done it but when I bought Sonus Faber Concerto speakers the dealer and manufacture's rep who was in the store convinced me to run them full range. I did so, also running the full signal to a sub with crossover set to 40hz.

Used this set up for 6 months- beautiful sound but problems with not being able to adjust by remote and fine tune for different program material. Set the mains to small, by passed the X-over on sub and fed the sub out to it. Guess what- beautiful sound, no discernable difference on music or movies. Although I had bought in to the full range main speaker dogma it did not prove to be a factor with my set up in extended actual use.

The reasoning behind this has been discussed at length, especially in the 3 way tower or powered sub vs. two way small speakers. I say the proper selection of a two way means you cover the range of sound with minimal expense, speaker size, number of crossovers. Your bonus is better imaging, and often better sound in the target range. Drawbacks to running larger mains, especially at full range include possible interaction in the low end with boomy bass or suck outs being possible. You can't move them around like you can a sub or equalize them to deal with room effect as easily.

Just an opinion.

 

[Randy Prue]

Larry:

There's a thread on here called "Speakers - Large or Small Setting?" and I think I need to continue the ideas you are talking about (like the What Hi*Fi article) over there.

I went to the Athena site again last night, from home, and it was back to the way it used to be, with all the product lines available.

I hope you are interested in that other thread, because I want to know more about what you discovered and how you set it up. For some reason, right now, from work, the private message, e-mail, and other options are not available on my browser.

One way or another, I want to continue this, as I am at that point now... sub-woofer decisions, etc. One pair of speakers that I got on sale, are near their 30-day return limit. If I take them back, they will not be at the Boxing Day price again. I'd have to pay more to purchase them again. I want to thoroughly explore this 2-way + stands + sub idea. Conceptually, it appeals to me.

Athena may have a great idea with the tops that bolt onto the subs (makes for a very expensive arrangement of sub-woofers, though, at $800. CAD PER SUB).

 

[Randy Prue]

Larry:

I'd be interested to know more about your Sonus Faber speakers. I've tried what seems to be all the permutations of settings and wiring options, and seem to get more bass out of the main speakers by splitting the load with the sub. If I set mains to small, I get a thin sound that I don't like much. It seems to sound more seamless and smooth when both (main and sub) are handling bass.