Bose center vs Athena...any thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[MarcusDiddle]

I currently have a Bose VCS-10 as my center channel. Best Buy has an Athena AS-C1 on sale for $98. I also have Athena AS-B2's as my fronts. I'm thinking of eBaying the Bose center and going with the Athena. What do you think about this? I've done a lot of tweaking with the Bose center settings, and it still sounds a bit "tin-nie" and flat compared to my Athena B2's. I think the Athena C1 would correct that and sound much better. Any input or advice would be appreciated if you have first-hand experience with either of these centers!

 

[SethH]

Based on the current prices I saw on the VCS-10 on eBay just now, I would certainly do this. I looks like you could pay for the new center by selling the old one. The VCS-10 seems to be going for $80+ pretty easily. I would definitely put that up on eBay and go for the Athena.

 

[Nhan_H]

I think the speaker inside my computer would do a better job than the Blose Why can't you just go to BB and pick up the Athena center and see for yourself?

 

[dang tong]

I think this is the no brainer move. Run to BB and pickup the AS-C1 before they gone or no longer on sale. It's a perfect match for your AS-B2.

 

[MarcusDiddle]

Thanks for the advice guys! I actually picked up the AS-C1 today at Best Buy (was the last one, too). I haven't hooked it up yet as I've got to figure out a way to set it on top of the tv (gonna have to make some kind of shelf for it). I'll post back later once I've tested it and let you know what I think!

 

[MarcusDiddle]

I'm really liking this new center I had to run back to Best Buy and pick up a tv-top shelf before I could hook it up. But it's all set up now and sounds great. I've ran it through some music, Top Gun, Lost in Translation, and Apollo 13 (all three were DTS versions). The Bose seems flat now compared to the Athena AS-C1. I'm very happy with this decision.

I just noticed Best Buy has the Athena AS-B1's on sale now for $99. Might ditch my Bose 161's and pick up a couple B1's for surrounds next. Any thoughts on using the B1's for surrounds? I've got B2's for my two fronts, and now the C1 for center.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

Cool!

Now sell the Bose and enjoy your (next to free) center - the most important speaker in your HT system.

 

[Greg Thomas]

If you do that you'll have the exact speaker setup that I have. I'm going to BB tomorrow to get another $15 back from when I purchased my C1. The 30 day price guarantee isn't over yet. And $99 for the B1's is a great deal too. You'll love it.

 

[MarcusDiddle]

Yeah I'd definitely like to pick up the B1's, but I'm gonna make sure I can unload my 161's before I go spending more money The B1's are on sale until the 25th, so I've got one week to sell my Bose.

Greg, what receiver are you using? With your current setup, what's worked best for you in terms of speaker settings? I currently have my fronts set to large, my center and surrounds set to small. My sub kinda sucks so I'm letting my B2's pick up some of the slack. I'm also clueless as to what the proper level settings and frequencies should be. Any help (from anyone) would be appreciated!

 

[Greg Thomas]

I've got the HK 325 receiver. It's very customizeable so I can set crossovers for each speaker (front, back and center) and change them for each input. For DVD they're all set to SMALL with crossover at 80hz, although I've also had the B2's set SMALL and crossed over at 60hz while the rest were at 80hz. For CD input B2's set to LARGE and 60hz. When watching TV/Satellite I fluctuate between Logic 7 and Dolby Pro Logic II.

I've got my Athenas paired with the popular Sony SA-WM40 Sub modified with polyfill. Also have the Dayton sub but moved it to the main room because I watch more movies in there and it goes deeper.

You should really get a SPL meter from Radio Shack so you can set up your speakers properly. Either use Avia or Video Essentials to calibrate everything.

B1's won't go up in price. They're clearing them out because new Athena line will be coming soon. The price has dropped $40-50/pr in the last 3 weeks.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

Greg:

Can you tell me how you were able to change the large/small setting per the source?

 

[Greg Thomas]

Ken,

Do you also have the HK 325? As long as your bass manager is set to INDEPENDENT and not GLOBAL, you can change the speaker sizes for each input. Check the On Screen Display menu.

You can also have 5 speaker setup for some modes and 7 speaker for others. I use 7 speakers for DVD and 5 for music and TV. Why? Because I can. I have some small Energy satellites as my rears and use them for movie watching.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

Thanks, I got it.

Sorry to hijack the thread!

 

[MarcusDiddle]

That's ok Ken; I pretty much took my own topic "off-topic" all by myself anyway

I'm gonna stop by Best Buy and check out the B1's on my way home. Anyone have B1's on speaker stands? If so, what kind of stands work best for them? I'm in an apartment and space is limited. Would have to put them up on stands for now.

 

[MarcusDiddle]

Just got back from Best Buy, where I picked up a set of Athena AS-B1's for $89! I've already sold my Bose 161's and I've got my Bose VCS-10 on eBay at the moment. Thanks for all the info guys!

 

[Nhan_H]

Cool...now sit back and enjoy! Until the next round of upgrades, that is

 

[MarcusDiddle]

I now have B1 surrounds, B2 fronts, and a C1 center Still need a decent sub (currently have a Sony SA-WM20 sub...not much). The B1's sound great; I watched Lost in Translation (DTS) last night. It's got an incredible soundtrack and it sounded phenomenal on my new Athena setup.

You think I should set the B2's to large and let them compensate for the crappy sub a bit? The sub sounds good enough, just doesn't have much range for the lower tones. I'm wondering if my B2's would sound better.

 

[JohnLA]

Do you think its worth replacing a SA-WM40 with mods with the Dayton sub? I'm using athena speakers and have been pondering wether or not it would even make that much difference for HT.

Regarding your experience with the athenas how do the as-b2, as-b1, and as-c1 compare tonally? Right now I have 5 as-b2 and love the sound (especially the amazing detailed mids). Do you think it would matter if I used a pair of as-b1 to expand my 5.1 setup to 7.1?

 

[Greg Thomas]

John,
The B1 and B2 sound pretty much alike. The B2 just goes a little deeper and can handle more power. The C1 is very close also because is uses the same 5 1/4" drivers as the B1, but has two of them. But having all 5 speakers the same like 5 B2's eliminates any possibility of tonal differences and would probably be optimal. I think the B1 would be perfectly fine for the 7.1 rear channels. And if you use DVD-Audio or SACD, the 7.1 channels wouldn't come into play anyway, so you wouldn't need the wider freq response of the B2's for rear channels. Plus apparently you can get the B1's for $89/pr now so I'd say go for it.

I would have been perfectly fine with 4 B1's and a C1. I just happened to get my B2's for only $10 more than the B1's.

I do think the Dayton is better than the Sony WM40 even with the modifications on the Sony sub. Is it worth spending another $125 better? Probably not. If you've got another place to use the Sony if you order the Dayton then yeah its a good idea. What's your movie/music percentages?

People on this forum as well as AVS have measured the Dayton and said it does go down to 25hz. It's a good sub for the money

 

[JohnLA]

I just got a pair of B1's for $90 at BB today to play around with and they are very similar to the B2's (the high frequencies are nearly identical). I think the AS-B2's midrange and bass are just a fair bit tighter which makes them seem more detailed then the sightly bloomy AS-B1's. Maybe more important for music but for HT this is probably moot.