Has anyone heard Athena Technologies speakers?

These seem a good value for the price: Athena F2 speakers, $399/pair, on special.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/p...uct_name=Audition AS-F2 Tower Speakers - Pair

Not really looking to buy them for a main system, but might be good for a surround rig, as they have matching centers and rears.

Has anyone heard these?

 

I've not heard them personally, but I've been told by different people A) that they suck and B) that they aren't bad. Doesn't AA offer a guarantee? You could always audition them. However, IMO, you could find a MUCH better pair of speakers for $400.

 

You should go check them out at your local Best Buy. Crappy audition environment, but you should be able to get a feel for what they can do. These speakers are highly-praised, and for what it's worth, they are listed on Sterephile's Recommended Components list.

Just in case you don't know, Athena is one of the brands from Canada's APL, who also manufactures Mirage and Energy speakers. In many ways, Athena replaced Sound Dynamics.

 

Those are two things to consider: 1) Best Buy stocks 'em (bad) and 2) Stereophile has them on their recommended list (which could be good). Thing is, I doubt they would be any better than what I have.

 

Review of AS-F2 from goodsound.com

Review from Stereophile.

Review from Sound & Vision.

 

Rudy,

Not sure how much this casual review will help but........

I have listened to the F2s several times at my local Best Buy. This is an older store with a speaker auditoning room, rather than those nearly useless open display areas the new stores usually have.

They were driven by a large Pioneer receiver, @$450, which I was able to access (cabinet door was gone!) so I was able to set all tone controls to flat, loudness off & turn off all DSP effects. CD player was a Sony carousel model. Music used was 311's Transistor, Sade's Love Deluxe & Thunderball's Scorpio Rising.

Despite having "only" two 8" woofers per cabinet, bass was very powerful in such a large room--they weren't even near a corner. But it wasn't bloated or boomy either. I think the large cabinet--it's very deep too--partly helps to explain this. Mids seemed to have no discernable problems--guitars/voices were clearly but smoothly reproduced. Highs were the only possible problem: I thought they sounded rather "zingy", as if the treble knob was turned to the 3:00 position. And I've read several times where other people mention this very same quality. But they weren't grainy sounding either (these speakers use soft-dome tweeters & IIRC you can see a plug of white felt material through the transparent fabric dome--I assume this helps to smooth their response. And coincidentally, that dome looks rather similar to the one on a Dynaudio Contour 3.4 I listened to recently). I'm guessing they were tuned to make for a more exciting HT experience? Despite this, I did like these speakers but I would make sure you have a treble control handy for those bright CDs/LPs.

BTW: build quality on these speakers IMO was very good, even at their normal price. And I think they are quite attractive compared to most other rectangular floorstanders.

400 bucks for a pair of these is an AWESOME deal: you really should give them a chance.

 

We have a Best Buy in Westland--IMHO the older store had better demo rooms, where the newer ones seem to be shallower, as though they feel it's a waste of space. You've also got me wondering how much they "goose" their demo receivers in those listening rooms. Would not surprise me if some pimply clerk of theirs cranked the controls up. Another place I listened to some speakers at had only a full surround system set up, complete with subwoofer pumping away...not good when one wants to hear just a pair of speakers.

My current speakers can sometimes lean to treble that is a bit "forward", which is why I did the tissue trick to the pair I'm using now. Sort of wish I could retrofit another tweeter to these. The current trend does seem to be multiple, smaller woofers in some of these speaker brands--can't say I've been able to audition any of them fairly.

They do look nice. I agree, too, where you said they are probably tuned for home theater, as they are offering a sale on the surround and center speakers now too.

 

Athena Technologies is owned by the Canadian company that also makes Mirage speakers.

Athena's are a great value speaker. For people on a budget or for HT speakers, there great! As good as any of the midline speakers out there.

 

FWIW, I spent some time auditioning the FS-2s a couple of months ago. It was a noisy, open BB environment and I can't be sure the receiver's tone controls were completely flat (I couldn't hear any DSP), but my impressions match Taurus's pretty much down the line. Big but not bloated or boomy bass, very open and spacious midrange (though not pinpoint imaging), and slightly tipped-up treble--had that "air" sound that can be impressive at first but sounds artificial on well-mastered recordings.

Still, for the money I think these are a really fine value. I didn't much like the FS-1's--much less bass and a somewhat nasal or "honk" coloration in the mids. I really liked the bookshelfs just below the FS-1s--can't remember the model--but aside from the predictable loss of bass those little guys had impressively smooth mids and treble. Very low price, too, something around 400 for the pair.

 

I found of pair of these on closeout for $279.00 out the door demo at best buy. These speaker really sound nice, I mean real nice, Highly recommend!

 

I have Athena speakers and are happy w/ them.