Review of Athena AS-F2 Speakers
Written: Nov 27 '03 (Updated Jan 05 '04)
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Pros: Reasonable price - excellent sound quality for the price
Cons: Large (is that a con?) - might be too much speaker for some amps.
The Bottom Line: If you're looking for a great deal on an excellent set of main speakers, You can't go far wrong for the money with these.
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| Ahab1973's Full Review: Athena AS-F2 Main / Stereo Speaker |
Note: This review also briefly mentions the Athena AS-C1 center channel speaker.
Also, I originally had these listed as the AS-F1s in my title. They are the AS-F2s. I didn't notice the mistake when I published the review. Hopefully, I didn't cause anybody any confusion.
Intro
It is often said that any given audio system is only as good as it's weakest component. Too often, that component is the speakers. Quality speakers (As a general rule) aren't cheap. The perception of quality is also quite subjective. You can spend several thousand dollars on a set of speakers and be less than pleased with them. On the other hand, people who generally spend thousands on speakers are sometimes surprised by the quality of speakers that cost thousands less than the ones they're accustomed to.
So, what does this mean? It can't be stressed often enough that you should always listen to speakers before you buy them, even if they come highly recommended by people you trust. That might sound a little odd but you'd be surprised how many people don't. Never assume a very expensive set of speakers is going to be the best for you merely because they’re expensive. If you do a lot of reading in audio and home theater forums, I don't have to tell you that everyone seems to have their own idea of what a quality set of speakers sounds like. However, most people would agree that a good definition of quality would be speakers that disappear when you close your eyes.
For a good number of years, because of financial constraints, I settled for cheap, low-end speakers. They weren't all that bad and they performed the task I asked of them. However, I always found myself looking longingly at the rows of large, expensive speakers in the electronics stores. Finally, one day, I noticed that Best Buy had started selling a new line of speakers from a company called Athena. I'd actually never heard the name Athena but they looked like nice speakers so I checked them out.
I listened to all of the various models they had available and liked what I heard. Still, I thought I'd better check around and see if perhaps I could get a better deal. I checked some online sources and found that the Athenas are manufactured by the same Canadian company that makes Energy speakers. I knew the name Energy and knew they were highly regarded by many home theater enthusiasts. I went back to the store and listened to them again. Finally, I had my selection narrowed down to the AS-F1 and the AS-F2. I eventually selected the AS-F2. The two are similar but the AS-F1s only have a single 8 inch driver and tweeter(As opposed to two 8 inchers and a tweeter in the AS-F2) and didn't sound as full. I have to admit that I've always been a bit wary of speaker systems that don't include a dedicated midrange driver. I've always found the sound of properly designed three-way speaker systems to be much more natural sounding than most lower end two-way designs. It seems that designing the right crossover for a two-way speaker is a very delicate affair and most inexpensive two-way speaker systems fail to produce audio with the right transitions between low, mid and high frequencies. However, these sounded pretty good in the store so I whipped out my credit card and headed home.
It might seem obvious but I guess it's worth mentioning that if you're buying large speakers from a retailer, you might want to make sure your vehicle is large enough to carry them home or that you at least bring along a friend with a good sized vehicle. I hadn't actually planned on buying these speakers on the day I purchased them and all of my friends who had larger vehicles were either working or couldn't be reached. Therefore, I ended up spending some very tedious moments trying to figure out how to make these things fit in my 2001 Toyota Corolla. After a lot of sweating, heaving and grunting and a lot of swearing, I finally managed to make them fit horizontally in my back seat, one box stacked on top of the other.
Wow! Those things are a tad heavier than they look (55 pounds each, I believe)! If you decide to buy these things, you might want to have some help to carry them if you have back problems. I chose to go at it alone and my back paid the penalty. At any rate, I finally got them inside and eagerly tore into the boxes. I found them to be packed in there very nicely, with obvious care and attention to detail. It took me a few minutes to get them out and install the included floor spikes. It took me just a little longer to get my old speakers out of the way and make room for the new ones.
First Impressions- I can't explain it but I always find that the products that I buy seem to look much different (Usually in a good way) in my apartment than they did in the store. Thus, if I liked the way something looked in the store, I end up really liking it once I get it home and set up.
The AS-F2s are a perfect example of that. They actually look much nicer than the photo here on Epinions. Yes, they're a little boxy but speakers are supposed to be boxy (As long as they don't sound boxy). The cabinet sides are black, with a woodgrain texture that looks very nice (In a subtle, understated kind of way), while the front baffles are a darkish silver color. Silver is a color in electronics these days that you'll either love or hate. I really liked it a few years ago but I'm starting to get tired of seeing it. At any rate, the particular shade of silver that's used on the Athenas isn't loud or tacky-looking like the silver on some other electronics. It's somewhat more subdued and is contrasted nicely with the black sides and the black grille cover.
These are not big bass boomers like those monsters with ten inch drivers made by companies like JBL. The Athenas are tall and slender, with the cabinets being just slightly wider than the eight inch drivers.
The fit and finish of these things (In spite of being assembled in China....don't let the Maple leaf on the box fool you!) is very good. The cabinets are quite solid and appear to be very well constructed. There are no gaps evident on the pair that I have.
I won't bore you with a lot of specifications that you can find anywhere. I will say that these are ported (sometimes called bass reflex) speakers. I was a little wary when I first saw them because this type of enclosure tends to be quite boomy if it's not designed properly. I'm happy to report that the ported design seems to have been implemented mostly properly with these (although they can still sound a bit boomy depending on their placement and your listening room).
Of course, the first thing I did after getting them set up was to start listening to my CD collection. I won't go to extremes and say that they revealed anything I'd never heard before but the sound was definitely much more accurate and detailed than what I was used to (An old pair of Sony 3-way bookshelf speakers with 8 inch drivers). I spent a lot of time moving the speakers in various directions until I had them about as close as I was going to get them to the ideal location. I finally closed my eyes for the final test. I'm happy to say that they utterly vanished when I closed my eyes. The soundstage sounded natural, rich and quite expansive.
I live in an apartment so I can't do any kind of stress testing on a set of speakers this large without ending my residency here rather quickly. The bass is definitely very solid and full. The specification sheet tells me that these will go all the way down to 35 HZ and I believe it. If you were planning on using these for home theater, you could almost run these without a subwoofer (Depending on the quality and output power of your receiver) without giving up very much in the low frequencies. I do have a subwoofer in my setup but I don't use it often at all with these. Honestly, out of consideration for my neighbors, I often find myself trying to figure out how to bump the bass down a few notches.
For the home theater test, I recently rented Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines. I was quite disappointed in the past with several different center channel speakers and have found that the Athena AS-C1 that I bought to match up to the AS-F2 mains does a very good job with the vocals in DD, DTS, Pro Logic and other surround modes for both music and movies. I'm still not completely satisfied with any surround scheme on every movie but I'm pretty sure this has more to do with the way the material is recorded and mastered than it does with the format or even the equipment. The voices on one movie might sound very clear and distinct, while the voices on another movie soundtrack might sound muffled and distant. The bottom line is that these speakers do a fantastic job with material that is well recorded.
Of course, even the best speakers in the world won't help you much if you don't have a decent amplifier. My own Kenwood VR-6050 DD/DTS receiver is merely adequate in my personal opinion. Speakers like these really benefit from a receiver that is likely to cost far more than the speakers themselves. As I said, speakers are usually the weakest link in the audio chain but you won't benefit from buying speakers that will reveal the flaws of your other equipment unless you plan to upgrade it as well (An expensive proposition). These are actually pretty efficient speakers but some budget receivers intended for home theater use actually have a hard time even driving much smaller speakers with the same sensitivity rating.
Conclusion
I'm recommending these speakers to anyone who is looking for excellent build and sound quality at a bargain price (Although $500 doesn't sound much like a bargain if you haven't been shopping for quality speakers recently). However, I will also stress again that you should never buy any set of speakers based solely on someone else's opinion. My opinion could be flawed by any one or any combination of many different factors. My opinion or anyone else's opinion should only serve as a guide. You should always listen first. I'd never buy speakers that I'd never heard and that rules out online shopping for me unless a local retailer has a set I can listen to first.
These get my highest marks for quality sound and value.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): appx $500
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Epinions.com ID:
Ahab1973
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Member: Brian
Location: USA
Reviews written: 132
Trusted by: 65 members
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