Athena AS-F2 speakers sound great
Written: Sep 14 '04
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Pros: Great Stereo Imaging, Good Value, Built Well, Look Nice
Cons: Not Much Bass, Heavy & May Need Some Help Moving
The Bottom Line: As long as you stand these at least 6 feet apart and have a decent subwoofer, these will provide excellent sound and be very affordable.
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| generic916's Full Review: Athena AS-F2 Main / Stereo Speaker |
When upgrading from my small Harman Kardon cube speakers to these babies, I noticed an overall gain in stereo imaging and separation. These units are tall and heavy (41.5" tall and 51 lbs each). They come with a 1" tweeter and Dual 8" woofers to provide their sound. In case you are wondering, the AS-F1 is similar, but only has one 8" woofer. While they do not provide any bass (thus a subwoofer is seriously needed), they do add much to the sound image, much more than my smaller "cube shaped speakers". These speakers provide a "bright" image that is just awesome if you space them out from your TV at least 6 feet from each other. Even if your room lacks the space to stretch these out, then try to space them only for when you are watching a good movie. That's what I do. I have had these speakers for almost a month now, and I have watched at least 20 DVD movies of various types (comedy, drama, action) along with regular TV including sports such as NFL, and tennis (using my Samsung DirecTV receiver with digital audio out and my Onkyo receiver). Listening to music of various types: rock, r&b, and jazz has been great. Due to my room acoustics, (hardwood floors, vaulted ceiling, no heavy drapes or plush furniture), I found the speakers do best with my receiver's bass emphasized a few decibels and the treble de-emphasized a few decibels (+2db bass and -2db treble). If you are the opposite with carpet or a large amount of upholstery, you may wish to do the opposite.
More on the sound: Please use with a decent powered subwoofer
I thought these speakers lack of bass was due to defective floor models that I purchased. After all, they have two 8-inch drivers in each speaker, you would think they could produce some bass. Even the cross over on the Athena AS-P400 powered subwoofer suggests these can produce lower bass. Perhaps the AS-F2 setting on the crossover was a joke (at 40 HZ)? I did see a rating on another website that complained of no bass. Be sure to test drive these before purchasing (if you don't have a subwoofer). You should be able to order online to save money over buying in a big-box store. As long as you have a decent subwoofer, you can't miss with these. Please do not buy these thinking they produce good bass, because they don't. I have added a decent subwoofer, and now the bass seems to come from these speakers. Like I said, the stereo imaging is just awesome, and since low bass is omni-directional, it seems to come from where you want it to come from. I think, because so much sound comes from these, my brain just assumes the bass comes from these too.
Power: Don't let the power rating scare you. They are rated at 250 watts peak (or around 200 watts rms). The sales person at the store I purchased them from said that these would not work with my Onkyo, but they were used in a demo setup utilizing a Yamaha receiver featuring 110 watts per channel. The instruction manual says these speakers are efficient enough to be driven by an amp that is rated between 20-100 watts per channel. This is good news because my Onkyo TX-SR502 A/V receiver (rated at 75 watts/channel) drives these speakers fine. No noticeable distortion, even out high outputs (I liked to feel Top Gun's jet blasts at 104db!!!)
Setup: They have a left and right speaker connection near the bottom on the back of the speaker. Simply place twisted-stripped speaker wire through the hole and twist the connect until it is tight. Like the user manual warns: please use high quality speaker wire-don't use cheap lamp cable. But, don't use wire so large that you can't easily connect to the connectors. I used standard 16 gauge speaker wire and Monster Cable connectors for these, and it works fine. I used the Monster Cable connectors mostly because of my receiver, so don't worry about needing them for the speakers. It was very easy to fine tune my setup with my my Radio Shack sound-level meter (crossover and bass/treble loudness) and choose the speaker placement. These speakers are large, and can use two people to move them. Please bring a pickup truck to the store you are purchasing them from. You may be able to lay them in the back seat of a large car, but please look at the dimensions first and add some bulk for the box size. Also, due to the size and weight, I recommend two people to carry these. If doing it yourself, please use a dolly outside your house. Once inside, you may drag these in the box on carpet. If you have tile or hardwood floors like me, please use a rug or small piece of carpet to drag the boxes.
Conclusion: These are good quality speakers that are very affordable. They are large, look nice, well-built, and produce a large stereo image if you separate them at least 6 feet apart. They work well with the Athena center channel speaker (AS-C1). A decent powered subwoofer is highly recommended.
For more information, please look at the manufacturer's website:http://www.athenaspeakers.com/modelASF2.htm
Below is some of the information from the manufacturer's website:
Tweeter: Impedance:
1" Teteron Dome
Magnetically Shielded
8 ohms compatible
Woofer: Dimensions:
Dual 8" Injection Molded Polypropylene with Rubber Surround
Magnetically Shielded
41 1/2" H x 9 1/2" W
x 15 1/2"D
Frequency Response: Finish Options:
35Hz - 20kHz +/- 3 dB
Black Ash
Power Handling: Weight:
250 watts per channel
51 lbs each
Packed individually
Sensitivity: Total Carton Weight:
93dB
55 lbs
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 160 each
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Epinions.com ID:
generic916
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Reviews written: 7
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