Athena AS-F2's

jefft1314

Any opinions on these speakers? I can pick them up open boxed at Best Buy for 280 for the pair. These speakers seem like an amazing value for the money. (I loved how they sounded) However, if I spring for them I'm going to need to get a center channel and two surround speakers. I've heard kind of mixed things on the center channel speaker, like it's too small to be used with as-f2's. Any body think a single as-b1 or b2 would be a better center to match up with the f2's? Room cosmetics are not an issue and the system is going into a small room (oh, I'm aware that the as-f2's will be overkill for a 12x14 room, but after my rm6700 purchase, i'm looking for overkill). I'm looking at like 90% music and 10% HT which is what I failed to realize when I purchased the Polk sattelites. Basically I could get two sets of as-b2's and a pair of as-f2's for 680. I'm basically just looking for impressions on the center channel, any feedback would be great.

Willow

athena are great value for what you get. I listened to some athena's at a shop and I liked what I heard If I was to replace my bedroom speakers and they were on sale I would get them. They reminded me of the sound of my polks

jefft1314

I think I'm going to pull the triggers on these today. Two asf-2's an asc-1 and two asr-1's. Total cost will be 610. Best thing that happens? I'm happy for years to come. Worse thing that happens? Best buy has to sell some open box speakers. The sub comes later.

Willow

My bro couldn't budget for Rti so I sent him looking at athena . And like you said if you get them home and they sound great keep'em if they are crap send em back !!

steveinaz

I have a pair of Athena AS-F2's and love them. They look much nicer in person, build quality is excellent as is the sound. I did replace the "composite" cone feet with brass cones. You're not going to touch this speaker at that price; hell you'd be hard pressed to touch the AS-F2 at a kilobuck. The AS-B2's are a best-buy as well and can be regularly found on Ebay (new) at $139 a pair--that is a steal. I would love to do an AS-B2---Rti6 showdown sometime, just out of curiousity.

If want a more objective view, maybe I-SIG will chime in, he's heard mine first hand...

jefft1314

So I did it. I ended up getting the as-b1's as side surrounds instead of the as-r1's. I don't think it was a bad call because I do enjoy multi channel music and the b1's are rated a whole 20 hz lower on the frequency range. (B2's would be just a little bit too big) Also If I'm still in love with the setup by the time I'm out of law school and into a real house or nice apartment I can add as-r1's and create a 7.1 setup. The af-s2's are amazing for the cost, and it's nice to have a good stereo setup without having to integrate a subwoofer. (Though the subwoofer is the next purchase, after the Athenas are payed off). Any thoughts on which sub i should get? From everything I've read there's four possibilities. HSU, Outlaw, SVS, or onix rocket ufw-12 (should be out soon). I"ll never use it for listening to music so I was thinking of going with the svs pci 20-39. Basically i just need something to handle the lfe line in movies. Bah, it sucks having to pay the same amount of money for a subwoofer as I did for the rest of my five speakers.

I-SIG

Originally posted by steveinaz
If want a more objective view, maybe I-SIG will chime in, he's heard mine first hand...

Steve's Athenas are pretty nice. Really efficient and they dig pretty deep for just a couple of 7"-ers. The mids aren't muddy or anything either. They dig and stay clear. I thought they might be a touch on the bright side, but I'm also so used to my SDA's pretty smooth sound. They didn't seem to add anything negative to the tunes.

I would have to agree that if you like the Polk (non-SDA) sound, the Athenas should be pleasing at the least.

Wes