New HT Fronts on the Way...

[Early B.]

Since I'm placing less emphasis on HT, I decided to purchase a pair of Athena AS-F2.2 floorstanding speakers. They are inexpensive and should work fine for HT only. If I recall, SteveinAZ liked them a lot. I'm hoping they'll look decent, too. The WAF didn't fully appreciate the 48" tall Buggs that I had before.

[RuSsMaN]

They are supposed to be a good all around speaker for the masses.

[Early B.]

Yeah, I just hope the tweeter isn't too bright as is the case with most low cost speakers marketed to the masses.

[Toxis]

Athena's are very bright! They damn near compete with the entry level Klipsch IMO.

[Early B.]

Athena's are very bright! They damn near compete with the entry level Klipsch IMO.

If that's true, I'll return them without hesitation.

[KrazyMofo24]

Their pretty popular on other forums.

[adam2434]

I owned the original F2s, B1s, center and surrounds. They were good for the money, especially for HT. They are bright, which wasn't so bad for HT.

However, for some music they could almost literally run me out of the room with their brightness in the upper registers of horns and electric guitar, and some vocals. Piercing is the word that comes to mind.

I read all the reviews comparing the F2s to $2-3K speakers, and thought I could use them for HT and 2 ch and that they might have a chance to sound as good or better than my LS90s. Well, I sold the Athenas and built a HT around the LS90s when I consolidated my HT and 2 ch after finishing my basement.

All in all, I still think they are a good value, but were a step backwards for me in 2 ch. For HT, I could live with them.

[Midnite Mick]

I used to have both the Athena bookshelves (see sig) and RTi 6. The Athenas were brighter than the Rti 6 and were inferior in both bass and midrange. I bought them both online as a boxing day sale. I really didn't care for either of them. Sold the Rti 6 along with an AVR and figured I would leave the Athenas in the rear of HT setup until I see where my front end goes and then match them accordingly.

Mike

[Early B.]

Does anyone know the differences between the F2 (original) and the F2.2? I'm hoping Athena addressed the brightness issue on the revised version.

[adam2434]

The new series is lower in weight and uses neodymium magnets. The weight loss can't be explained by the magnets alone, so looks like they went with thinner MDF. I haven't read any head-to-head comparisons, but I wouldn't consider them improved over the 1st series and doubt they tamed the brightness.

[Early B.]

Received the speakers today via FedEx. Both speakers suffered significant shipping damage, including a crack in the tweeter housing, so they're going back to audioadvisor. One of them had no spikes. I hooked them up anyway and they sounded horrible. They are the worst speakers I ever heard in my room. Extremely bright and no bass whatsoever. (They are NOT rated at 93 dB sensitivity as claimed!) One of the speakers rattled at loud volumes.

I also took an opportunity to peek inside of them before I boxed them back up. No acoustic foam at all. Mostly particle board construction. Plastic everywhere. These Athenas are all hype.

Lessons learned:

1. Don't ever buy cheap speakers again, no matter what the reviewers and consumers say about them.

2. Whenever speakers are shipped, prepare for damage.

3. Don't be in a hurry to patch your system together. Take your time, save your money, and get what you want. No need to settle for inferior gear.

[VR3]

Early...

If you are looking for HT dude...

You need to buy my DTs, now. lol

They will rock your socks for HT and they are not very bright at all...

And I dont know if you liked my enclosures I built, but they are hardly cheaply built - 250" of bracing my friend. 250 INCHES! lol

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35888

Of course, if you're interested you can shoot me an email at vr3mxdmicblce2k7@gmail.com

Would include original enclosures and the "book" on the DTs consisting of crossover diagrahms, enclosure specs...

They have like 350 in mods alone...

[disneyjoe7]

If nothing else I think you should bring them to PF6

[VR3]

If nothing else I think you should bring them to PF6

I am - well if I can locate some boxes

[audiobliss]

Early B. - Did you get rid of your Buggtussels? I hope not...

Man, I want those DT's everytime they're mentioned! Stop talking about 'em! Stop, stop, I say!

[Early B.]

At this point, I'm either gonna keep doing what I do (move the Taylos into the HT room every time we watch a movie) or go bookshelf.

[Early B.]

Early B. - Did you get rid of your Buggtussels? I hope not...

Yep. Sold the Buggs to help finance the re-purchase of the Taylos and to re-establish a separate 2-channel system. The Buggs were awesome for HT, but they were HUGE! Low WAF on 'em.

[Early B.]

At this point, I'm either gonna keep doing what I do (move the Taylos into the HT room every time we watch a movie) or go bookshelf.

Changed my mind already. Decided to purchase a high end center channel speaker and use the Bugg Circas as the fronts (temporarily). Stay tuned.

[Joey_V]

Sorry the Athenas didnt work out. I never cared for those speakers either.

[Joey_V]

Lessons learned:

1. Don't ever buy cheap speakers again

3. Take your time, save your money, and get what you want. No need to settle for inferior gear.

Price does mean a damn thing.

[Shizelbs]

I remember thinking favorably of Athenas, but that was around 4 years ago, and many decent to great speakers ago.

Sorry to hear about the hassles.

[Doc99]

Should have went Polk!! Anyway...I had many speakers shipped from Audiuadvisor and others, and NEVER had a problem with shipping damage. Now you got me nervous, as my LSi9 are in transit right now. I currentl;y have the Athena AS-300 sub, and love it. It was the earlier one when they were still being manufactured in Canada. Built well, heavy, sounds great, especially with music(that's why I got the smaller one). But yeah. I am surprised the Athenas were not too good. People over at AVS rave about them.
No matter what....you can only build a speaker so good for little money.

[Doc99]

Received the speakers today via FedEx. Both speakers suffered significant shipping damage, including a crack in the tweeter housing, so they're going back to audioadvisor. One of them had no spikes. I hooked them up anyway and they sounded horrible. They are the worst speakers I ever heard in my room. Extremely bright and no bass whatsoever. (They are NOT rated at 93 dB sensitivity as claimed!) One of the speakers rattled at loud volumes.

I also took an opportunity to peek inside of them before I boxed them back up. No acoustic foam at all. Mostly particle board construction. Plastic everywhere. These Athenas are all hype.

Lessons learned:

1. Don't ever buy cheap speakers again, no matter what the reviewers and consumers say about them.

2. Whenever speakers are shipped, prepare for damage.

3. Don't be in a hurry to patch your system together. Take your time, save your money, and get what you want. No need to settle for inferior gear.

I do think that floor standers are more vulnerable to shipping. They are usually not packed real well(top and botton styrofoam) and the rest is not protected. Want some inexpensive-well built floorstanders, check out the new Onix XLS-S. Should be out soon.

[Joey_V]

Doc... the 9s are packed well and are compact enough that they wont make it a point to drop it around. Dont worry... you'll be enjoying Vifa tweeter sounds soon...

[disneyjoe7]

I once had Polk speakers shipping damaged also, so even these could be packed better. IMHO

[Early B.]

I should mention that these speakers were poorly packed. They were double boxed, but there was no packing material between the two boxes!!! I'm surprised audioadvisor sent them out of the door like that. Also, the packing inside the main box was insufficient. There were pieces of broken foam throughout the box.

I should also mention that these speakers were listed as "demos." However, I've purchased demo speakers from audioadvisor in the past and they arrived brand spankin' new. The Athenas must have been acutal demos because the serial numbers were not consecutive and one box was missing two of the spikes.

I've had a string a bad luck with receiving floorstanding speakers. The last two pair have been damaged during shipping. I'll still do it, but with my most recent purchase, I paid a few extra bucks so the seller could get the speaker professionally packed by the shipper. If they are damaged, I hope the shipper will be more likely to honor the claim if they packed it.

[disneyjoe7]

My Rt800i speaker was damaged by UPS when it looked like it was tossed into truck, hitting a wheel hub. Like yours Early they where packed at the top and bottom, nothing in the middle to support this ruff housing shipping. Crutchfield made good on it and reshipped one repacking with some form in the middle, I received this ok. But overall understand why some here will not ship speakers, and insist that they are picked up.


Sorry your shipment when badly and overall you weren't happy with purchase.

[Joey_V]

Early,

Hope your new speakers arrive in better condition than the Athenas did.