A dealer's perspective on the decline of API (Mirage/Energy/Athena Technologies)

[Danny Tse]

It was posted here a couple of years back that Klipsch had purchased Canadian speaker manufacturer API, the maker of Mirage, Energy, and Athena Technologies speakers. API speakers are known for providing excellent bang for the buck and many here predicted the demise of these qualities. Well, based on a post by a dealer over at avsforum.com, I think the end is near....

While I'm not entirley certain that Klipsch will abandon Energy like they did with Athena, I honestly don't like the direction they are taking API.

With Energy, they are releasing new products, but have left Veritas to seemingly wither away. Even though they announced the development of a new Veritas line in January, still nothing has materialized. Then, they have recently eliminated the rosenut and cherry finishes in the RC series. In my opinion, this is an obvious tactic to steer the "furniture-grade" speaker shopper directly to Klipsch's new WF series speakers.

With Mirage, Klipsch has taken Ian Paisley's and Andrew Welker's pet and railroaded it into a cutsie lifestyle-geared product. Never again will we see a speaker from Mirage like the M-1. The new items being released are seriously uninspiring to me as a longtime Mirage dealer, and as a result, that line is going away in our store as well.

We are/were dealers for all of API's brands, and I am a proud owner of Athena's original SCT series speakers (the ones with the powered subs in them). We sold Athena up until the end and still have a couple demo systems in our showroom (WS and Point 5).

The irony of it all is that we are also Klipsch Reference and Heritage series dealers.

[concealer404]

While i do agree on the LOOKS of the Mirage line that he is speaking of, they are still some very good speakers.

I had the oppurtunity to bring home a pair of new Omnisats and demo them for a week, and of course i paired them with my S8s, and quite honestly, they sounded GREAT. In both 2-channel and HT duty. Obviously, they aren't something you would just run with no sub, the lower frequencies are seriously lacking.

And for the money, i can think of many other speakers i would rather own, but there is nothing wrong with these speakers if you're running a sub as well.

I would definitely say that the Mirage Omnisats paired with the S8s was a good competitor against the RTA11Ts/Klispsch RW-10D when i listened to them both side by side. The imaging on the Mirage setup was better, but the Polk/Klipsch setup seemed a little warmer, yet more in your face. The Mirage setup was very easy to sit back and listen to, was more enveloping.

But yeah.... they do look cute. :p

[Danny Tse]

I think he wants to see some "serious" big, floorstanding audiophile speakers out of the API brands.

I have been wondering about using the Mirage Omnisats with my Energy Connoisseur C-3 monitors. Hmmmm.....

[lakesailor]

I have never been a huge fan of API in general or Energy/Athena line; however Mirage in it’s day really impressed me. They always used excellent quality drivers with lots of design details in the cabinets; reminded me of the early days of Polk. Sorry to hear that Mirage is not what it once was.

Speakers like the M1 were legendary.