How do you like your Athena setup? What's your room size, receiver, sub, speakers that you are using and what is your usage percentage (movies/music). Are you planning on upgrating anytime soon? If so, why and what is your upgrade path? What speakers have you owned prior? How would your rate your setup on a scale of 1 to 5? Feel free to include coments on individual components, things you like or dislike.
My very modest setup (but I like it
):
Room: 12x12
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-D811S
Sub: Acoustic Research PR808
Speakers: Point 5 MKII
Usage: 50/50 Music/movies
Upgrade path: Putting together an all black Point 5 system
Old Setup: Had some seperate sony speakers large bookshelfs, center, and bookshelf surrounds all connected to a yamaha HTR-5630
Upgrade?: I have no plans on upgrading anytime soon, and when I do it will be in a different room and will be in the API family (most likely energy connoiser's for the living room).
Scale: 4.5/5 I was expecting them to be great because I heard the original AS
series so very well, the AS II's are just as good, very crisp in the mid and high end, the floors and sub go very well together as well for the lower stuff, very nice all around, very happy Athena customer.
I've had this setup for about 8 months, and I love it. The sound is crisp and detailed, and very dynamic. I do want to upgrade the surrounds to the B1's, or even the R1's. In a couple of months, I will be adding an SVS PB10 to the system. Before this, I used to have a Polk RTi setup which was good, but I think the Athenas are better when it comes to detail and dynamics. I was extremely lucky when I bought these, too. The Athenas only cost me $230, and I found the HK 430 for only $375 brand new.
As for the room, it's 16 by 12. It sucks because I've got a huge glass sliding door on one side, and other opens up into the kitchen. I plan on adding some acoustic paneling on the back wall, and replacing the blinds over the glass with curtains.
I use the system mainly for movies. Probably about 80% for movies, 20% for music. My DVD player plays DVD Audio discs, but I've never taken advantage of it. When I do, though, I'm sure the percentage will change lol.
There isn't anything I don't like about the system. Especially for what I paid. My wife and I hardly go to the movies anymore. 5/5...
my question is this: should i be setting speakers to large or small? if small, what should the crossover point be?
the p.5 has a switch which disables the crossover setting on the subwoofer and instead uses a preset crossover that is supposed to match the s.5. i'm currently using this.
have found the speakers a little underwhelming, especially for music. need to set speakers to small to get the subwoofer to jump in, otherwise the s.5 just doesn't cut it.
The sound is really clear and dynamic. I am very happy with the Athena sound. Although I did start with a point 5 setup. I lived with it for a week or so then I returned it to BB. (I had gotten it for $149 - a good deal) The point 5s were just too weak in the low mids/high bass. The area they were lacking was just above where a sub would help. I found the B1s and C1 at the same BB 6 months later for $100 (w/30% off coupon). I broke the speakers in slowly and I really like the very realistic sound they produce. There is real, hard edged bass, but it's not at all boomy so I can see why some wouldn't like Athenas.
Upgrade?: I love my setup now. I was originally a little disappointed w/ the performance at low level but it appears that it was related to my auto setup setting my center channel to -9.5db. When i moved it up about 2db it sounded a lot better.
Scale: 4.5/5 I love this setup! The best part is that i avoided any sort of buyers remorse by only spending $600 shipped for the complete set of Athenas. Watching movies is a whole new experience! Its like i'm watching movies "on edge" now - sudden changes in volume, explosions, scary movies, etc... have a much more dramatic effect on me. I just added the sub last week and it has enhanced the experience to a whole new level.
The only complaint I have now is that i've been spending so much time on this forum trying to figure out what to buy that now i'm a little bored b/c I have a complete setup....
I'm only 17 and slowly buildin my athena setup. i have a f1 as the main, c1 center, b1 as surrounds, running with a hk av235. Sounds great for the money, it's mainly for music, about 70% music and 30% movies. I'm saving up fora good sub
I love my setup! Crossover is set to 80Hz and blends perfectly with my sub. No need to upgrade now, I'm working on getting a new TV at the moment. Music sounds amazing, such crisp sound.
4.5/5
Only reason I'm not giving myself a 5/5 is that I still am considering getting F2's, for more of a full range for music listening.
Driven by a Pioneer VSX-1014tx in a medium size room (25X12) with a SVS PB12/2 sub. Useage is 75% TV, 15% DVD and 15% music.
I would rate the system as 3.75/5.00. I would rate the system higher if Athena had an improved center channel (I'm part of the group that has issues with the AS-C1). The AS-F2s, AS-B2s and AS-R1s are all great speakers.
I recently switched to Ascend speakers for something new (got a nice deal on a used set) but I would not hesitate to buy Athena again for a second system. (By the way, I still have three AS-R1s for sale if anyone is interested......)
I too am a recent Athena to Ascend upgrader. I still have actually...
2xAS-B1 mains
1xAS-C1 center
2xAS-R1 surrounds
An SVS-PB10 rounds out the speaker system. The Athenas were mated to Anthem AVM20 preamp and PVA5 amp.
I got the Athenas mainly because they were soo cheap and had pretty good reviews. I paid less than $350 for all the speakers listed above. Considering the build and sound quality the Athena package represents a tremendous value.
I've owned mostly Paradigm speakers previously including Mini Monitor, Reference Studio and Reference Active. Also have a Klipsch Reference surround system. I have so many speakers I don't know what to do with them all. I also had some Dynaudios briefly before the Athenas and Ascends.
I recently replaced the old Sony speakers with the Athena Point 5. Still using the old Receiver and Sub. The Athenas sound really great after the break-in period (I don't know if it's because I was using the low-end Sony package HT before) Looking for a
I just put this system together (except sub) so the only upgrade soon is a new subwoofer. Here's the specs
Room: 20x12
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-1015
Sub: Cambridge Soundworks BassCube 8
Speakers:
F: WS-100
C: WS-15
R/S: 4 x WS-15
Usage: 95 movies/5 music
Upgrade path: 10 or 12 inch powered sub
Owned prior: Cambridge SoundWorks
Scale of 1 to 5: 4
I haven't read much good about the WS series, but I really like how they sound, the sub takes care of all the lows and some of the mids and the WAF is huge!
I'd suggest browsing the Amps forum for suggestions on a receiver and check out the Subwoofers forum for suggestions on an inexpensive sub. Use the "Search this Forum" feature if you can't find any relevant threads on the first page.
Smaller than what you guys have, but terrific sound. The room is only about 15x15, so didn't really need anything bigger. I'm about 50/50 for movies/music and I'm very happy with the choice. Not sure if I will (or need to) upgrade.
I've been trying to tweak the bass in my system but not sure what I'm supposed to do with the xover settings.
At the moment I have the F2's set to Large in my receiver and the F2 setting on the sub. I tried seeing if there was a difference between large/small for the F2's using my SPL meter. I found on small I had almost no bass at 40hz, but on large I had -10db @ 40hz but still not like 50hz or 30hz. Down to 25hz and I hear nothing. I'm mainly curious about 40Hz I would think I should get decent reponse there, I'm considering buying a HSU VTF3 if I can sell my Athena sub.
I'm running three F1s across the front (nothing like a real center) and R2s in back. Here's a pic of my last setup with F2's at L/R. Subs are a dual 15" IB or dual SVS PB12 Ultras...whatever happen to be hooked up. JVC RXFS10 receiver and Denon 2900 or Oppo 971 DVD players.
Future upgrades: Outlaw ICBM and subwoofer (HSU or SVS)...just have to finish the basement first
I pieced the entire system together on a budget of just over $600 and am extremely pleased with it. I am planning on eventually using it with a front projector. I would rate it 5 out of 5, but only because cost the most important factor.
Love the flexibility of the HK receivers. Probably overkill for my bedroom but I had a Take 5 system just sitting there, so why not use them for surrounds. I usually listen to CD's with just the main speakers on.
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