Athena owners thread. - Page 63

sweet! thank you!

any idea what the "FOOT WITH SPIKE SILVER" is? Is that the complete base?
or just one foot?

Hi all... I am looking into the AS-IC8 for in wall surrounds. Does anybody own them? If you do what are your thoughts on them. I can get them cheap online and was wondering if I should just go ahead and buy. I own the as-f2's and as c1 center channel.

I have the AS-IC6's mounted in the ceiling for my surrounds (With WS-60 fronts and AS-C1.2 Center).

The only difference between the 6 and 8 is the size of the woofer. These speakers sound great, I listen to a lot of music on 5-channel stereo and Prologic II and they really do have a good sound for an in wall speaker. They are built well with high quality crossover components and They blend really well with the other Athena since they all share the same tweeter.
I think you will be happy with them, I am very pleased with mine, especially for the price!

I have a lot of Athena stuff. Currently 2 pairs of F2's, 1 pair of F1's, a C1, 1 pair of B1's, and a pair of B2's. All of these were obtained either from Best Buy when they were discontinuing the line or from Ebay. Getting a pair of F2's for $200 is very good and getting a pair of B1's, or R1's or a C1 for $75 is good. On Ebay, the B1's, R1's and C1 usually go for at least $100 shipped and shipping on the F2 usually kills the deal - that's why is so great when you can find a pair of F2's locally. Given that your buying your stuff locally, I would say that getting down close to $400 for the set you mentioned would be a killer price. At $500 it's still a very good deal. You would be VERY hard pressed to spend $500 for a 5.0 setup that even comes close to the Athena setup you mentioned.

Also, the B1's will be fine and I would not worry about getting a pair of B2's instead (unless the guy your considering buying from is willing to knock $150 off the price of the set without the B1's so you can go buy the B2's you mentioned).

When it comes to the subs, I originally had a pair of Athena P400's which did a decent job but I eventually moved up to an SVS PB-12plus/2. The P400 typically goes for around $125+ shipped on Ebay (recently, a couple went for about $75 shipped!). I certainly wouldn't even consider paying a couple hundred bucks for one (even brand new) given what you can get one for on Ebay. If you have a couple hundred to spend on a sub, I'd watch Ebay for a used SVS or HSU sub.

Also, if you are considering a 705 or an 805 receiver, keep your eyes on shoponkyo.com for great deals on refurbished versions. Refurbished equipment from there arrives in brand new condition with warranty (not just a 90-day warranty either). The 805 from there has been down in the low $500 range shipped.

Also, you can still get replacement drivers, grills, etc. for the entire Audition line through Athena (now Klipsch). Just call the number on the Athena website @ athenaspeakers.com

PLEASE NOTE - I'm assuming that all the Athena speakers you were referencing were the ".1" series rather than the ".2" series which typically sell for less. If you want more information regarding the differences in the two series, PM me.

I was also looking at the AS-IC6st as surrounds also. What is the difference between these and AS-IC6? They look to be a little more expensive.

Thanks

Anybody?

The IC6st has two voice coils and a left and right speaker connection. It is more for background music in a room and instead of installing 2 speakers for left right stereo you just install this one speaker and wire the left and right to it. It's not for home theater applications.

jafisher134, check out the brochure here and you will see a side-to-side feature comparison between IC6 and IC6ST:
http://www.athenaspeakers.com/downlo...s-Brochure.pdf

The main difference, I think, is that the IC6st has dual 3/4" tweeters (non-pivoting?) and the IC6 has a single, 1", pivoting tweeter.

Hi Chas,
Are you still selling the as-r1.2"s?

So I did pick up the 7 speakers and an Onkyo 805. I currently have it setup in a 5.0 configuration, but what speakers should I use for the surrounds? Should I use the B1's or R1's? The living room is probably not quite big enough to run all seven and without an HD DVD player it is probably pointless anyway. The F2's and C1 have been great up front and really seem to provide a full sound. Can't wait to get a sub though and add to the experience.

Does anyone have a source for AS-R1/1.2?

AudioAdvisor was the last place I saw them when I purchased mine. You might have to go the ebay route..

I may be selling my pair. I am waiting to hear back from someone for whom I am buying speakers from and I also need to find it if my potential new ones are mountable before I can decide to sell the AS-R1's.

Well, I am going to sell my AS-R1's if anyone is interested before I put them up on EB*Y (I also will be selling a pair of AS-B1's).

I have a question that I hope some of you can give me some advice on. I was looking into the BIC Acoustech set or the Athena LS set that audioadvisor is selling. Has anyone heard both of these or I really have not read any reviews on the LS speakers. Can someone please give me some input?
Thanks!

I have been using the BIC Venturi Center channel speakers for a few years now. Hometheather rated it very high that was why I got it in the first place. The BIC has worked well with my Athena F2.2 front towers as well as with the P6000 subwoofer.

I just wanted to throw out my opinion. I just picked up two Athena AS-F1's off ebay(I had to replace the stupid connections on them). I put them as my front left and right. Took the two S.5's and moved them to surround rears, so I have 7.1 now. My goodness the difference in quality between the AS-F1's and the S.5's really are astounding, they still mesh well together but you can definitely tell the difference. I think next month i'll go ahead and replace the C.5 with a C.1.

Also I know some people don't think 7.1 is much of a difference but I am noticing it even in as small of a room as mine (12x12). Granted I do sit in the middle of the room so I have about 4 feet from the rears.

Hi everyone,

I am a n00b in speaker area and I really need some advise in choosing my front speakers. After reading through Athena thread, I have settled myself to purchase either ws100 and ws60 or LS500 with it's center.

WS100 and LS500 at the moment they are priced the same so price isn't an issue. My concern is mainly at the frequency response,

1. LS500 can go deeper than WS100 (ws100 doesn't go as low comparing to almost any floorstand speakers around this price range). Does this really matter?

2. Subwoofer, I plan to purchase a bic h100 or cadence csx 12 but my problem is most of the time, I dont not want to turn subwoofer on becasue i live in an apartment and it might annoy everyone else. If this is a concern, would the bass from ls 500 be enough for just regular movie/game/music usage or both ls 500 and ws 100 just dont have enough bass so I'll need a subwoofer anyway (If this is the case, i will simply go for ws 100 for the look).

3. I have never owned a powered subwoofer before, I am just wondering at very low volume, do they perform well? I mean I want the bass but I dont want it to be super strong like shaking the whole apartment. Or in my case, I should skip subwoofer and just invest in a better front floorstand speakers?

Thanks for the help. Any input is appreaciated!

Just upgraded recently from my 5 year-old Onkyo HT-510 speakers to the Athena's from audioadvisor. I ended up choosing the LS-500 package without the subwoofer. My current configuration is:

2x LS-500 Tower Speakers
1x LS-C100 Center
2x LS-100B Bookshelf Speakers
1X Onkyo Center Speaker (for rear center)
1X Onkyo Subwoofer
Onkyo HT-R510 6.1 receiver

Other Stuff:
Sony KDS-A552020
PS3 60GB
Xbox 360 Elite
Nintendo Wii
Custom HTPC
Dish Network (soon to be ComcastHD)
Samsung LN26A450 (for future bedroom)

My sources vary a lot; I run a pretty even mix between tv, movies, music, and gaming. So far I am very pleased with the Athenas. I'm no expert, but these are by far the best speakers I have ever owned. So I may be an audio-noob by the standards here, but I picked the Athenas based on info found on avsforum. I'm not someone with 5k+ to spend on home theater though either. They seem like a great choice for someone within my budget range.
Still using the old Onkyo HT-R510 receiver and the Onkyo sub though. I plan on upgrading the receiver to something with good HDMI pass-through(probably a newer onkyo), another set of LS-100's for 7.1 rears(hopefully before they are all gone), and a much better sub. For now it's great just to finally have some real speakers.
They are really putting my source material to the test, as now I actually notice imperfections that I never knew were there, along with some great instruments/sounds that I never noticed before either. Overall the range of frequency is so much improved from my previous setup, I can't help but be impressed by what I hear from the Athena LS series. So other than hearing some things too good, most everything just sounds spectacular, not to mention the speakers look very nice with the rest of my setup.
Audioadvisor.com has made me one happy customer!

Here's a pic of everything in front without the covers on:

Looks nice XANJ.

Try tilting your center speaker down a bit so that it is aiming directly at you when you're seated. I think you'll get a nice improvement in sound.

Thanks for the advice, it is much appreciated! I actually tried to adjust it as low as possible with the stand that comes with the LS-C100, but it wouldn't give me a very low angle. So I just removed the little black stand, used a small piece of folded cloth under the back of the speaker's curved cabinet, and now it is pointing down perfectly.
**Edit** - Ended up putting the center speaker infront of the tv since the shelf above the tv was too short and had the center channels ports less than 1in. away from the wall! This was not good for the sound quality of the center. So I pushed the tv back as far as it could go on the stand and put the speaker right in front of the tv, at least now it has 3-4 inches between it and the tv. Looking into a better stand to put the tv on now, but it's still an improvement over basically blocking the ports on the center, lol.

Sorry if this is off topic, but I have a question about floorspikes... Should I get some for the main towers? They are fairly stable already on the carpet, but would floorspikes be a good idea? I don't know anything about floorspikes, or if there are any that would be compatible with the existing hardware/feet on the LS-500s. Basically, I don't want to bother if I have to modify the speakers in any way, like drilling holes for the new hardware. Thanks a bunch for any info!

If the speakers are stable, I wouldn't worry about spikes. I highly doubt it would give you an increase in sound quality.

Hi Xanj,

Can you give me some ideas why you picked ls over ws? Have you ever considered ws series or you just start with ls in the first place?

I think your setup is very close to mine. My main purpose is
PS3
Xbox
wii
HTPC
Movie
Music

but the difference is my room is smaller so I have space issue. (However I am planning to move to a bigger room where space won't be an issue). At the moment I am more clinging to ws series because of the look, but the LS looks awesome after you take out the grill!

How is the bass from LS series? Do they run fine without a subwoofer?

Thanks.

The LS speakers are going to be much better sounding speakers than the thin wall mountable WS Series. The WS is made more for convenience than sound.

Hi afrogt,

Thanks for the reply. So would you recommend buying LS series over the WS series? For me, I care sound more than appearance, it's just for the moment I don't have enough space to fit in LS, but if LS would sound a lot better than WS, since they cost around the same, I would wait after I move and get the LS series.

I am trying to decide between a full set of WS + subwoofer and LS set. However, most time I would only leave subwoofer on at very low volumn or leave it off. All I want is to hear some lows, not to shake the house.

If I have WS series + subwoofer, would it sound as nice as LS seires (with subwoofer)? Coz I feel athena speakers all do very well at high. The only shortcomings are at the low part, which could be helped by a subwoofer. Am I right on this? Or there are just more to consider than using a subwoofer to produce bass.

Thanks.

Hi everybody,

I am completely new to sound systems and I was given Athena WS100's speakers as a gift. I would like to complete my sound system at home and know I will need the following:
-Receiver
-Center speaker, left speaker, and right speaker?
-Subwoofer

Can some of you recommend which receiver I should get to accomodate this setup? I would like to spend no more 400 for the receiver and speakers needed. Is this possible? Please provide some recommendations as to which receiver and speakers that I can look into.

Thanks!!

$400 for all that is kind of stretching it.

The WS series center is probably the WS-60. Cheapest I see them online is $130 or so. You could pair that with a cheaper Yamaha/Onkyo receiver, like the Onkyo TX-SR505 ($189 shipped from Amazon, maybe cheaper through Shoponkyo.com.) But you're already up to $330 there.

If you forgo the center, you can get a sub/receiver for around $400, like the Velodyne VX-10 paired with the above receiver.

For surround speakers, I see the WS-15s for $110 or so (pair.) You're probably looking at closer to $600-$650 for a complete setup, but you don't have to get it all at once.

Hi philek9,

How do you like the ws 100 so far? Is the bass ok or it's like non-exist?

Thanks.

I looked at the ws series, but since space was not an issue for me, there was no point in going with them over the ls. I think they would produce better sound overall from the ws series, but I can't audition them to say for sure.

The bass from the ls-500 towers is great by themselves, but I am still spoiled to having a subwoofer. So even with the ls-500's now, I still run my old HTIB onkyo subwoofer over no sub at all. I would recommend a sub with most HT setups anyway.

In fact, I just ordered an eD A2-300 sub to get the low freq performance I am looking for with this setup. Should get it hopefully around the end of august.