Athena owners thread. - Page 4

I would try both settings and see which one sounds best. It seems like Small would be the best, but I'm sure others will say large.

I just got my B1's/C1 yesterday. I think I'm gonna use inwalls for my rears.

Yea it took me a long time to figure out which speaker to get for the rears. I was going over the B1's, S.5's and the WS-15's for days. I finally clicked checkout on the S.5's but I had to be drunk to do it. LOL I'm just glad I finally made up my mind. I think I made the best decision. They come with brackets and they are the best match for the B1's if you want something smaller in the back.

I got my center today. I was happy to see it was larger than I thought it was going to be, very heavy and had a feel of being well built.

The correct setting is "small". I set my F1's to "small", also.

Well that's really only true if you have a powered subwoofer in your system.

Correct, of course.

When I first bought my Athena F1s and P400, they were so cheap that I thought of them as strictly entry-level, and always assumed that I would upgrade to something better when I had enough $. Now that I have had them a while, I am not sure that there is anything better, or at least not without spending a huge amount.
Some people suggest auditioning other speakers in a store, but that does not tell me much since store acoustics are different than my apartment, and they are usually using different electronics as well.

I really did like the look of these speakers and while I've not heard the B1s, I have heard Athena's excellent Micra 6 system and all I can say is WOW!!!!

I can now truly post in this thread as I dropped the hammer on 3 pairs of these on Thursday morning from Audio Advisor (they actually shipped today:P)

I bought B1s and the C1 and I thought they'd hold me over until I could afford something really good. The first day I thought they sounded thin so I did the "break-in" as suggested for a couple of days. I know this idea is pretty roundly poo-pooed but everyone who hears my set-up thinks it is the cleanest they've heard. Of course people are being nice and all, but each time I do a movie I've seen before I am very pleased with all the new things I hear in soundtracks. They are very clear speakers. And the lack of boom in the bass is very nice. The bass they reproduce is surprisingly strong. I'll bet F1s are really nice.
I don't think we'll be upgrading anytime soon. Not the sound anyway. Now when they come out with a 720P DLP projector for around 1k I'll be doing some serious considering.

I just set up an Athena Point 5 speaker set at my parent's house today. Receiver is an XR55 and sub is a Dayton 12". So far, I'm a little disappointed. I wasn't expecting alot for $189 shipped, but based on some rave reviews on this forum, I was definitely expecting more. I asked in a thread a few weeks ago about how they compare to Polk R15s because I have a pair and a set of 4 of these plus a center would be comparable in price. Well, so far I'd say that the R15s sound much better. Hopefully the Athenas have some magical break-in. My father was impressed but his standards are slightly above none.

Mark

Minjin,

You did set up the Point 5's as small speakers in the XR55 setup, right? The Athena manual mistakenly tells you to set them as large speakers. Also a good place to start on the crossover is 100 Hz. I felt that 80 Hz was a little too low and 120 sent a little more than I would have liked to the subwoofer.

Yep, small. And I was trying out with 80hz because thats what I used with my R15s and I had heard someone say that the Point 5s can play that low. I'll try out 100hz to see if it sounds any better. Thanks.

Mark

i have 4x B1's, a C1 and velodyne DPS-10 running off an XR-55. so far, i'm not impressed. i set the speakers to small, rec. x-over to 80 and sub x-over to 200. it seems like the XR-55 is underpowering the speakers. to me, it just sounds like i have my t.v speakers on really loud. if it wasn't for the sub and surrounds, it'll seem like my t.v. volume is turned up really loud.

should i fiddle with the settings more? i've been breaking them in by playing music and watching movies for the past 2 weeks going up to med. volume for about 4hrs/day. should i just wait till they're fully broken in before i go looking for other speakers or receiver?

when i was at fry's, a pair of polk monitor 40's running off a denon 486 sounded WAY WAY better than my current set-up.

Cetainly you wouldn't be trying to listen to a stereo source in surround mode, would you??

Thought you guys might be interested in an update. Went back over to my parents' house today to do some adjusting and finalize what other cables I need to buy. Yesterday, I was very rushed and I slapped it all together with whatever I had handy just so they could use it for last night's party. I stopped off at Home Depot on the way to get a spool of 16 gauge RCA speaker wire. When I got there, I immediately changed the filter to 100hz and it sounded different but I'm not sure if it got at all better. Next, I started to rewire the speakers with the better stuff that I had brought with me. It wasn't until I put the two next to each other that I realized just how TINY the wire I had used was. Both wires in their conductors were about the size of ONE of the 16 gauge wires.

I also pulled the tv a little out of the corner and tried to get the speakers as lined up as possible (the tv is in one corner and the sectional is in the opposite corner of the room). I think the center was too far away previously. When I fired it up, it did sound a little better. Most importantly, I noticed that I didn't need anywhere near as much volume as I did yesterday. Around -25 vs -37. So, I guess I was getting a little bit of attenuation.

I'm definitely more pleased now. I'll be heading back there a few more times to make adjustments. The fronts still aren't on stands. Instead, they're sitting on top of some Fisher floor standers (with 15in drivers) from the 80s about halfway back with the rear outer corner nearly touching the wall. This probably isn't ideal, is it? I also need to finalize surround locations. I'll have to make up a drawing and ask for suggestions in the theory forum.

Mark

I thought I'd chime in here.

I have Athena's for my upstairs system:

2x AS-B2.2's for fronts
1x C.5 for center
2x .5 for rears
2x ASP-300 sub's

They are running of a Marantz SR5300 receiver and an Anthem MCA 2 powering the fronts.

Overall I think for the rediculously low price the Athena's are tough to beat.

I also have the remaining 2x .5's as rears for my downstairs system right now (which consists of 2x Energy C-5's, 1x Energy CC-1 and 1x SVS PB12 plus/2 running of a VSX-1015 and an Anthem MCA 3 powering the fronts).

I guess you could say I'm keeping it all in the API familly (except of course for electronics)

Have you spent much time balancing the sub with the speakers? It almost sounds like your sub volume might be a little low.

if he does not have a dedicated "crossover bypass/LFE input" on his sub or he can't disable the sub crossover, then putting the sub xover at its max (probably 200hz) and feeding it the 80hz crossed over LFE output from his receiver is the best way to do it.

Putting the sub crossover at 80hz is going to double the crossover at 80hz (really bad).

do the B1's come with mounts?

No the S.5's do.

the port on the b1 is on the back and that needs to breath so I dont think you can mount them on the wall.

I have 4 AS-F2s and an AS-C1. My receiver and sub are some old Onkyo ones that came in a HTiB. Should I set the sub crossover at 120hz, 100hz, or 80hz?

Same could be said of the ports on the .5 speakers. You will still want at least a couple inches of clearance and it won't sound quite the same as freestanding, but it will still work.

80 Hz. If your receiver has a good bit of power (might not, as it is from a HTIB) you might want to try running the F2's in large mode and the C1 in small mode and see if you get a nicer sound for bass with the F2s helping out the Onkyo subwoofer. If you enable Onkyo's double bass feature the F2s will get a full-range signal plus the bass from those channels will be fed to the subwoofer as well.

I don't think my Onkyo receiver has a double bass feature. I also don't think I can specify the center speakers size. It's either all or none.

Oh ok I was going by my Onkyo 503 features. I guess the ones they bundle don't have as much customization ability.

Hi,

Maybe someone can help me out with the same or worse dilema in picking speakers. I just started putting together a HT system currently i have not much but ...

Tv - Panasonic Tc-32lx50 - Flat screen
Sa-xr55k
Existing Bose Accoustimass - 5
Just bought Athena C1

After reading a lot of msgs on this forum and recommendation on the athena ..I picked up the C1 and panny Sa-xr55k as first of my purchases. I am currently using my existing Bose Am-5 as front left and rear( but I have them lin the back located next to the sitting area). I am debating on what to purchase next as front speakers or rear speakers to get a decent sound. I like to keep on using my existing bose untill i get all the speakers for HT if it is possible..

i am looking at the following combo's right now: I currently don't have a subwoofer since I am using the bose am-5 and its subwoofer to fill the void..i am hoping to get a SVS in the future..way in the future..

can somone tell me which one's would serve my purpose best right now i want to keep the bose as part of the Ht and where should I use the bose right now ..as fronts or rears or sorround..and if I selecting the correct speakers for the right location..

Athena - AS-B2.2 for front speakers.
AThena - As-c1 as center
Athena - As-b1 for rears or sorrund.


Infinity - 160 for front
infinity - 150 rear
infinity - 140 sorrund

Polk - rti4 or monitor series for front
polk - monitor series for back

I would appreciate it if someone can guide me on what set up would be worth going with without upgrading for a while..I listen to music - 50 %/DVD 50%

also can i use the athena c1 even if I go with other speaker makes ???

thanks

If you just bought the Athena C1 and like it, keep buying Athena for the rest of your system. You really need to stay within the same product line across the front soundstage. Its called timbre matching and provides a smooth sound across the front. So if you have the C1 center get B1 or B2 fronts. You can get the B1's for $99 at Audio Advisor whereas the B2.2 will cost you $220 or more. For the $120 difference in price, you won't notice much difference in sound. In fact that same $120 would buy you a Dayton 10" or 12" sub with free shipping. If you get a pair of B1's and a sub, you'll be well on your way to a very good system.

You can then use the Bose for your surround and surround back speakers. I'm not quite sure how to hook them up because everything goes thru that Acoustimass module. I'm sure someone else can help you with that. Eventually I'd recommend you sell the Bose setup and get some more Athenas for your system. Bose hold their value very well so you should be able sell them for a nice price.

Are the B1s on Amazon a pair or just one speaker.

They are for a pair...also check Audioadvisor.com who seems to be the real retailer of B1 at amazon
http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/mf...gies&MFGID=218