Can anyone give me a professional audiophile review of the Athena ASF2.2 as compared to the JBL E80/E100 models and whether there is anything better out there in the $500/pair price range. This is for a large size room with high ceilings and will be used primarily for rock music cd listening, incombination with a H/K AVR120 receiver... I appreciate any expert advice.
I'd lean towards the Athena personally, the JBL speakers I've heard tend to be quite bright.
Considering the size of the speakers and of your room, having sufficient quality power will be of key importance...with an HK receiver you should be OK though.
I have the Athena AS-F2s driven by a NAD C370 integrated amp @120Wpc. They'll rock your socks off with detailed midrange and incredible bass slam. But be aware that they are very transparent. Many Rock CDs are mixed brightly and the Athenas won't mask that. Electric guitar sounds great. You can hear the grain of the guitar amp distortion very clearly. It's not smeared. Be sure to let the AS-F2s break in for a week before you blast them.
Thanks for the advice. I have ordered the Athena AS-F2.2s and should receive them in about a week. I do mostly listen to Progressive and Classic Rock. Can the transparency and brightness be reduced by adjusting the treble down? The only bad reveiws I've read about these is the brightness, to the point of a "hissing" from the tweeter on the highs... Also, what exactly does breaking the speakers in for a week do. Is the sound quality different after they're broke in than how they sound right out of the box...?
You can't reduce the brightness with the treble control. It's below that range. Yea it's the S's in voices. It's in the CD's to make them sound less dull on junk equipment. You will NEVER hear the brightness on old classic rock LPs. I hope you have some because they sound great. (Well, some sound lousy because they were lousy recordings to begin with...)
The Athenas sound brighter, S's hissing more right out of the box. It calms down in about a week. The sound becomes fuller and deeper too. Just leave your rock station on at a little less than medium when you go to work in the morning. By the time you come home, you'll notice a change for the better. After three or four days, they'll be ripe! To me, that little extra energy in the treble puts a nice BITE on an electric guitar.
Here's a quote directly from the Athena Owner's manual....
"We strongly advise that you resist the temptaion to play the Athena Technologies speakers at their full capabilities or experiment with critical placement and listening until they have been properly broken in. This process should last approximately 50 to 100 hours of music playback. This can be easily done by putting your compact disc on repeat mode, while playing a CD with a wide dynamic range at normal listening levels."