Any fellow Canadians out there have the Athena Micra 6 mini HT system?
I'm curious as to what the consensus is on its performance.. I picked it up for $300 at futureshop as I'd read many extremely positive reviews on it (especially from a price/value viewpoint).
Can someone give me some input/info as to whether they are worth the price, and which receiver best matches them?
Also, if I plan on listening more than 50% to music versus home theatre applications (in a small apartment), how much better could I make my system sound by going for bookshelves etc in a comparable price range (maybe up to $500)? Are the micras at all usable for music listening (obviously not super critical listening, but will they really suck?)
I think that the Athena Micra 6's are an excellent set of speakers and do really well with music. They have excellent detail and clarity. And I don't think they suck at all.
Well I picked up a Pioneer VSX-816k the other day as I had read some recommendations that it would go well with the "bright" sound of the athenas.
So far it sounds quite good though the speakers are not broken in yet and I can't really test them properly.
One thing I did notice is that there seems to be quite an audible background noise - hiss - from the speakers when the receiver master volume is turned up.. I can hear it in quiet parts of movies especially. Is this normal? Would it help if I replaced the speaker wire they came with with a thicker guage?
Other than that I don't think I've quite figured out how to set up the surround sound properly, it's still sounding very localized (ie I can localize the back speakers when specific sounds are channeled there). Lots o things to learn still =D
speaker hiss is usually the fault of the receiver.
If you want dead quiet, zero noise floor, look into the Panasonic sa-xr55/57 digitals. Not sure how well they'd match with the Micras, though if your usage is mostly HT they should be fine.
oh btw, with over 50% music listening I'd definitely just buy a pair of bookshelves for the cost of the Micras and add a cheap sub like the Athena as-p4000.