-Very detailed entire range of sound.
-Impressive low end/bass for a speaker of this size
-Nice woofer tube
-Great Looks
-Great Price

-Large depth, not ideal for use on a computer desk; solution: wall mounting.
-Highs can be a bit unclear at times, but it really depends and varies on the sound file it is playing.

This is my first "real" set of enthusiast speakers, and I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed. I saw an ad for a HT system on craigslist; Yamaha HTR 6.1, Athena Sub and Center, and the Infinity Primus 150 Bookshelfs all for $250 total. For the price I paid they are insane! I would easily pay the typical price of ~$100 each for the quality of speakers these are, amazing deal.

I don't even have them "properly" set up due to a lack of a remote for my Yamaha receiver, but for any use they excel beyond any other speaker in it's price range. Compared to my friend's Pioneer bookshelfs, which he got at about the same price these go for, the Infinity's destroy them! The Pioneers were limited to a small range of decent mids to tinny highs, while the Infinity speakers reproduce the entire range accurately and powerfully.

For music, they are excellent, so much so that you will start to hear inconsistencies in your music files you never heard before! For movies and games, they produce very nice dialogue when it occurs in surround, and are excellent at putting out cinematic scores in the L/R channels.

I can't wait to hear these when I get the frequency cutoffs and such properly setup and get them producing the exact range I want them to. A great deal, possibly unmatched under $200.

Customer Service

Haven't had any issues yet, and I'm not worried in any way about the quality of Infinity's service.

Similar Products Used:

JBL Pro Performers, Similar Pioneer Bookshelf speakers, Panasonic HT in a box bookshelfs,

-Can be very loud for very long
-always sounds clean and crisp
-Female vocals wonderful sounding
-dialouge for movies sounds great
-60hz crossover point farliy accurate with this spkr

-Not enough low end
-I wish athena made a larger one with a 6.5" mid/woffer

I bought this center when my cerwin vega center's tweeter died. After about 2 Months I had bought the asb 2.1's (front and surround), and the asb 1.1's for surround backs. The clarity and power of this center channle is mind blowing considering the price. The ability of this spekaer to preform clearly at high volumes for long periods of time is unmatched by any of its competition at the same price point. The whole audition series speakers are "bright" speaker's but to compensate turn your treble down especially if you like to listien to loud levels. This speaker is sitting atop my projection hdtv at a downward tilt, I have never had a problem with not being able to hear dialooluge druing movies. It also dose very well with female voice's for music but I dont think there is enough low end to add the warmth that a male voice needs to sound natrual. If your reciver is set right your crossover point should compensate for the lack of low end. Despite that the speaker is still reliable and clean sounding what ever the use.

-Detailed, dynamic speaker -Solid build quality for the price

-Severe lobing in off-axis seating areas -A little on the "bright" side

I purchased the AS-C1 center channel along with the Athena AS-F2 tower fronts and AS-R1 bipole surrounds. While I truly enjoy the AS-F2s and the AS-R1s, I cannot say the same for the AS-C1. Athena recommends a 50-100 hour break-in period for this speaker, and I found this to be a good recommendation. The AS-C1 was very bright when new, and putting 50 hours on the speaker did reduce some of the brightness. Though the AS-C1 is a very dynamic and detailed speaker, I encountered some troubles with dialog intelligibility while watching movies. I tried various settings and calibration tweaks...even tried a new receiver, but I was never able to resolve the issue. After some research I discovered the problem was a "lobing" issue - something not uncommon for some horizontal center speaker designs. Lobing is a problem for seating areas not located directly in front of the center speaker (more than 15 degrees or so off to the left or right). Once I determined the cause of the problem, I purchased a set of Athena AS-B2 bookshelf speakers, and now use one of these as my center channel speaker. Using a vertically oriented bookshelf speaker as a center is not the best looking solution, but the lobing issue is resolved, and much of the "brightness" in my system has been tamed.

Similar Products Used:

Ascend CMT-340C, JBL EC-35, Onkyo HTIB center

Tremendous value.

Highs a little harsh out of the box..might improve after burn in period.

I added this center speaker when I previously went without one. It makes a huge difference. All the other speakers seem improved. Also, the Dolby Pro Logic processing for two-channel sources on my receiver (Yamaha RX-V800) now sounds quite good, when before it was intolerable to me. I'm quite impressed with the ASC1 itself. I agree with others about its cripness and clarity. The highs seem a little strong compared to the Polk RT600i's I have as front speakers, so I adjusted the center channel EQ in my receiver and now everything is matched quite well.

Similar Products Used:

None

Powerful and dynamic range. Full mid range response. Crisp highs. Great price. Beautuful. Great cushioning available to prevent resonating.

Sometimes they are a little hissy and bright.

I first bought the JBL NS center, I believe ns 1. It was terrible! It was extremely inaccurate and bright. I went back and forth between the Athena and the Bose. The Bose was defintely more accurate in the replication of voice but the Athena was more dynamic. I found that it worked very well with my Linaeum fronts and Yamaha YST-305.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha NS-C444 Bose VCS-10

All-round speaker with picture-perfect clarity and range.

Don't exist!!!! (except the long wait of 50+ hours to listen to movies at MAX Levels).

I bought the Athena AS-C1 centre channel speaker on sale during the Boxing Week at Futureshop.ca. I couldn't believe the price. I never heard of Athena before and decided to do research before I bought this product. To my amazement this product had some great reviews and the specs speak for itself. At low volumes the clarity is perfect. I don't understand the conditioning part of the setup for 50-100 hours. This should have already been done by the manufacturer before it reaches the consumer. Other speakers just don't compare to the Athena AS-C1. It complements any home theatre system.

Similar Products Used:

Bought the RCA RT2250 Home-Theatre-In-A-Box and used its centre-channel speaker until now. I have the Quest 660 floor speakers but still use the RCA surround speakers from the box.

Great quality and engineering.

I believe only Best Buy sells them.

I tried the Polk and the JBL center channel speaker to complement my system and while they are good speakers they fell short of my specifications. My test consisted of two speakers side by side and switching back and forth for direct comparison. The test included a variety of songs and also a sweep with a signal generator throughout the audio range at different sound levels. After recovering from somewhat of an apathetic attitude I gambled with the Athena AS-C1 since I was promised Best Buy would take it back. It won’t be going back because it passed with flying colors. It has full range and is linear. The coloration is minimal with accurate reproduction in all frequencies. It complemented my other high quality speakers very well. I now experience accurate phasing of Dolby 6.1 like I’ve never heard it before. I’ll eventually go with Athena for all of my home theater speakers. I would put these guys up there in the Bose category. (for less money)

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Polk, Pioneer, KLH.

Very crisp highs,deep bass,excellent soundstage and imaging. Also could be used vertically. Excellent build quality.

none so far.

The athena as-c1 center channel speaker is a excellent speaker for the money. I bought two. One for the left and one for the right. It actually is designed to put vertically. Even the speaker posts and the sticker is vertical. Also the speaker grill where the athena name is you could turn it vertical. Anyway, the as-c1 is a excellent sounding speaker. I has excellent soundstage and imaging. Very crisp highs and very deep bass. What i like about the as-c1 is that it is very sensetive to my system. I could change the bass and the treble very little and they respond to those settings right away. These speakers bring out detail in recordings that i don't remember hearing. I tested other speaker systems like klipsch, polk audio,infinity,jbl,nht,psb and celestions. These do not compare for the money. What I like about the athena's is the extra 5 1/4 woofer compared to the other book shelf speakers. I like them so much that i'am buying 3 more. One for a center channel for my living room system and 2 for the rear surrounds. I work for a big electronic audio store so get them at half price.

Similar Products Used:

compared them to klipsch,infinity,polk audio,jbl,nht,psb and celestions. My system that i have hooked up to the athena is a teac reference 500. the tuner th-500,amp av-h500d 5.1 chnl,mini disc md-h500

Clear bass, perfect mids and beautiful highs. Beautiful to look at and well constructed. Just look on the back, how many speakers have the name of the designer on it.... That says a lot, he must be pretty proud, and he should...

NONE WHAT SO EVER

Hello, I was in the market for new speaker for my home theater, I auditioned quite a few well known brands, but for the price nothing can beat the Athena AS-C1. The sound is absolutely outstanding, extremely clear, vivid and the overall sound is strong. I had the Bose VCS-10, please, can't even come close to the Athena. I also bought the AS-F2 which works perfectly. Trust me, you won't be sorry.... I could not be happier :-)

Similar Products Used:

Mirage, Energy, B&W, Paradigm, Klipsch, Krell

GREAT HIGHS AND EXCELLENT BASS PRODUCTION FOR A GREAT SOUNDSTAGE.THE TETETRON DOME TWEETER IS REALLY THE STEALER HERE, WHICH NEVER RESONATES AT HIGH VOLUMES. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEARCH PRODUCTS FOR TIMBRE MATCHING. THE AS-B1 IS MATCHED WITH AS-C1 AND AS-F1 AND THE AS-B2 IS MATCHED WITH AS-F2 AND AS-C1.

BELIEVE ME! NONE.

WOW!THIS IS AN AWESOME PRODUCT FOR THE PRICE.MY RECOMMENDATION IS GET ALL THE ATHENAS WHILE YOU CAN.CLEAN HIGHS AND LOWS.EXCELLENT BASS PRODUCTION EVEN AT HIGHER VOLUMES.BE CAREFUL TO GET THEM CONDITIONED BY PLAYING FOR 50-60 HOURS FIRST AT LOW TO MID VOLUMES AND GRADUALLY CRANK THEM UP TO SEE THE FULL VOLUMES.FUTURESHOP IS THE AUTHORIZED DEALER IN CANADA AND THEY WERE SELLING THIS AT 199$ WITH THE MATCHED AS-F1 FRONT SPEAKERS WHICH SELLS FOR 499$. I HAVE THE AS-F1 FOR FRONTS AND AS-C1 (299$), FOR MY TWO CENTRE CHANNELS; FRONT AND REAR. THE SETS ARE FULLY TIMBRE MATCHED.I AM USING THE VELODYNE CHT-12 SUBWOOFER.THE RECEIVER I AM USING IS YAMAHA HTR-5490 6.1 WITH SONY 5 DISC CHANGER CDX 375 AND 12 GAUGE OXYGENFREE COPPER WIRES FROM ACOUSTIC RESEARCH PRO-SERIES FROM FUTURESHOP.THIS SPEAKER SYSTEM IS EXCELLENT VALUE FOR MONEY.IF YOU WANT GREAT SOUND FOR A LOW PRICE GO TO FUTURESHOP AND GET THE ATHENAS.AND DONT FORGET THE EXTENDED PRODUCT SERVICE PLAN OF 9 YEAR FULL COVERAGE FROM FUTURESHOP FOR SPEAKERS.

Similar Products Used:

USED ALL PARADIGM BOOK SHELF SPEAKERS PRIOR TO THIS SETUP. HARMAN KARDON AVR 520 RECEIVER AND TOSHIBA 5 DISC DVD CHANGER