Totally transparent. Very detailed. Strong, very deep bass. Sound with authority. Efficient. Excellent build quality. High Value.

Not for small rooms. Appearance not to everyones taste.

I've owned the AS-F2s for more than a year and drive them with a NAD C370 120Wpc integrated amplifier. The Athenas are a very transparent speaker. Garbage in garbage out. Many Pop and Rock CDs are mixed with a hot high end no doubt to cater to the masses that have portable CD players or low end systems. The Athenas therefore sound bright at times. It is not because of flawed sound reproduction. It is how the CD was mixed. The AS-F2s are very transparent and clear. Detail is astounding. Bass is strong and very deep. The sound is big with authority and may overpower a small room. They REALLY ARE INCREDIBLE with vinyl LPs. If your not ready for speakers that reproduce music as it was recorded and mixed then pass these by and purchase something else that will not give you true reproduction. Also, drive these speakers with quality components for best results.

they do play loud - if thats a real strength

blaring sizzeling trebel

The old saying you get what you pay for. The previous review hit the nail on the head. blaring highs. poorly constructed fine for your 16 yr old to run off your old sony in the basement. using rotel rsp1068 pre pro, rmb1075 amp and sony scd-c333es sacd player. not a very bright system at all. I bought these to try them because of the price.

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B&W DM604s3 DM602s3 etc.

Great bass.

Tweeter overemphasizes highest end. Padding inside of speaker is not secured well.

I just spent $106.00 to return these speakers. There is an annoying hiss and over-emphasis in the highest frequencies of the tweeter. I e-mailed Athena twice before I recieved any reply. I notified Audioadvisor of my dissatisfaction. I offered to install replacement tweeters if they would credit me for replacements. I recieved no satisfaction. I was running them on a new denon avr-1905. I sent them back.

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Acoustic Research Definitive Technology

Very neutral sounding. Great imaging. Tight and clean highs and mellow lows.

These things are huge and not so attractive. Kinda like Mama Cass they make up for their size and looks by delivering some great sound.

I am extremely pleased with my F2's. They may not be this best looking speakers out there but boy do they sound sweet. My vintage Marantz with 85 wpc will drive these babies to extreme volumes as they are very efficient. You can get by with less power but they can handle anything you throw at them. BB is no longer carrying the F2's so I got a steal buying single floor models from two separate stores for $150 each. I use them in a traditional stero arrangement but did try them as mains in my surround system and was blown away!

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I have an array of speakers such as some vintage ADS's, Frazier horns, Bose, JBL's and some new Model 6's from Cambridge Sound.

Right now is the best time to buy - these are on sale at Audio advisor (399) - regularly priced at 600. They even ship fedex ground for free. The speakers are built to function at optimum with ordinary receivers. I have an ONKYO and they make a great team. No need to spend thousands on accessories.

They are big speakers, so dont expect them to blend into your living room. They are not available at very many retail places, so you cant hear them and might have to rely on reviews and technical notes alone - I did and am glad I went with this.

I would highly recommend these speakers to anyone who loves GOOD sound, but is also on a budget. I will spare you the technical details (you can read them anywhere) - here's my experience so far: the speakers sound great right out of the box. The 50-100 hour break in period is almost over and it has been doing very well. I love the exceptional imaging and balanced sound these speakers have. The bass is powerful and not boomy at all. It certainly does not need a sub woofer. I am mainly a jazz listener, and it vertainly brings Ella. Louis, Miles and gang to life! I did months of research and settled on these. The reviews were very good - check out ones on Goodsound and Stereophile.com

Awesome sounding out of the box. Aesthetically beautiful and very elegant. Parts used. Constructed in Canada. Just buy them.

Waiting to hear the full potential of these after break in...This is typical of high end speakers. I don't see very much room for improvement though but whatever...

Alright guys. I do my homework prior to buying ANYTHING that I plan on using for years. I'm talking for EVERY aspect of a specific product. I researched here first only to find nothing but good, rather, GREAT reviews of this speaker. I checked every aspect reviewed from audiophile reviews to real people reviews (most important to me). At LEAST 2 reviews on any site (audiophile reviews as well) said something about the AS-F2 towers doing a disappearing act and instead of hearing the speaker, you hear the sound or music. This was exactly what I was looking for. I also noticed that a lot of reviews were saying that these can compete with speakers that cost upwards of $2000+. Again, another thing I was looking for, value. Long story short, After a week of research I ordered them (Audio Advisor is awesome By the way.) I remembered some reviews saying they needed to be broken in, so I wasn't expecting it to be a huge difference. Out of the box these things sound incredible. I can't wait to hear what they sound like after the 100 hour Break in. If you want a Speaker that is just all around awesome, get the athena AS-F2 towers. I'm so glad I ended up with these. I compared to the following: Athena AS-F2 (Awesome reviews, Looks killer) Axiom M80ti (Beautiful speaker, Expensive) Fluance SV-10 (I didn't like the looks, good reviews though) Streem FS-808 (Looked a little cheap for price) I will tell you that I have not heard any of the others personally. After reviewing All of these extensively, I ended up leaning toward the Athena's and I'm thrilled with them. They are a LOT bigger than you think by the way. They look awesome with the grills on as well. Austin

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Brand new 2005 Klipsch F-3s (sound good, but not as good as even the Athena AS-F2)

Extremely sensitive sound reproduction along with unusually good bass for speakers without built in powered subwoofers.

Possibly appearance, if you don't like the silver front with the black body. Otherwise, none.

I'm not sure about the product year, because I can't find that information on the speakers or in my manual. They don't seem to be available any longer in the brick-and-mortar stores that were carrying them, notably Best Buy, so it's possible a model change will occur soon. They're still easy to find on the Internet, though, so I felt justified in adding my review. I found out about the speakers through an Audio Advisor E-mail, and I ended up buying from Audio Advisor, because, after extensive Web searching, I found they also had the best price. Their $399.00 price includes shipping, which, if separate, normally runs over $100.00. They also offer excellent support, and they often have special purchase items. I did not audition speakers in the usual way before this purchase. I had tried to do so last year, and all I accomplished was getting totally confused. Each listening area and system was so different that I wasn't able to hear the same results from the same speakers in different locations. I opted, instead, to go by what I found on this, and a few other, Web sites in the way of user recommendations. I had finally decided to go with the Axiom M80ti speakers, because, first, they have a 30-day money-back warranty, and, second, I couldn't locate a bad review anywhere. There were none even marginal. However, they cost $1100.00 - $990.00 if you purchase cosmetic seconds, and I didn't feel comfortable about spending that much right now. I figured I'd have to wait until around the end of the year. Then came the E-mail promoting the Athena AS-F2 speakers, and I began investigating them. Surprise, surprise! Another set of speakers with no bad reviews. Audio Review currently shows them as rating 4.90/5.0 versus 4.96/5.0 for the Axioms. The fact that the Athenas cost less than half of what the Axioms cost pushed me over the edge, and, after thinking about it for several days, I ordered them. The speakers arrived on Thursday, September 30, 2004. When I got home from work I unboxed them, slid my old 1987 vintage DCM TimeFrame TF-500s aside, and managed to get the Athenas set up for a trial to begin after we finished dinner. We have a TV in the kitchen, and during dinner we began watching the first Bush/Kerry debate. We moved downstairs to the listening/video end of the den after eating(There's only a 27 inch Sony TV there, so I can't really bring myself to call it a home theatre area.). I set my Denon 3803 for stereo playback only in order to push everything through the new speakers. We were watching the debate on ABC supplied by Dish Network. After we'd been listening for several minutes I became conscious of an intermittent bass thump that was coming through the speakers. At first I couldn't figure out what it was. Finally, after watching the picture closely I realized that what I was hearing was the noise created when either Bush or Kerry struck their respective podiums, usually with a finger to emphasize a point. I would never have expected that from my old speakers. Even using my subwoofer it would have surprised me to hear it, and my subwoofer was now inactive due to the stereo mode setting. I spent the time after the debate listening to a couple of Super Audio CDs in order to compare how they sounded. On Friday I let the system play 5 CDs with a mixture of music types all day for break-in purposes while we were at work. That evening I played around some more, and Susan, my wife, agreed that the music I played for her sounded "better". On Saturday, October 2nd, with nothing we felt like watching on TV, we both went down to the den after dinner to read and listen to music. I put on a Gershwin CD, and that was nice, but I had only heard the CD a couple of times, so I didn't really notice any difference. Next I began playing a 4-CD set titled "One Night at Blue Note" recorded in 1985. They some of the very first CDs I ever purchased after I bought my first CD player in 1987. I had played that set over and over for several years, only not much recently, but I know the music well. This was where I realized how truly superior the Athena AS-F2 speakers are at sound reproduction. While I recognized the pieces because of the underlying melody, it seemed like a different recording, because I was hearing individual instruments that had never been apparent before. It was like being right in the room with the musicians. I finished the last two of the 4 cds earlier this evening, Sunday, and they all were like that. Right now I'm listening to a Wes Montgomery Trio CD that I listened to about a week and a half ago, and, again, it's like listening to a different CD. In addition to the guitar I can hear clearly the underlying organ and every brush stroke on the drums. Unbelievable. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but, for now I'll just listen and marvel. If you're looking for good sound reproduction you can't go wrong with these speakers.

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None.

Transparency Clear Lows and Highs Decent construction

front baffle is a bit flimsy

Athena created a very transparent speaker with the AS-F2's. Unlike my Klipsch, I don't feel like i'm listening to the speaker as much as the sound coming out of the speaker. They do indeed need break-in time, probably the recommended 50 hours. Solid construction, clear highs and very deep lows. Having a college degree in audio arts and acoustics, my trained ears and budget-minded nature led me to theses speakers. I too have read the reviews and can conferm the reviewers statements about these speakers being the best buy under $1000. If you have a large room to fill and quality is an issue but don't want to drop $500 or more PER speaker, these Athenas will do the job nicely.

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Mackie and Genelec studio monitors, Tanoy, Klipsch, JBL, Yamaha, BOSE

They get out of the way of the music. Big soundstage and excellent imaging.

Silver front baffle not to my taste, exactly. Rather large and imposing in a small apartment.

I, too, bought these based solely on good reviews and their new, lower price. As opposed to every other review I've read about these speakers, however, mine did NOT sound great right out of the box. Instead, they were bright with an emphasis on upper midrange/lower treble, as well as deep bass, but there was no cohesiveness. I also seem to be the only person that doesn't find these speakers to be good-looking: I still haven't warmed to the silver front baffles. The speakers took about 3 days to break in, but now I feel compelled to report that these guys are fantastic. The tonal balance warmed up, but they don't really seem to exhibit any of their own sonic characteristics any more. They just play music! Un-lumpy tonal balance, unrestricted, exciting and clean dynamics, and a big soundstage set these apart from any speakers I've owned before.

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Polk R50 Dahlquist DQ-16

Price,excellent and clear mid bass presentation,high efficiency (93dB) configuration,Teteron tweeter produced non-fatiguing crystal clear highs,drivers are magnetically shielded,build quality (for the price),excellent bass response in my medium sized room,rubber surround on the woofers,decent soundstage

Can not be bi-wired,vinyl finish,only available in black (so far).

I bought these speakers in September of 2002,without an audition,after reading the review on Stereophile magazine (you can read the review at www.stereophile.com) and still satisfied with their sound quality,at first I was driving them with a Denon stereo receiver and they sounded pretty good,however,a few months ago I purchased a Rotel RA-1062 integrated amp.,Audioquest Type 4 speaker cables and Straight Wire interconnects,now the speakers sound much more detailed,with less distortion and more dynamics,I can play the music very loud and they still sound pleasant with very little distortion (that’s how good they are).In my opinion they deserve a good quality amp.,CD player,cables and power line conditioner to sound at their best.Please do not be fooled by the relatively low price of these speakers,listen and you’ll see the true value.Some of the worst sounding speakers I have heard cost as much as $4K USD(for example some Thiel,Bose and Martin Logans speakers),I can not believe they sell the Athena AS-F2 as low as $ 400/pair.Thank you API (Audio Products International Corp.) for this great product.Happy listening!.

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Also own Acoustic Research,Energy Veritas, Definitive Technology and home-built speakers using Vifa drivers from Denmark.