HI!
In that price range ... I'd say they are for real. I also like the PSB Image 4T and 5T in your price range. Never heard them A-B with the Athenas though. Give them a listen if you can. (By the way, thats very good equipment you would be mating the Athenas with. I have owned the Azur 640C and feel it is a real bargain in digital playback, well balanced and musical. Id bet you will go through many speaker upgrades before you will feel the need to upgrade the rest of the system.)
A good, but cheap, friend of mine has the Athenas and likes them a lot. (Cheap is a bit harsh ... call him
reluctant to fully enjoy the wealth he has accumulated.) We did A-B comparisons between the Athenas and my Paradigm Reference Studio 100 V2 speakers (when I had them) and my current Von Schweikert VR-4jr speakers. Were the Paradigm and Von Schweikert better? Hell yes!! But, given the price difference I found the Athenas pretty amazing. We tried the Athenas against the Paradigms using a Cambridge Audio 640C into a B&K Ref 50 HT processor as a pre-amp into a Krell KSA-50S, Adcom GFA-535 II, B&K AV-6000, and Consonance M400 EL34 mono blocks. And later against the VR-4jrs using a Consonance CD-120 into: 1) B&K Ref 50 into a Krell KSA-50S, and 2) Sound Quest SQ-88 KT-88 integrated tube amp. The Athenas worked well with all of these combinations, with my friend favoring the Krell and I favoring the tubes. He uses an Integra DTR-7.3 HT receiver at home fed by an inexpensive DVD player used as a transport. His setup sounds quite good and suits him (see below).
On the Athena, I agree with Bigshutterbug on most points, Very efficient, plenty of strong bass, not bad looking, and quite listenable. But I will disagree a bit on the never harsh part. They do not play as loudly as the Paradigms or VR-4jr before getting compressed and hard
but they can play louder than most folks will ever need. I did find them a bit grainy and harsh at times, especially at high volume, but they were not as smooth as the other speakers, especially the VR4-jrs, even at low volume. My friend likes that though
or is at least used to that as he has spent years listening to loud rock bands in bars. When his system plays he wants it to sound like the live music he is used to hearing. He also has what he calls old fart ears, hearing rolled off in high frequency sensitivity. He only really likes my Vr-4jrs when the ambience tweeter is set at 10. When pressed, my friend admitted that the VR-4jrs are better than his Athenas and that hed like to have a set in his home
but only if they cost $1100 as he felt they were only a couple times better than the Athenas, not 8 to 10 times better. :-)
[Side note on the VR-4jrs - The Von Schweikerts amaze me in their ability to not get hard or harsh sounding when the volume goes up. They just play louder and, to my ear, keep pretty much the same smooth sonic signature as at lower volume levels. My young daughters were always holding their ears and telling daddy to turn it down when I cranked up the Paradigms. With the Von Schweikerts the girls dont complain until about the same volume level that daddy does. :-) ]
Have fun!!
