Best VFM for Surround setup | Athena 15345 Point 5 MKII System Home Theater Speaker Package, Silver/Gloss...

Greatest Speakers Ever | Athena 15345 Point 5 MKII System Home Theater Speaker Package, Silver/Gloss Black

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	• Athena 15345 Point 5 MKII System Home Theater Speaker Package, Silver/Gloss Black Athena Athena average customer review:based on 21 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good deal very good sound highly recommended.

The sound is very good a little bright sounding. A good match with polk subwoofer PSW 10...The speakers need several days, to break in just like a great car. Dont push to the metal, you will enjoy tonal balance, smooth and well worth the money .Thank you amazon.!!!Update 11/19/05 After several weeks of use,they sound even better...I am using the yamaha 5740 receiver..199.95 with free shipping polk psw 10 subwoofer,purchased for 99 bucks with free shipping...A pioneer dvd 383 mutizone,muti region dvd player,84.99,and the athenas....The total cost for my high end sounding system on the cheap...384.00 dollars...Thank you amazon,for this great system at an excellent price.

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Best VFM for Surround setup

I have owned these speakers for a little over a year now. The sound these speakers produce is surprisngly warm and lifelike from what is a relatively small speaker. This is no doubt to the fantastic build quality of these speakers. From the piano lacquer case to the stylish silver front these are beautiful speakers in my opinion. They are very heavy for their size and extremely sturdy. One of the binding posts broke on mine (caused by me, not a design flaw), and Athena technologies shipped me out a complete new binding post and hardware, no questions asked. Excellent customer service. You can not beat these speakers at this price.

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Greatest Speakers Ever

These are phenomenal speakers. They sound as good as any Bose setup I've heard.

When you get them out of the box, they may sound a bit tinny. The cones in these speakers need to be broken in before they reach their proper sound. Leave the speakers playing music with a wide frequency range while you are at work for a day or two. Give them at least two days before you decide you are unsatisfied with them.

To the user that complained that these speakers are no longer supported by the manufacturer: they have stopped production of these units. If you receive a defective unit from Amazon, Amazon will handle your issue where Athena will not.

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The price and performance is unbelievable

I recently got this set of 5 speaker on sale + free shipping. This is a great product. Ship on time and in brand new condition. I'm happy for what I got. I have been doing four hour of research on this speaker from athena. And finally, I decide to take my chance to buy it. Overall, the speakers very good in material and design sound, and appearance. I bought this one over the micra 6 because of the size factor. I believe this is bigger than micra 6. But, it is offer larger driver and tweeter. That is reason why i bought over small one. I don't have the problem with size. But this speaker is small enough, and produce great sound. Highly recommended before it all sold out.

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Buy with Confidence. Best Bang for Buck.

First of all, these are great speakers, with a superlative sound quality, and I highly recommend this purchase now and will do so again at the end of this review. Now that this is out of the way, let me list out a few caveats you need to watch out for first, before I move to the strengths.

But first of all, the guy who left a 'Single' star in another review - don't mind him. Athena, or for that matter, any other manufacturer, WILL NOT honor warranties if the item is purchased from some unauthorized "An e-tailer" like he did. Even though it is extremely rare that you will end up with defective speakers like he did (assuming he did buy it 'Sealed manufacturer retail
box'), you don't want to take any chances just to save 20-30 bucks. Makes all the more sense to buy from Amazon or OneCall, the only two Authorized places that seem to stock these speakers nowadays. (BestBuy may have a few laying round, but be prepared
to pay daylight robbery prices).

First of all, the size. These are not "a bit larger" than the Micra6 like someone said. They are a whole lot bigger. Don't be expecting weenie Home theater satellites, these are proper
bookshelf speakers, only at the smaller end of the size spectrum. I'd say that volumetrically, each of the bookshelfs are 3 to 3 1/2 times the size of each Micra speaker. They are quite heavy for the size and deep too, so I do not quite recommend mounting these on walls, even though it comes with all the mounts and clamps. Cheap sturdy stands are available for like 30 bucks + Shipping from PartsExpress. The boxy shape allows you to place them on any flat surface. However, the Piano lacquer finish looks like an open invitation to scratches, so make sure you have enough rubber padding on all contact surfaces.

Looks and feel. Now, surprising as it is, to me, these look kinda uglier than the pictures would suggest. The color combo of Glossy Piano black on the sides and a dull light silver front baffle, and cheap black plastic rear panel, along with the quirky curves and humps and all those separate speaker grills give it a strangely odd-chic appearance, akin to a Korean-make car, only less hideous. Doubtlessly, they would have been far prettier in all-black, however that option, unfortunately, is not available in the 5.1 configuration.

Like the other reviewers said, they do sound "tinny" straight out of the box, but let me assure you, it's not bad. I'd say the sound he called "tinny" is the AWESOME treble offered by the Athena 1" Teteron tweeter, which even this model seems to share with every bigger Athena speaker (Amazon's description says 0.5" Tweeter, the Athena website says 1"). Of course, once the woofers settle and start thumpin' like they should, the "tinniness" would not be pronounced at all. In fact, I noticed quite a bit of improvement in the bass dept. within the first couple of CDs played.

But the first thing you notice, esp if you are upgrading from something generic, is the incredible Sensitivity of these little things. The satellites are rated at 89dB, while the Center is 91dB, quite an achievement for speakers this small. My old speakers were the Onkyo SKS-HT240 6.1 system, which, even though are pretty good, are not quite sensitive - I was getting the same loudness at 18-20 on the Athenas that took the Onkyos 26-28 to achieve. Could make a big difference in Amp longevity, heat build-up, even electricity bills etc.

I had ordered a pair of Athena Audition Series As-B1.2's too from Amazon and they arrived a week before these did. I am breaking those in too, and I am accomplishing the concurrent breaking in of 7 speakers by interchanging the AS's and the S.5's as Front speakers, and playing them in 'Stereo' thru my AV Receiver (I have even turned off my Subwoofer, and set the Speaker Settings on the receiver to 'Large', to let them work thru their full dynamic range), and I am playing a variety of music, from Genesis to Korn. For the center speaker, I turned up its level pretty high compared to the others, and played a few DVD-Audio Discs and 5.1 Concert DVDs that I have.

Now the most important consideration. Sound. Rest assured, the sound is not "tinny", just high on treble. And the bass response keeps on improving with each passing hour of playing. However, do not be under the illusion that this system can EVER get by without a subwoofer -- YOU WILL NEED ONE. I know it sucks that you need to spend almost the same money as the other 5 speakers to buy a single speaker to handle a measly 60Hz or so out of a 20,000Hz aural spectrum, but them 60 are pretty important Hertzes, so it's a worthwhile investment. I do not feel you need to buy the Athena's expensive ASP series - I can think of a lot of competent subs in the $100-$180 range (Velo VX10, Mirage Nano, Dayton 10" or 12", Yamaha SW215 etc. etc.), and Amazon itself has lots of good options, just makes sure they are from a reputable SPEAKER manufacturer who are honest with Specs. They should be able to handle sound as low as 25Hz and have at least 8" Woofer. (I have a Dayton 10" 100W got from PartsExpress for $115 shipped, which works pretty well mated to the Athenas. If you have a bigger budget and need a bigger thump, I am quite sure you can definitely do better. For the thump I needed, I am very happy with the Dayton.)

Technology has progressed so much that weenie satellites combined with a sub can produce seriously big sound... But this is the first time I'm hearing this kind of bass and sonics coming from speakers this small WITHOUT the aid of a subwoofer. I am VERY IMPRESSED. With the receiver set to output 'Stereo' and the Speakers set to 'large' and driving just two of the S.5's, the sound is awesome... very good deep Hi-Fi sound. Once I added the subwoofer to the mix and made it 2.1 and leaning back on the sofa 12 feet away, I had to tell myself that I was not listening to $600/pr Tower speakers... the Daytons match well, providing just enough lower-end assistance that the little Athenas cannot Reach... but the Athenas shoulder the majority of the sound Duties and are a SMASHING SUCCESS AT THAT.

Once I connected the full Point5 system, and played them back without a subwoofer (5.0), they were quite impressive, the fronts and the Center holding up quite well, even though the lack of a Subwoofer is quite noticeable. Let me reiterate, the strong treble put out by these speakers make a subwoofer even more necessary. Turn the sub on and make it 5.1, and damn, I am in Hog heaven. This system can do pretty well at 5.0 when playing back most music, however, to catch the lower frequencies of DVDs, no way around it -- get a Sub.

Comparing with the AS-B1.2's: The AS's are the most basic Speakers in the Audition Series. They both do sound different and the AS-B1's definitely put out better bass than the smaller S.5's -- minus a subwoofer, the S.5's definitely sound "tinnier" Because of that, and even adding a subwoofer, the AS-B1.2's are noticeably better, but I am in no way suggesting that the S.5's put out inferior sound. The S.5's are great, the AS-B1 is greater, that's all.

LONG-TERM INVESTMENT:-

In conclusion, BUY THESE. BUY 'EM BLIND. ESPECIALLY if these are going to be your first HT speakers. At the price Amazon is offering it, it is the best HT Speaker bargain out there. And in the long term, I can assure you, this will be the best speaker Investment you've ever made in your life. Also, invest $150 or so on a decent subwoofer along with this, and you get a highly COMPETENT 5.1 system for $350, which, unlike lots of inferior speakers that will be forced out into the bedroom or even the back porch once you trade up, this one has all potential to stay on in the Main Home theater/Living room forever. Once you can afford better or want to move into 7.1 surround, put all your upgrade money into a pair of higher end Bookshelf speakers or Floorstanding speakers, and move the front S.5's to rear Surround. These S.5's and even the C.5 to a certain extent, are more than competent enough to stand up as Surround speakers against anything that's out there.

They're that good.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5

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