Athena AS-P4000 Review
Reviewer: SheepStar
Manufacture: Athena Technologies
Model: AS-P4000
MSRP: $399 CAD
Pros:
-Front Mounted Volume knob
-Modern appearance (See cons)
-Spikes for carpet (see build quality regarding these)
-Decent output above 35Hz
-Small (WAF)
-Light, easy to move, but… (See cons)
Cons:
-Dances (could be a pro for some…)
-Quite boomy with music material
-Far to light to be constructed with any quality (confirmed)
-No floor coupling options for hard surfaces (supplied spikes don’t cut it)
-Excessive bottoming at moderate volume levels
-Appearance can come across as gaudy in certain rooms
-Not Magnetically Shielded
-Amp gets rather warm.
-No Phase adjustment (continuous or switch)
-No more front mounted crossover knob
-Better for the money
Introduction:
Athena is a relatively new comer to the audio world. Under the watchful eye of API(and now Klipsch), they have the abilities to create great products and run with the big dogs of the industry. The Audition series was there foot in the door, and is still considered some of the best equipment for the money. When they revamped the Audition line, they also made some major changes to the subwoofer lineup that accompanied it.
Some of the new features/changes to this woofer include:
-Down firing woofer
-Front, AND down firing ports (1 down, 1 front)
-Shorter, but deeper layout (versus taller, and shallower)
-New driver with a 28oz magnet
-Scraped the 8inch version and introduced a 12inch.
Because my AS-P400 is in some electronics shop never to be seen again, I cannot directly compare the woofers. However, I do remember the driver from the P400 being much stiffer, and harder to move. The surround also had more strength in it, and really held its shape. Could these contribute to the overall sound quality? Read on.
Build Quality and Packaging:
When the subwoofer arrived, it came in a basic cardboard box, although it had a star that said “400 watts!” The box itself was nothing special and it wasn’t doubled. There were hard Styrofoam caps and sides that held the unit sturdy in its enclosure. I however would like to see the softer, more pliable foam caps and pieces because they further resist breaking.
Once the P4000 was out of its box and on all fours, it stood rather short, much shorter then the P400, which led me to believe Athena was going for a more WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) friendly design. Another thing I noticed while moving the subwoofer is that is wasn’t that hard. For a 10 inch subwoofer standing roughly 17inches high, 18inches deep, and 12inches wide, it was rather light. Oddly enough, the manual and website show no weight rating for this subwoofer. So, I did the only thing any decent reviewer would do, I weighed it myself! Once the numbers were in, I was shocked. 26lbs! My current subwoofer, with external dimensions of 18”D, 14”W, and 16”H weights 58lbs, almost double the weight!
So, after all that, what’s next? How about the knock test? No surprises here, the 26lbs really showed. Hollow sounds on the top and side panels. The Front panel has a plastic piece containing the front port and volume control, and the back has the amp.
In this review, I am going to work up the guts to take the driver out. The only other time I’ve done this is after I blew the driver (different sub). Nothing fancy, not going to rebuild it from scratch, but I need to see inside this thing. It’s too light, and the sound warrants it (as well as my readers, I <3 you guys). Finally, the moment of truth, after undoing the 8 screws, I was greeted by a box with 2 11inch ports (2inch dia.), and about an inch of yellow stuffing lining the side walls and top panel. NO BRACING. None along the corners, none in the middle of the side panels, nothing. This is why it failed the knock test, and this is why it sounds like jubbah blowing across a moonshine bottle.
So now that the subwoofer is hooked up and in a common subwoofer location (front right corner, will also try out 2 other spots) I wanted to hear it. I Fired up my Amp, and played a couple tunes off my computer, and was greeted by rattling, and dancing. Subwoofer dancing! NEVER have I seen a subwoofer, made by a reputable manufacture MOVE ACROSS A FLOOR. I’m not talking about a millimeter every hour; I’m talking inches in seconds. This is awful, plain and simple. I managed to eliminate the problem by putting some shipping foam under just the feet. This stopped both problems, and kept the subwoofer in place.
Setup & Placement:
For my review, I tried the subwoofer out in 3 different spots. First was between my TV and front right speaker. Next I tried in my front right corner. Lastly, for movies only, I put the subwoofer in a near field position behind my couch, to the left side (if you’re facing the TV). I used this spot for my main subwoofer. I found it to be the best as far as frequency response, and over all flatness. It also gave the most tactile response.
For music purposes, I chose the front right corner. The subwoofer seemed to have some excessive bloat in the 60Hz range so I though corner loading it and boosting up the 30Hz range might help flatten it out. I also chose the front corner over the near field spot because it is too tactile for music listening. Some may prefer the more tactile spot for music, but I don’t, and it’s my review.
I set the crossover at 70Hz (fixed 90Hz from receiver) to help with localization and the volume level at less than 2 out of 10 (which was the right blend for me). I think the volume know is screwed up. At 3.5, the driver would bottom out. Either way, I had to have the volume low.
Music Evaluation:
For my music evaluation I will be using select tracks from the following artists:
Donald Fagen – Morph the Cat
Tool – 10,000 Days
Alexisonfire - Crisis
Donald Fagen – Morph the Cat: This is a new test disk fresh from Mr. Fagen. The bass line is quite, “hot”. Example, the first track “Morph the Cat” has a very predominant repeating bass line throughout the whole song. It’s decently low (for music) and fairly articulate. When played through the AS-P4000, it came across as loud, bloated plucks, almost artificial sounding. Now I know a lot of bands these days rely on NASA so they can be digested, but Former Steely Dan lead man (say that 5 times fast) is no phony.
Flipping through track after track, the subwoofer just couldn’t keep out of the dirt. On track 6 “The Night Belongs to Mona” the kick drum beats had far too much overhang. To put it bluntly, this subwoofer ruined the songs, and made them (to me) un-enjoyable. Some may like this style sound, but for me, I like the bass to end when the signal does.
Tool – 10,000 Days: After a troublesome start, let’s see if the AS-P4000 can redeem itself with some Tool. Starting with track 2 “Jambi” the Athena seemed to suite this music a little better. The overemphasis in the 40-60Hz range was somehow masked. The drums in the intro had impressive slam, and tactile feel to them. The kick pedal however, still suffered from the overhang.
Switching off to track 4 “10,000 days” the P4000 now faces a plucking bass line, and some very hefty bass/drum slams. These slams reach deeper then the drums from Jambi, and ring out over a couple seconds, making overhang impossible to detect. What I can say, is the P4000 did them justice. With decent weight, and extension, the P4000 kept up to my mains, and didn’t drown them out. The bass line in the intro however, could have benefited from a little less smearing. I couldn’t separate the notes; all I heard was random rumbles.
Alexisonfire – Crisis: This is the newest (and at the moment of writing this, unreleased) album from Alexisonfire. This is the last band I though I would be using in a subwoofer review, but the album got some jam (it’s a saying, stop PMing me). Tracks 2 and 10 have bass low enough to bottom out woofers, including my Velodyne DPS-12. Track 2 “This Could Be Anywhere in the World” contains content in the low 40 to mid 30Hz range. On my receiver, I usually listen to music at -30dB. When I played this song the first time on the P4000, it snap, crackled, and popped. It was spewing port noise out the yanged yings, and driver bottoming galore. After reducing the volume to -40dB, I was now able to review the song, at the expense on saving my hearing.
The P4000 was starting to boom, and stand out in a less then ideal light. This little bass in the intro was more intense then any of the bass in “Morph the Cat”.
On the move again, I switched to track 10 “To a Friend”. This song doesn’t have extremely low bass like track 2, but it is very loud, and really attacks you. It’s a driving beat in the intro of the song, so it occurs very often, and helps set the emotion of the track. Again, the P4000 could play the note, and with more ease then track 2’s intro note, but it still sounded bloated. This subwoofer seems to be lacking control in the 40-60Hz range. It just belts out bass, and makes setting the volume very hard. It’s either to quite, or to loud.
SheepStar
