Athena Audiotion Series 2 brochure

[SilverMK3]

Athena Audition Series 2 brochure

I emailed Athena Technologies earlier today to see if I could glean any information about their upgrades to the Audition line. Here's what I wrote, their response, and a link to their PDF Brochure of the Audition Series 2.

Hi There,
I was recently at my local Futureshop store looking to add the Athena AS-F2 towers to my home theater setup but was told that the line has been discontinued. I'd like to confirm that this is true, and ask if there are any other retailers where
I might find the F2's to complete my 7.1ch system. I currently have an AS-C1 center, a pair of AS-B2's as fronts, two pairs of S.5's as side and rear surrounds, and an AS-P300 subwoofer. Can you recommend a decent set of floorstanders that would work
well with the C1 center?

Thanks.
Dave

Hi,
The AS-F2.2 is the new version, and it’s nearly identical to the old version. I’ve attached a brochure for you. FS will be getting this inventory in a few weeks, so the salespeople may not be aware of the new line up.

Thank you for your interest and for your support.

Best Regards,

Joe Fraser
Brand Manager
athena TECHNOLOGIES
A Division of Audio Products International Corp.
www.athenaspeakers.com

 

[Sheep]

all i can say is.....

SWEET. Wow, those look so nice. I wonder how they perform compared to the old audition series. I like the subwoofers too. they see to dig deep down for what they have.

sheep

 

[JJMP50]

Excellent News Breaking Story

Thanks Silver,

Having just completed my Audition 5.1 system with the close out sales I'm happy to see there isn't a lot of changes. I do have one concern with the F1.2's. My F1's weigh 41 lbs and, according to this brochure, the F1.2's come in at 29 lbs. I wonder if they shredded some cabinet weight and if so would that would change anything. All other specs are unchanged as far as I could see.

 

[Takeereasy]

Nice post. I don't see many cosmetic changes though. I thought that they were going to be changing the colours a little. And I've gotta say that's odd what Bird is pointing out. Where did that 12 LBS go? Hey, as long as they can keep up the high quality and low costs, who gives a heck?

 

[SilverMK3]

The 12lb's is concerning, it looks like they're using different drivers for the entire Series 2 line. The Series 1 drivers were all black, these new ones are all silver. I wonder if they're using a different magnet as well?

 

[SilverMK3]

I just sent a follow up email to Athena asking about the MSRP of the new Series 2 line, got a response within 20 minutes. Wow! Great support.

Great. Thank you!!

Do you happen to know what kind of price-point the new Series 2 will come in at? Will it be comparable to the Series 1 MSRP?

Thanks
Dave

It’s exactly the same actually!

Joe Fraser
Brand Manager
athena TECHNOLOGIES
A Division of Audio Products International Corp.
www.athenaspeakers.com

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Glad to see they're back in action

The ASF2.2's weigh 44 lbs. It must be a misprint on the single woofer tower. I'm glad Athena didn't chuck that line. They actually look pretty cool with silver drivers. The new "toothpick" line sucks trailer hitches. They seem to be Audioholics "best bang for the buck" so far this year based on members opinions. Too bad CC or BB won't carry the Venturi or Acoustech lines. I think they would steal some of Athena's thunder.

 

[cabron1]

Nice to see the Audition series has not been "tampered" with. They are a successful line of speakers, with excellent sound, great price, and looks awesome.

They do not appear to have changed at all from the previous line, except for the weight. Perhaps the cabinet material changed.

Keep it up Athena.....

 

[Audioholics]

I love companies with great customer service. We probably need to contact them and see if they want to start some reviews.

 

[Ohmage]

The ASF2.2's weigh 44 lbs. It must be a misprint on the single woofer tower. I'm glad Athena didn't chuck that line. They actually look pretty cool with silver drivers. The new "toothpick" line sucks trailer hitches. They seem to be Audioholics "best bang for the buck" so far this year based on members opinions. Too bad CC or BB won't carry the Venturi or Acoustech lines. I think they would steal some of Athena's thunder.

Hmmm...the ASF2 weighed 51 lbs each. That is quite a big difference. I wouldn't think that something as important as a product brochure would have such a misprint. It could be a new 8 inch driver with some kind of new and lightweight magnet, but even that is a stretch. It better not be the cabinet being lighter, because that would be a bad thing with the dimensions kept the same; now, that would definitely be a stretch, or did I mean flex...yikes!

Hey SilverMK3, do you care to send a reply back to Athena about the new weight of the ASF1.2 and ASF2.2? We would greatly appreciate this. Thank you.

Ohmage.

 

[HookedOnSound]

I love companies with great customer service. We probably need to contact them and see if they want to start some reviews.

Oh yes! Please! Please! Pretty Please!

 

[HSM]

Athena Audition Series 2 Weights

I have read the interest in the new Athena Auditions and having purchased both the AS-R1 and the AS-B1 I got out the boxes and checked out weights. The carton weight for the AS-R1 was 11 lbs each. New version says carton weight is 7.5 lbs. The pair of AS-B1 were 30 lbs, new version says 23 lbs. Looks like all Audition Series 2 speakers are lighter than past series. HSM

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I have read the interest in the new Athena Auditions and having purchased both the AS-R1 and the AS-B1 I got out the boxes and checked out weights. The carton weight for the AS-R1 was 11 lbs each. New version says carton weight is 7.5 lbs. The pair of AS-B1 were 30 lbs, new version says 23 lbs. Looks like all Audition Series 2 speakers are lighter than past series. HSM

If the dimensions are the same, they could have gone from 1" MDF to 3/4" or 1/2" MDF - which would be a crying shame!

 

[Sheep]

drivers

i think (and hope) the weight issue is from the drivers. If they cut down on the enclosures, the price would have changed, but it didn't. It has to be better, lighter drivers, which is good.


sheep

 

[cabron1]

I see the Athena web site is updated to include details on the new Audition series 2 line, as well as the WS series.

It appears that there are two differences between the old audition series and the new; weight and the drivers. The new drivers have a dark center, and a silver material around the darker center, and then a darker material around the outer edge. It could be just different colors; rather than different drivers.

Love to gain better insight from Joe Fraser at Athena.

The burning question is; Are there any differences between the series 2 and series 1.

I own F2'S, B2'S, R1'S, C1'S and the Point s.5 sytem; along with the ASP-300, and a velodyne DPS-10.

Love the Athena line, great sound and great value.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

i think (and hope) the weight issue is from the drivers. If they cut down on the enclosures, the price would have changed, but it didn't. It has to be better, lighter drivers, which is good.


sheep

If the weight issue is the drivers, then they must have eliminated them. Two 8" woofers dropping 7 lbs per tower is absurd. My 12" subwoofer has a massive magnet weighing in at 70oz. (4.3 lbs). Magnets are magnets. My guess is they found out what a hot ticket they had, and looked for ways to maximize profit. Rather than change the drivers, they would keep the dimensions the same and lighten the load. It might not have much of a sonic effect on sound, but 1" MDF (if that is what they used) makes for a very impressive cabinet. Ask the rep from Athena why the weight changed. I'm sure he'll be honest with you.

Here's the specs on the first model AS-F2:
1" Teteron Dome
8 ohms compatible
Dual 8" Injection Molded Polypropylene with Rubber Surround
41 1/2" H x 9 1/2" x 15 1/2"D
35Hz - 20kHz +/- 3 dB
250 watts per channel
51 lbs each
93dB
55 lbs shipped

Here's the second model AS-F2.2:
1" Teteron Dome
8 ohms compatible
Dual 8" Injection Molded Polypropylene with Rubber Surround
41 1/2" H x 9 1/2" W x 15 1/2"D
35Hz - 20kHz +/- 3 dB
250 watts per channel
44 lbs each
93dB
51 lbs shipped

 

[JJMP50]

Customer Service

I love companies with great customer service. We probably need to contact them and see if they want to start some reviews.

When I bought my F1's as an "Open Item" one of them was missing it's floor spikes. I emailed Athena about where I could buy a set and got an email back within an hour with a link to purchase the spikes online ($11 w/shipping). I had them in my hand in 4 days.

 

[HookedOnSound]

I emailed Athena, got a response within minutes! WOW!

Mr. Fraser said they changed wood supplier and that is why the cabinets are slightly lighter.

I guess we'll have to see once the new speakers come out (AS-F2.2) how they sound.

I was considering Paradigm Monitor's to replace my F/R speakers but after listening to the AS-B1's (bookshelf) at Futureshop the other day I am tempted to wait until the new Audition Series v.2 become available. I was very surprised by the sound vs. price. After hearing those bookshelf speakers, I am seriously reconsidering my whole plan. Might pickup some of those AS-B2.2's instead.

 

[SilverMK3]

I sent this email at 8:12am this morning, and got the reply back at 8:14am...

Great! I'll keep an eye out for them at Futureshop.

Looking at the brochure you sent me, it appears that the new Series 2 speakers are a bit lighter than the original Audition series. The AS-F2, for example, used to weigh 51 lbs whereas the new F2.2's only weigh 44 lbs. Aside from the new silver drivers, what else has changed in the design? Would I be better off trying to hunt down a set of original F2's? I like the look of the new ones, but the weight difference concerns me.

Thanks again for your time
Dave

The wood supplier changed, and the cabinets were a bit lighter than before. According to the engineers it didn’t change the sound hardly at all. They are still MDF, and are braced just as before.

But what it did was allow us to retail them for the same price as we did when we launched Audition in 2002.

It’ll be quite hard to locate AS-F2’s, but that’s your decision.

Best Regards,

Joe Fraser
Brand Manager
athena TECHNOLOGIES
A Division of Audio Products International Corp.
www.athenaspeakers.com

 

[HookedOnSound]

...didn’t change the sound hardly at all

That doesn't sound positive