As some of you may know already I am king of finding good deals, some that are to good to be true yet strangely they are true.
The Story
I was at EZpawn pawnbrokers in Logansport, IN. Because Logansport is so small, the population is less than 25,000, they had never heard of Athena Technologies. I saw these speakers on a bottom shelf with nothing sitting next to them, this was a good sign they had recently been added and less likely chance of damage due to stupid people that drop stuff and drag one object over another.
I ended up getting the speakers for the low price of $34.99 + tax. I new that I would be able to sell them for more than that, and I will sell them for more than that.
Construction
Each speaker uses a Injection Molded Polypropylene 5.5" mid-bass and a 1" soft dome Teteron tweeter. The cabinets are 1/2" MDF and they are insulated. They are also magnetically shielded, unlike my NHT 1.5s.
They don't have internal bracing, but they did well in the knuckle wrap test.
They are finished in black lacquer laminate and have very nice look. The speaker grills look nice, but they are braced plastic so these speakers would likely sound their best without the grills on them.
The Sound
I have on hand for comparison a pair of NHT 1.5s and a Pair of Infinity Interlude 10s. All of these speakers have 1" tweeters, but the NHTs and Infinitys both have 6.5" mid-bass. So comparing the bass isn't fair for this review.
The Athenas are very straight foward and they have very good imaging. The midrange is a bit thin and the highs are just a tad over expressed for my listening preferance. The highs are not harsh however, though I didn't expect them to be with the soft domes. The bass is tight and well defined for a speaker this size, it doesn't match the other two speakers of coarse.
Comparison
The Athenas sound nothing like the Infinitys. The Infinitys are warmer in the midrange and have a tendacy to be harsh on higher notes. The Infinitys are also touchy about the walls and they can be very boomy if placed incorrectly.
The Athenas are more in line with the NHTs. The sound very similar, but the NHTs go lower and have a more even responce. The Athenas have a better center stage, but don't have the some soundstage width as the NHTs. And lastly the Athenas are more efficient by about 3-4 dB.
Conclusion
The Athena AS-B1s are a very good speakers system for a beginner because they are flexible and best of all less expensive than comparitive sounding speakers. They are certainly a bargain for the $150 per pair price range.
