Way back at the beginning of my speaker buying adventure, I bought a pair of Athena F1s. They have just been returned to me (long story.) From then until now, I have tried various smaller, more elegant-looking speakers. Many have offered impressive performance for their size, but listening to the F1s again reminds me that they were all missing something. Simply put, these are
big honkin' speakers, and that makes a difference! There are dynamics, presence, and effortless bass that smaller speakers simply cannot match despite clever engineering.
While they do not have the sleekness and scuptured beauty of the Mirages, they still look pretty good. They also don't have the spectacular imaging of omnipoles, but they are about as good as monopoles get in that regard. I think that these are what I am going to be listening to, and that the Mirages are going to be parked in the closet (ah well, just $300.
)
The next time I get the urge to buy new speakers, they will also have to have big honkin' cabinets and at least 8" woofers.
