My whole point is...the Energys are better sounding speakers. I was NEVER saying the Athenas are bad. The issue that I had is that you implied that the Athena was the same speaker (or used all the same parts) as the Energy. It doesn't. Different tweeters, different cabinet structures, different crossover design. And even if they did share some parts, tuning the speaker can lead to vastly different sound characteristics.
Every speaker will benefit from a good receiver. The Energy C series will sound even better if paired with a high grade amp/preamp. He owns the same receiver as I do (Yamaha 2400), and from my experience in a home environment, the C series will sound better than the Athenas hooked up to that very same receiver. As for his budget, he has enough budget to afford a C-9 and still get a good enough SVS/Hsu sub to rock his medium sized room, I don't see why he shouldn't get the C-series.
IMO Stereophile, as a magazine, is not something that I consider 100% trustworthy. There are some that believe the Recommended Components list is quite flawed. The last time I looked, they also take advertisements.
Anyways, it's a moot point, in the other thread, the poster is going to go ahead with the Energy series. There is no real wrong choice anyway....at least he's not going with Axiom
(no secret that I'm not a fan)
