zumbo said:
Don't take this the wrong way, but why would you recommend Athena to someone who mentioned that he's interested in the B&W 600 series?? Wouldn't that be a bit like recommending a Hyundai to someone who mentioned that he likes Lexus?
I'm very familiar with the 600 series and they're nice speakers. I do think you can do just as well or better for the price from other companies. Axiom and especially Ascend come to mind (based on recommendations, I haven't heard either yet though I've pre-ordered a set of Ascend CBM-170 SEs), and you should check out ACI at audioc.com. They get rave reviews and look great.
For something smaller but really sweet for a LOW price, the SVS SBS-01s are wonderful speakers. They do require a sub so keep that in mind, but for the price you get WAY more than you pay for in terms of quality, and the PB10-ISD that comes with the 5.1 and 7.1 systems is AMAZING (I own one). I spent a few hours last night listening to my new pair with an SVS PB12 Ultra/2 in a friend's 22' x 12.5' room and I'm really glad I bought them. I'll be posting impressions of them in more detail soon. This friend owns a pair of $8,000 B&W N802s yet in comparison, we both felt if we had to give up the 802s and live with the SBS-01s with an SVS sub, we would survive.
If you have a bigger room or love listening REALLY loud, you might look at something bigger (or at least choose a bigger SVS sub) but in small to medium sized rooms they are truly wonderful.
(PS: <CLARIFICATION>If anyone flames me for suggesting the SBS-01s sound as good as or even close to the Nautilus 802s, I will spank you soundly, as I said no such silly thing. To be clear, I'm simply saying the N802s are audio nirvana, whereas the SBS-01s are sweet, wonderful, natural-sounding, easy-to-listen-to little speakers that you can have for next to no $$.</CLARIFICATION>
