Paradigm Phantom vs Athena F2

[Spiffyfast]

Ok, so I think I'm down to these, my question is, are the Phantoms worth the $200 dollars more than the athenas. I think I'll like the bass more from the athenas as well as the higher spl rating. But I've heard the tweeter on the Paradigm is alot better, is that going to matter that much for movie watching? What about pairing the Paradigm center channel with the Athenas to take advantage of the better tweeter for movie watching. Would this be a good match? Opinions guys, ordering soon

 

[Spiffyfast]

ok, so I went to ultimate electronics tonight, this time armed with my own cd's of music that I listen to. I brought Linkin Park, Lucky Boys Confusion, Kid Rock, Dave Mathews, Third Eye Blind, Sublime, ACDC, and 3 Doors Down. I wanted to listen to some more speakers before making a decision. I have heard Kef speakers compared to Paradigm so I wanted to listen to some rock music with them. Didn't really do it for me, and yes I know these arent Paradigms so I can't make a direct comparison. the Definitive Technology towers didnt impress me at all. The infinty speakers were ok, but didnt really "rock out" like I want. this brought me to the Klipsch reference series. The more I listen to klipsch the more I like the sound and tonight when I listened to my music on it I was blown away. I listened to about 4 different sets of towers and the ones the dominated all of them was ironically not the biggest one, but the next step down. The RF-25 towers sounded incredible with rock music, great bass and the highs sounded terrific. They kind of took me by surprise b/c these towers werent in the room with the expensive receivers, they were in the room with the entry level receivers. So i was listening to these with a Yammy that was putting out only 85 watts per channel and it rocked. I couldn't imagine playing these on something that had more power. What shocked me the most was that to my ears the RF-25's with the dual 6.5's sounded alot better than the RF-35 with dual 8's. The bass was tighter and the highs were extremely clear. Now I really want to hear the Bic Acoustech especially if they are supposed to actually sound better.

 

[Takeereasy]

I'd love to hear those Acoustech speakers as well Spiffy. No one up here has them according to the Bic distributor I emailed. I was even willing to go into Costco with (gulp) my GF's best friend (God I hate that tramp) to see if they had them but they didn't.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

ok, so I went to ultimate electronics tonight, this time armed with my own cd's of music that I listen to. I brought Linkin Park, Lucky Boys Confusion, Kid Rock, Dave Mathews, Third Eye Blind, Sublime, ACDC, and 3 Doors Down. I wanted to listen to some more speakers before making a decision. I have heard Kef speakers compared to Paradigm so I wanted to listen to some rock music with them. Didn't really do it for me, and yes I know these arent Paradigms so I can't make a direct comparison. the Definitive Technology towers didnt impress me at all. The infinty speakers were ok, but didnt really "rock out" like I want. this brought me to the Klipsch reference series. The more I listen to klipsch the more I like the sound and tonight when I listened to my music on it I was blown away. I listened to about 4 different sets of towers and the ones the dominated all of them was ironically not the biggest one, but the next step down. The RF-25 towers sounded incredible with rock music, great bass and the highs sounded terrific. They kind of took me by surprise b/c these towers werent in the room with the expensive receivers, they were in the room with the entry level receivers. So i was listening to these with a Yammy that was putting out only 85 watts per channel and it rocked. I couldn't imagine playing these on something that had more power. What shocked me the most was that to my ears the RF-25's with the dual 6.5's sounded alot better than the RF-35 with dual 8's. The bass was tighter and the highs were extremely clear. Now I really want to hear the Bic Acoustech especially if they are supposed to actually sound better.

It sounds to me like you'd be happiest with the Acoustech speakers. They are perfect for the type of music you like, plus great for HT.

 

[Spiffyfast]

I'd love to hear those Acoustech speakers as well Spiffy. No one up here has them according to the Bic distributor I emailed. I was even willing to go into Costco with (gulp) my GF's best friend (God I hate that tramp) to see if they had them but they didn't.

Yeah, they don't have them at our costco either, I'm waiting to here from Brian, I think he got his pair of HT-75's last week, hopefully he'll do a nice review, I can't order anything for 3 weeks until im back at school that way I can just have it shipped there and dont have to deal with the transport from home. I still can't believe how much better the RF-25's sounded than the RF-35's at the store, maybe the 35's weren't broken in or something, they just didnt sound that clear. The bookshelf with the 8" woofer sounded better. But when I listened to the 25's it all changed, the vocals cleared up and you could hear some nice bass with them. It makes me want to hear the Acoustecs even more now, plus I think they look better.

 

[nm2285]

I remember trying out the SF-2 vs the SP-1 (i think?) where the sf-2s had dual 6.5" and the sp-1 had i think 1 8". Although the SP-1 was "considered" the better speaker and was priced higher, the SF2s were undoubtedly better sounding. Klipsch should reconsider those 8" drivers!

 

[Spiffyfast]

I remember trying out the SF-2 vs the SP-1 (i think?) where the sf-2s had dual 6.5" and the sp-1 had i think 1 8". Although the SP-1 was "considered" the better speaker and was priced higher, the SF2s were undoubtedly better sounding. Klipsch should reconsider those 8" drivers!

I agree, the 6.5's sound a lot better than their 8" drivers