What to do with Athena F2

[ahblaza]

Hello to all,
I need some input about Athena F2 speakers. I bought these new about 4 or five years ago because I wanted a tower speaker and it got some decent reviews and the price was right. Let me get to the point, I have not used them for a while, and just listened to them recently and they sound musical to my ears, bass can be bloated at times and have that boxy quality. I've seen some speaker builds from several sources and this encouraged me to open up the Athena's and check them out. Bracing is very limited (1) for a large cabinet, dampening mat. thin padding and xover network on pcb attached to binding post face plate. I would like your advice as to how I might improve on these. My plan is to start with adding braces to deal with hollow cabinet, replace dampening material and then That xover. I sent some pics of it to a builder of networks and he said it was a sorry sight. He suggested caps and resistor upgrades to start, the caps are high quality and are huge compared to what's there now. If I do the caps I won't be able to get the xover back into the cabinet from the rear since the pcb board is attached to binding posts and plate, could I just relocate the xover and run wire to binding posts? These caps are 60 x 40mm and 48 x 33mm. Erse caps and Mills resistors. How about the inductors, I don't know if they warrant such quality parts. I can see where I might get some SQ improvement with the bracing and dampening but the oxover I don't (honestly) know. Do these sound like viable options do you guys. New speakers may be be the best option, but at this time I really would like to know if I can improve on what I have. I value and respect your insightful opinions and hope you will help point me in a positive direction. Thanks for your time.
Best regards.....Jeff

 

[j_garcia]

I wouldn't go overboard with the x-over components if you are sticking with the original drivers. I do think these speakers sound good for the price and the cabinets and x-overs would be where they saved money to hit that price point.

I'd start with the bracing and damping as you've planned already and see where that gets you and then look at whether or not it is worth going further.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

J is right on target IMO.

Which version are they? (black or silver woofers?)

 

[billy p]

Fwiw

The black driver's are from the orignal Audition line (ie: AS-F2) where more emphisis was put on construction and bracing material in their design. The Audition series that followed (ie:AS-F2.2's) weighed slighly less and that was due to the removal of the extra bracing and the use of silver driver.

As a owner of the original series they IMO sounded better, having heard both. Than again, some may argue that point and say they sounded the same...

Regards, Bill...

No expert here but reducing resonances in a large floor speaker like the f2 would be a very difficult task! You would be better off doing a bookshelf speaker like the AS-B2 or B1.

 

[ahblaza]

The black driver's are from the orignal Audition line (ie: AS-F2) where more emphisis was put on construction and bracing material in their design. The Audition series that followed (ie:AS-F2.2's) weighed slighly less and that was due to the removal of the extra bracing and the use of silver driver.

As a owner of the original series they IMO sounded better, having heard both. Than again, some may argue that point and say they sounded the same...

Regards, Bill...

No expert here but reducing resonances in a large floor speaker like the f2 would be a very difficult task! You would be better off doing a bookshelf speaker like the AS-B2 or B1.

These are the original F2's with black drivers. I agree garcia that is where Athena made the compromise in the network, cabinet construction seems fairly solid, I decided to swap out the sand cast resistors for Lynk's and not bother with the caps, since just like you said why mod out the crossover with the same drivers. I'm going to put a rib brace or two along the side walls and I got some no-rez, should I put this where all of the original padding was or should it be at specific locations inside walls? I might put some bracing around driver cutouts and install hurricane nuts to more securely attach drivers to baffle, what do you think? Honestly, why would reducing resonances in a larger speaker be difficult, I'm asking because I really don't know? I wish I had some wood working skills, I would go for the AV-3's build from GR, garcia, they really look good. Thanks guys, keep talking..
Jeff

 

[STRONGBADF1]

IMO The difficulty comes from it being more work than a bookshelf speaker. The cabinet is just a lot bigger. Not a huge deal if you're into doing it. Other more experienced DIY'ers can chime in and give more specific info.

Billy, I wonder how these speakers would react to a port plug/restricter of sorts to tame the "boominess"?

 

[billy p]

IMO The difficulty comes from it being more work than a bookshelf speaker. The cabinet is just a lot bigger. Not a huge deal if you're into doing it. Other more experienced DIY'ers can chime in and give more specific info.

Billy, I wonder how these speakers would react to a port plug/restricter of sorts to tame the "boominess"?

My RC's are rear ported and unlike the Athena's placement was even more of an issue. Having experimented with plugging the ports I felt this would overcompensate for the boominness and cause the speakers to sound thin [in other words I'm not a fan...]. I think port plugs can be useful but only if you have placement issues or a small room, otherwise just give your speakers room to breathe.
Regards, Bill...

 

[j_garcia]

These are the original F2's with black drivers. I agree garcia that is where Athena made the compromise in the network, cabinet construction seems fairly solid, I decided to swap out the sand cast resistors for Lynk's and not bother with the caps, since just like you said why mod out the crossover with the same drivers.

It could make a difference, but I don't think it will make a HUGE difference that would justify the cost of spending a lot to rebuild a top notch x-over. Plus, if you aren't going to do measurements and see if you can actually improve the design, then again, I wouldn't invest a lot in this.

I'm going to put a rib brace or two along the side walls and I got some no-rez, should I put this where all of the original padding was or should it be at specific locations inside walls? I might put some bracing around driver cutouts and install hurricane nuts to more securely attach drivers to baffle, what do you think? Honestly, why would reducing resonances in a larger speaker be difficult, I'm asking because I really don't know?

The cabinets on the B1s I had were pretty thin and I think bracing would definitely have improved them in the midrange. I have not checked out the F2 cabinets, but I would imagine that a little properly placed bracing would still improve them some in the midrange and lower midbass.

I wish I had some wood working skills, I would go for the AV-3's build from GR, garcia, they really look good. Thanks guys, keep talking..
Jeff

The sound was why I went with these guys. Simply awesome. I have 3 more A/V-2 cabinets that I will eventually get around to building up though I would really like to build some A/V-3s for my 2ch setup.

 

[ahblaza]

It could make a difference, but I don't think it will make a HUGE difference that would justify the cost of spending a lot to rebuild a top notch x-over. Plus, if you aren't going to do measurements and see if you can actually improve the design, then again, I wouldn't invest a lot in this.
I agree with that..


The cabinets on the B1s I had were pretty thin and I think bracing would definitely have improved them in the midrange. I have not checked out the F2 cabinets, but I would imagine that a little properly placed bracing would still improve them some in the midrange and lower midbass.
The cabinets seem fairly rigid, but there is a lot of unbraced wall area inside, is this a price constraint issue or were they designed that way? Can you explain properly placed bracing, I don't want to overdue it, if that's possible.


The sound was why I went with these guys. Simply awesome. I have 3 more A/V-2 cabinets that I will eventually get around to building up though I would really like to build some A/V-3s for my 2ch setup.

What would be the level of difficulty attempting the AV-2's or 3's. I have a friend who is a furniture maker and would do the labor for free. The AV-3's are stuck in my mind, but for now that's where the have to stay. I want to try and improve the Athena's.

The F2's are front ported, I have them out from the walls so they can breathe, I just need to deal with slight boom and some cabinet resonance. I think the no-rez will help a lot, but I'm concerned about the bracing, how much and where? Thanks to all who have and will respond.
Jeff