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Goddess of bass
Athena's top system
by Michael Jones
February 2002
Some
readers may be under the impression that choosing items for review in
this august publication is a highly scientific process, involving complex
calculations and brownie points.
In fact, that could not be further from the truth. The reality of choosing products often has more to do with a realisation that certain brands have been ignored for far too long.
So it was with Athena. Since reviewing their S1/P1 combination in March 2001, I've always meant to try a bigger set. Finally I've got around to it.
Glyn Tucker, the importer of Athena, pointed out something that seemed obvious after speaking to him, but which I hadn't previously considered. You see, the Athena range comprises both satellite speakers and subwoofers, which cleverly "lock" in together physically and electrically.
I've always thought of them as sets of satellites and their subs and every review I've seen of the Athena range has viewed them as a pair . But Glyn pointed out that it was really easy to use two satellites with one subwoofer. So, in the interests of doing something different, I used a pair of S3s combined with one P3 subwoofer
The
P3 subwoofer runs active, which means that their is an amplifier built-in.
The amp inside the P3 is rated at 150 watts, which power a 250mm (10 inch)
down-firing woofer. The system is loaded via a port in the front of the
speaker.
Also on the front of the P3 are a number of controls. These are part of Athena's "System Creation Technology" which basically means that there are presets on the P3 for using with the S2 and S3 satellites. Plus controls for tuning the P3 crossover to match speakers other than the Athena S2 and S3.
The S3 is a satellite speaker that can be used on its own, or combined with an Athena P2 or P3 subwoofer. The bottom of the S3 contains a couple of rails which slide into similar rails on the subwoofers, making for both a physical and electrical connection.
The S3 is a three-way speaker, comprising a 25mm dome tweeter, a 140mm midrange and a 200mm woofer. The crossover point between the mid and tweeter is a low 2kHz. Athena rate the S3 as having a "room efficiency" of 95dB, which would equate to around 92dB seen in most sensitivity specifications. This is still a high sensitivity rating, meaning that the S3 will go louder than many other speaker with the same power.
The performance was large-scale. Music came across with
a size and scale that you simply don't get with small speakers on their
own.
A powerful and controlled bass from the active subwoofer laid the right
foundations for the music. The midrange could seem a little "covered"
at times, without the clarity from some othe speakers, but overall the
performace was good.
Glyn also set me up with a home theatre system package, adding a pair of the smaller S1 speakers for the rears and a C1 for the centre, all run from my Denon AVR-2801 AV receiver.
This combination worked really well. The opening scene of the movie X-Men has lots and lots of rain, correctly forecasting New Zealand's summer. With the Athena system, the rain was convincingly all around us, metaphorically soaking us in the ambience of the scene.
While most home theatre demos seem to consist of loads of bass and bullets whizzing past your ears, the type of demonstration shown with the X-Men is far more important. A lot of work in producing sound for movies is to put you, the viewer/listener, in a convincing ambience to make the movie more real.
But we must have some bass, and what better demonstration than the opening of Toy Story 2. I've mentioned the power of the bass in this scene before, but the Athena subwoofer handled it with ease, pumping out huge amounts of bass, rattling the room without rattling the subwoofer.
After the bass opening comes the rest of the Buzz Lightyear game. The Athena home theatre system made an excellent job of the panning sound in this scene.
It was Athena's Glyn Tucker who introduced me to the Steely Dan Two Against Nature live DVD, so it was appropriate that we dragged it out and played many tracks. Babylon Sisters sounded great, with wonderfully sounding horns and excellent kick drum with plenty of power.
The Athena package offers a lot of speaker for the money, with flexibility and bass response to the fore. Well worth auditioning.
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