Athena AS-R1.2 Audition Series Bi-Pole Rear Speaker, Black Ash (Single)
By: Athena Average Rating: 5.0 Total Reviews: 3
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 On: 2008-03-11
I went from Bose cubes for side surrounds to these Athena Bipole speakers. All I can say is wow what a major improvement. I would recommend these to anyone looking for smaller side surround speakers. They intergrated nicely with my Infinity Beta LCRs.
On: 2007-05-12
These were excellently reviewed on all the sites we checked before buying and we are very pleased after receiving and installing them in our home theater. Highly recommended for a mid price speaker.
On: 2006-08-20
I have been upgrading my surround sound system over the the last few months. I had read some very positive comments about Athenas Audition Series line of speakers. Since there werent any local B&M stores where I could review them in person, I was somewhat skeptical at first. I decided to initially order only the B1.2 (small bookshelf speaker pair) and the C1.2 (center channel speaker). These speakers replaced the front left, center, and right speakers of my Onkyo HT-S780 HTIB.
I quickly began to agree with the reviews that I had been reading. First of all, these speakers look great and seem to be well constructed. Most importantly, they sound great also. Where the Onkyo speakers needed the receivers internal equalization circuitry turned on and some additional tweaking of the tonal controls in order for them to be tolerable to listen to, The Athenas sounded clear and accurate without the equalization circuitry or tone control tweaking. Also these speakers can be played really loud, if needed, whereas the Onkyos couldnt.
As a side note, I should add that the manufacturer recommends a "break-in period" of 50-100 hours in order to reach their full capabilities. Some people have noted that these speakers sound somewhat "bright" initially, but get smoother after the "break-in period".
Since the AS-B1.2 and AS-C1.2 speakers had made such a dramatic improvement in the "front soundstage", I turned my attention to the rear surrnound speakers. My main complaint with the Onkyo rear surround speakers, aside from their lackluster sound quality, was the fact that I could tell exactly where the sound was coming from. The sounds from the rear surround channels is primarily supposed to "surround" you in a seamless manner. I decided to give the AS-R1.2 a try since they are of the "bi-polar" design which theoretically spreads out the sound field.
I initially ordered a pair of AS-R1.2s to replace the side surround speakers, just to see if I liked them. I did! The sound from the AS-R1.2s was clean and accurate. Most importantly the sound from the speakers was more evenly spread out along the side walls. The design and construction of the speakers was great also. These speakers are designed to attach to the wall with two screws placed horizontally. Just below the screw lugs is an adjustment screw with a rubber pad that contacts the wall. This screw allows for easy leveling, front to back, of the speaker when mounted to the wall.
These speakers, as well as all of the speakers in the Athena Audition Series line, have the gold plated five way binding posts. This is currently the favored method of attaching speaker wires. Also, these speakers use rubber surrounds for suspending the speaker cones rather than the cheaper and more common foam surrounds. The rubber surrounds are reported to greatly outlast the foam surrounds since the foam will tend to rot and fall apart in 10-15 years (I am retiring 2 pairs of high end floorstanding speakers because of this foam rot issue). Another plus and probably the most important, is the fact that all speakers in this series use the same tweeter design to maintain an even tonal quality throughout the sound system.
Since my Onkyo HT-S780 is a 7.1 channel system, I ordered an additional pair of AS-R1.2s for the back surround channels. Their impact on the overall sound of the surround system wasnt as noticable since they are almost directly behind me (harder to tell where the sound is coming from). The AS-B1.2s would probably have been just as suitable soundwise, but I do like the fact that all of my surround speakers match one another.
Overall, I can say that I am completely satisfied with the AS-R1.2s as well as the rest of the sound system.
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