GOODSOUND!GoodSound! "Equipment" Archives

Published January 1, 2003

 

2002 Product of the Year: Athena Technologies S.5 Loudspeakers and P.5 Subwoofer

The competition in the affordably priced speaker market is fierce, with companies constantly pushing the performance envelope further and further. The result is higher value and better products for the consumer.

And nowhere are these things more apparent than with the products of relative newcomer Athena Technologies, a division of Canada’s Audio Products International. Led by designer Gord Van Kessel, Athena has producing the "best-built, best-sounding product, and, dollar for dollar, the best speaker value available today" as its goal. Just a few years ago, the company made its debut with the System Creation Technology (SCT) lineup of speakers that allowed mixing and matching of various satellites and subwoofers for optimal performance. The S2/P2 combination offered such high value that it was named a SoundStage! Network Reviewers’ Choice and subsequently took home the end-of-the-year SoundStage! Network award for Exceptional Value. Next came the lower-priced Audition series, beginning with the $180-per-pair AS-B1. The AS-B1s offered such a high level of performance, comparing favorably to speakers double its price and higher, that again Athena Technologies was honored in SoundStage! with a Reviewers’ Choice nod.

Now there is the Point 5 series. The new Athena Technologies S.5/P.5 speaker system offers superb nearly full-range sound along with modern styling and the supreme placement flexibility that a separate sub/sat system allows. In fact, the S.5/P.5 offers so much that our staff is hard-pressed to ask for anything more -- amazing for any audio product, let alone one as affordably priced as this system. Factor in a list price of under $500 with the potential to expand the system into a full multichannel setup (C.5 center-channel and additional pair of S.5s used as surrounds) and you have something that is GoodSound!’s Product of the Year for 2002.


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