Garage sale find: Can someone identify these Athena Technologies speakers?

[LeeH]

Break out the hand-cuffs. I ALMOST felt guilty as I loaded up a pair of Athena speakers AND a Velodyne HGS12B6 subwoofer from a garage sale both for $185. The sub alone sells for around $300 on Ebay.

I've had no luck finding out any information about these speakers. No, the model number does not apear on them. There is a number, but I think it's more of a part number as the top half and bottom half each have a different number. The bottom section is actually a powered subwoofer. These things absolutely rock like no other speaker I've ever owned. The seller said he paid $1400 for them several years ago.

Any help with the model number of the speakers would be appreciated.

[imcarthur]

Athena S3 (?) with one of their matching S sub bases. SCT system (?). Probably Chinese-made around 2000. Athena was one of API (Audio Products International - also Energy & Mirage) brands, which at the time was owned by Howard Hebert who became the biggest box builder in Canada in the 80s & 90s. He sold to Klipsch in 2006 - which in hindsight was a spectacular move for him & great timing.

There are some old reviews on their site: Reviews

Ian

[LeeH]

Thanks! You nailed it... S3 speakers with P3 sub. $1800 new (?). Made in Canada. Now if I can only figure out where to put the darn things.

[Dave L]

I am willing to "store" them if space is an issue.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by Dave L

I am willing to "store" them if space is an issue.

Thanks for the kind offer, but I think I've figured out how I'm going to rearrange things so they can stay. The only down side is that they'll be way too close together. It's a bit of a waste, but they're really going to be used more like bookshelf speakers in my office.

I'd prefer to use these as mains on a home theater system, but I've yet to be able to convince my wife that we need to have our built in entertainment center remodeled so we can accommodate something larger than a 42" TV and some properly placed speakers. Personally, I'd just have the fireplace covered up, but she's not going for it.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Athena S3 (?) with one of their matching S sub bases. SCT system (?). Probably Chinese-made around 2000.

$1800 for a pair of chinese made speakers?

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

$1800 for a pair of chinese made speakers?

? They're made in Canada.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

$1800 for a pair of chinese made speakers?

fwiw the vast majority of drivers are made in China & many companies have complete assembly done there. B&W, Definitive Tech etc etc all use Chinese suppliers for anything under $2K or so . . . Very few companies are left that still use non-Chinese parts for 'cheaper' products. That's why they are cheap. To get around the China badge, they might do light assembly in non-Chinese plants - bolt drivers in etc.

Ian

[m21sniper]

So what does a good set of German, Japanese or US made speakers cost? 20k?

[imcarthur]

Our cheapest speaker - European-made & designed including drivers & xover - sells for $495/pr.

And we are not alone but we are certainly one of the few.

Ian

[charlesbahn]

I found a matched pair of these, still have the original labels- took them before they were torn out and thrown in the dumpster. Didn't know if they would work our not so hooked them up. Holy Moly, the sound through them is incredible. Seems to me that some speaker technology has gone backwards.