Athena As B1/b2 and Yamaha NS-333/555 audition

XP doesnt use 3dss so I put this here and for fellow sharky members, here is my impressions on the Speakers i auditioned

Went back to BB today, to try them Athena, no waiting in line this time.

My impressions of the 2 speakers:

Music
Rock ..some famous songs dont know names
Evanescence is one.
Its concluded to me that better speakers dont make this group sound any better, The cd must have compressed dynamics and FR. The change here is some subtlety and mainly energy.
Classical -violins are upfront on this song


Athena as b1-180 pair us dollars

More laid back than the Yamaha
natural
had many details to be heard, but different ones than yamaha emphasized..more subtle
less mids than yammie, but not really recessed.
Athena As B2
280 bucks a pair
sounds like the bookshelf, but More immersive, larger sound. Warmer, but not TOO warm.
For some reason, hearing the bookshelf +sub was more to my liking slightly over the Floorstanders of both yammie and athena, but A sub +Floorstanders would be King!

Yamaha NS-333-140 pair
Very good build. Heavy and Piano gloss finish. Elegant looks and nice coating on drivers.
Energetic, no question about it.
lively
Natural, but adds more energy to classical parts such as violin, made it seem like i was in the room. LIVE sounding.
More mids than Athena, possibly a +5 db at the nasal range of 500K, but VERY flat sound, this sounds flatter
Ns-555 Floor stander-forgot price
Sounds deeper, it seemed to have slightly less mids, but I didnt spend enough time to say that, I should of stood furhter back since they were so low on the ground..so my thoughts are invalid til I go back and try them one more time...Warmth is what was i heard
For this Line:If you say Klipsch Copy for cheap, this is probably it. The color is black glossy piano finish, looks like a baby piano, with larger ultra-ish silver drivers and horns.


For 40 more dollars, i could have Athena as-b1 if I preferred a slightly less projecting sound and different details. I say different cause i heard different detail emphasis on ns-333 that I liked but was not as apparent in the Athena, the athena had some really good acoustic guitars, like the FEELING of string plucking. The best of all the 4 was the Athena floorstander, cause it sounded like the bookshelf (signature was the same) but BIGGER/immersive in power-deeper bass.

Overall, I preferred the Yamaha NS-333 bookshelf due to having such Full mids, it sounded 100% like a full guitar stack cabinet, it had very detailed highs esp on cymbals and only got knocked up by slightly nasal mids on Amy Lees Evanescence voice. I could tone down 500K by 5 db and it would be perfect or it could of been the crappy environment (But it was quiet then) But then I could be wrong, this is what I think :flat: should sound like.
Highs were more forward like Klipsch but not harsh, this would be so cool for Lord of the Rings.

I am guess the athena had colored bass due to the fact I didnt get to change the mode on the Yamaha receiver that was LOCKED behind the glass. In my first audition of yamaha speakers the other day, I was able to make it stereo at flat. The Athena was on the same receiver, but it said Enhanced mode or something..The mids could be a bit better if that was off,..maybe.
For 140 i would be VERY happy with ns333 as it had some of the best sound to my ears, that was very loud and powerful. It had more immediate power than the athena and hit you hard without making you feel congested. The soundstage was nice on the classical piece and also gave a lot of life to it!! Electric guitars could not be much better in my experience as a former guitar player with a decent setup.

Dont think that I feel that these are the best speakers i have ever heard..I just feel that the price-performance of Yamaha makes me grin every time! esp since the htr 5630 is at 110 open box buy. And the speakers were low cost, very high quality construction.

The best i heard is Tannoy so far.

The thing I feel good about is that the Yamaha ns333 would make more than perfect front sat to bookshelf replacements for the Ultras. The signature is the same, but more mids and bass, with even clearer highs. The price is right and I might get em..Unless you know of some good monitors on ebay around 200

Further conclusion: I want to reaudition athena bookshelves and the NS 555 floorstander. I feel the athena was very detailed and possibly very flat, accurate, uncolored sounding.
I liked both speakers and would have to try it again :)

Good luck on your choice XP, I feel you would like the speakers I auditioned.