I was really surprised trying these speaker looking to flip them, but with some good amplification they can really shine, by the time I had Bowers&Wilkins DM7 MK II and tested the LS500B with an Adcom GFA 555/GTP 400 set and a NAD 1020 hooked up with two Behringer A500 run as monoblock and the really amazed me, they are voiced a bit foward, the tweeter is definitely on the bright side but not overly fatiguing and are definitely more foward then the British B&W DM7 MK II and goes a bit deeper too, whitout being boomy and being Canadian these are really easy to find for sub 200$ range whitch for te price is a bargain in my opinion since I had mine for 100$. On the construction side, they are decent sized magnet and they put good attention on bracing the inside of the cabinet for rigidity and was well dampened whit plenty of wool. And as mentioned on the tread the sound stage is really open and whit good definition when it comes to placement of the instrument that are playing On that note keep enjoying your music on whatever system you have as long and you enjoy it it’s what matter in the end

They have a foward voicing witch you may like or not but is definitely more a question of taste and speaker design then anything else.

What can I say, I've owned over 70 sets of speakers from cheap to Large Quadral Phonologue Koruns. These speakers are the type that should'nt be this good for their pricepoint..
There only 15.5kg in a semi attractive design, but man..with a decent amplifier or even High end av reciever these can give you goose bumps! I've ran a Denon 3805 with good results, Nad C 370, Kenwood M2a Basic amp with c2 Basic preamp to another level.
Currently own a variety of 12 different sets and these are my go to reference speakers.
Im also not the only one who backs this feeling as another close friend who owns a set of Sonos Faber Luito's in the floor standing variety has nothing but praise for them.
Very large sounding speaker, sweet imaging along with detailed low bass and a very clear midrange and a spritely tweet that adds to whatever your listening to, music or movie.
I've read Klipsh and Api bought these guys out so that might say something for their design.

I picked up a 5 speaker set of the Athena LS series (LS-500B, LS-C100B, LS-100B) for a great price and was not expecting to be blown away. I have been buying and selling audio for 10+ years so no surprises were expected. My main system consists of Mirage M3's and 5si's powered through a Parasound Halo C2 preamp, NAD 2700 and Adcom GFA 5400 power amps.

The first minute of playing a Marantz test demo CD made me an instant fan of these amazing value speakers. The lows were really low and the highs were crystal clear.

I've had almost every Athena product pass through my living room over the years (Point 5 to SCT). I considered AS-F2's to be the best price to performance speaker made until I heard the LS-500B. It was superior in every way to the F2 from imaging to bass response. Putting the 500's through the paces of bass heavy Hip-Hop to very detailed Jamiroquai showed no weakness whatsoever for a 2-way speaker of this type.

The closest sounding speaker I've owned is the Energy C-500's which don't sound quite as good and might be due to the curved cabinets that minimize standing waves.

Buy and keep these speakers they are an incredible value. If you are stuck on your Audition series it's time for the upgrade and you won't look back. They are a truly satisfying music and movie speaker that won't leave your pockets empty. I was weary of the made in China Athena products but times have changed.

As I sit listening and writing this review I still can't understand how these speakers were only 700-800$ at stores.

I've owned these speakers for a little over a year now and am quite surprised that they have not been reviewed here or in any of the major audio magazines yet. Expecially considering the very positive reviews of Athena's AS-F2 and AS-F2.2s, both here and in the magazines.

After having enjoyed Magnepan sMGa speakers for fifteen years, driven by my venerable Adcom GFA-535, a move to a new house with a smaller listening room had me searching for a more conventional loudspeakers. The Maggies just weren't suited for the smaller space. I considered and listened to many offerings from Energy, PSB, Polk and Infinity. After reading the review by Robert J. Reina in Vol.25 No.8 August, 2002 of Stereophile of the AS-F2s , I tried locating a dealer near me to auditon them but could not find any. When Audio Advisor dropped the price of the LS-500s to 300.00 to clear them out, I thought what the hell. They are supposed to be Athena's flagship speakers and Athena claims signficant improvements over the AS-F2s, so for the first time ever for me, I ordered sight unseen and unlistened to speakers. After all, I could always return them.

Now Athena recommends a 100 hour break in for the LS-500s to reach their full potential before critically placing them, but right out of the box I very impressed. I wasn't sure what to expect after listening to a very fine pair of Magnepans for years, but it was immediately clear that these speakers were going to excell in the areas the little Maggies fell short. Mainly in bass response and upper octive extension. I had been afraid I would be sacrificing imaging going to conventional speakers, but I was surprised to find that the LS-500s bettered the Maggies here too. The sound stage was precise, wide and deep.

After a little more than a year, the Athenas are fully broken in and I've upgraded to an Adcom GFA-5500 amp. Before the amp upgrade however, the Athenas performed beautifully through the little GFA-535. Bass extension went lower and was better defined. I suspected though that the speakers were up to better components and was I right. The GFA-5500 takes hold of these speakers and leaves you wondering how in the world Athena can make this fine of a speaker at this price. I only paid 300.00 for them, but they are worth every penny of their 700.00 msrp. Upper octives are silky smooth and detailed. The midrange is accurate and equally detailed and the bass.....oh my. As Robert J. Reina said of the AS-F2s, bass response just keeps going and going lower, with unbelievable accuracy and detail for speakers of this price point. Think 2000.00 when imagining the bass produced by these speakers and in every other way for that matter.

As I sit here listening to John Scofield and Pat Metheny on "I Can See Your House From Here", I here cymbals that sound like cymbals, drums that sound like drums, well fleshed out guitar sound that does not fatigue, powerful detailed bass and a soundstage that is so wide and detailed you think there must be some phase trickery going on here. Now some of this is being provided by the powerful Adcom amp but the speakers are able to reproduce it all.

These speakers make me wonder what Magnepan is talking about when they say that large instruments like piano can only be faithfull reprodced in size by large panel speakers. On Joe Sample's discs "Ashes to Ashes and The Pecan Tree" the piano sounds like the big grand it is and anchored to the floor.

Disc after disc I continue to be surpised and amazed by these speakers. Conventional wisdom says to spend the lion's share of your hard earned cash on speakers, then components. I think you can reverse that philosophy with these speakers, because they will faithfully reveal the strengths or weaknesses of what's in front of them. I highly recommend these speakers.