Athena Technologies has unveiled its WS Series of slim-line speakers. The company claims these tall, narrow speakers are an ideal choice for the audiophile seeking a plasma or LCD TV accompaniment.
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The WS Series also claims to have overcome the problems of accurate sound reproduction, which are usually present in narrow speaker enclosures. Athena says design features such as a standing wave filter, weighted cones that ‘tune’ the enclosure, similar to a tuned port design without the wind noise that is a necessary bi-product of bass-reflex designs, active low-frequency drivers and passive radiators extend the speakers’ bass response.
The floorstanding WS-100 speakers ($1199) feature a 1-inch Teteron tweeter for the highs and three 3.5-inch woofers, and five 3.5-inch passive radiators to extend bass to below 50Hz, Athena said. The WS-100 also features a polycarbonate base. The similarly designed WS-60 ($399) features multiple active and passive woofers together with a Teteron tweeter. It has wall-mounting options and comes with an attached round tabletop base for use on any flat surface. The WS-15 speakers ($399) feature a 2-way design that Athena says can be used for any channel of your home theatre system. It can also be used together with the WS-100 and WS-60.
Both subwoofers (AS-P4000 $599 and AS-P600 $799) feature a dual down-firing design which Athena claims delivers a flat room response, regardless of the flooring material, and also allows the subwoofer to be placed closer to the walls without any noticeable impact on the acoustics.
The speakers are covered by a five-year parts and labour warranty, while the subwoofers are covered by a 12 month warranty on electronics and five years on the drivers.