anyone heard a Rogue Athena?

John - Cool, how does your Atlas sound like that? Pretty good, I'm betting.

Ehaller - I haven't looked inside my Athena, so I don't know if it has dampers on the tubes.

Thanks for that awesome response! Totally agree re: dearth of reviews of certain Rogue components.

I have heard quite a bit about how well some Rogue stuff responds to tube rolling. At some point I'll check that out for my M180s.

Cheers!

I went to listen to the Athena over the weekend, and compared it with a VTL TL 5.5 (both connected to the same equipment in the same room - Rogue monoblocks into Spendor speakers - A5s I think - with a PS Audio CDP as source). In this setup, I found the Athena presented a clearer, more precise sound - a bit more sparkle if you will, while the VTL sounded relatively dark and softer (actually a bit mushy to my ears).

Note I'm not badmouthing the VTL, just describing what I heard on a relative basis, for those who may be doing similar research.

Hi Keith - I auditioned the Athena in NY. I've been living with it for about a month now, and it's excellent. No complaints at all.

What did you replace your Zeus with, John?

Hey gang - resurrecting this old thread, as a quick update.

I replaced the stock EH 6H30P tubes in my Athena with 6H30P-DRs (purchased from an on-line dealer). When I opened up the preamp, there were no dampers on the tubes as the unit came from Rogue.

The DR's are interesting - the most obvious difference in my system is tighter and more present bass, and they're a little brighter (not what I was expecting actually) - overall very clear and discerning. I haven't listened to any analog through them yet, but with digital sources they sound nice - more pinpointed than the EH's.

For now, I'll say they sound great - but they're certainly not cheap. Hopefully they'll last a good long time.