For best results follow dunlavy's directions and set them up on the long wall, close to the back wall , approx 10-12 ft between speakers and leave at least 3-4 ft between the speaker and the side wall. Ten feet to the listener. Putting them on the short wall with less seperation kills the soundstage..they still sound good just not nearly as open. I use them with VTL amps and Pre and heard them with ARC VT100 and a Pass labs 60 watter (don't remember the model). Some folks like solid state with them, i like the tubes (but probably not a CJ rig). They are a very open and airy sounding speaker, almost electrostatic like but smoother in the high end. Compared to some speakers such as aerials 10-Ts they may be a little tipped up in the high end depending on what you use for cables and what your room is like but they never get harsh or fatguing. Violin sections in large symphonic works are not as silky as the real deal but my cables probably play a part in this (HT pro-silway) Some folks say the bass is heavy but in my system that is not the case, if anything they can be a bit week in the bass. A lot of that may be a power/amp thing though because late night sessions with ambient type music using lots of drums and traditional instruments packs a well defined tight bass. Compared to most other speakers i listened to they are very well balanced. Soundstage recreation is outstanding but don't expect much extension to the outside of the speakers. (I did hear a few things on a late night session that led me to think that the right room treatment may help expand the soundstage beyond the speakers but i don't have time to persue it) the speaker is neutral to maybe a little forward in presentation. When i first set mine up they seemed to lean more towards the forward side but new power cords for the CDP and preamp, and a bunch of setup tweaking removed that tendency to a large degree. My main complaints may be related more to recording production than the speakers but they tend to spread out pianos further than reality should allow. Most instrument images are well placed and very stable but pianos tend to appear about 25 ft wide at times. Vocals can be a bit forward as well depending on the recording. I have spent years listening to lots of live music and working on and off in bar bands (rock to blues) and the athenas can capture the essence of a live show. I went looking for a speaker with a well balanced and very open presentation and the athenas won. For comparison i also auditioned Revel F-30, Aerial 10-t, and 7-B, B&W 801n, Hales rev 3 i believe) , Vandersteen 3A, magnaplaner (don't remember the model), Dunlavy 3 sig. I also listened to Revel salons and eggleston andreas (? the top of line eggelstons). For the money the choice was easy considering my goals in a speaker...athenas. There was a pair of cherry demos on this site for a good price. Audio-video logic are great guys to deal with with good prices as well. good luck
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