OK....I've concluded that the factory outlet route is sadistic....it leaves you to second-guess your decision to oblivion. Yes, I'm at it again. This time, it's another set of Athenas.
I was blissfully comfortable with my decision to avoide the Athena AS-B2s and stick w/ my M22 decision. Then, I see on AVS Forum that the AS-F2s are on sale for $199 (originally $299). Now, I've got that voice inside my head saying that I could get a pair of those for a bit more than the M22s. I may sacrifice the clarity, but I'll get that big full floor-standing sound.
So, today during lunch, I ran over to Best Buy to give these things a listen. I was actually able to convince the better half to come an listen with me. She may not enjoy it very much, but she's actually pretty particular about the sound when you can get her there. The good news is that we both found the mid-range to be lacking on these things, which was suprising. We actually hopped from room to room to compare all of the different large floor-standers. We both agreed that the best sounding pair was the "special order" JBLs.
So, it looks like I avoided another bout with that little voice. The only interesting thing is that I am now beginning to get some concern that the wife is actually going to be disappointed w/ the M22s. She really likes that full/large sound.....she balked at all iterations of the bookshelves that BB had to offer. Me thinks that this may be an opportunity to discuss further and perhaps upgrade order to M60s.
