Customer Reviews

Athena 15391 AS-P4000 400-Watt 10-inch Subwoofer

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I built my own subwoofer in college using a Cerwin-Vega 12" driver. It is massive and requires an amplifier to power it (a passive sub). I've been pretty happy with it for almost 15 years, but I always wondered what a good sub would sound like in comparison. (I'd tried cheaper subs from Sony and Yamaha and they didn't sound as good as mine.) When I saw the Athena AS-P4000 on sale, I had to try it. And let me just say that I should keep my day job. This thing makes my old sub sound like it's not even turned on! And that is with the volume on the new sub turned to 3 (out of 10). It is really amazing. I'm waiting until it's "broken in" to start tweaking levels and calibrating it with the rest of my home theater system, but at this point, I'm thoroughly impressed. I'm also very satisfied with the quality of the materials and the workmanship. It feels very solid and well-built. A fine sub in my book!

I wont waste your time reiterating everything written below but Ill mention some details that were glazed over.

There are MANY MANY MANY types of subs (even HT subs) I have 2 subs in my HT room costing in the multiple thousands, I custom made them myself for my specific application.

I have a ported sub (ported at 24Hz) which is crossover limited to 20-51hz, and a sealed 15 inch sub running 800 RMS watts that takes care of 50-78 hz.

What the above setup renders me is lots of great thunder and explosive bass, but also EXTREMELY tight bass with gunfire and music scenes in movies like Matrix (gunfire) and Ray (music).

Now enter the P4000, I needed a sub for my dads HT room and I picked up one of these. For the price as people have stated it is amazing, I did a frequency sweep and it came down to 25Hz that's an amazing low frequency response to get.

As we went up the frequency I cut it off at 85 hz even at that frequency it was getting too boomy for my taste but for most since your satellites or bookshelves will not play below 80 hz you need something to get up to that range.

So my recommendation is to get a set of bookshelf speakers that will play down to at least 80 hz, and then have this P4000 cover 25-80, don't go above 80 your just losing SQ after that.

For the price though it is amazing.

I always find it interesting when I read reviews of products on Amazon that are so vastly different from one another. It makes it difficult to figure out who's right and who's wrong, or why there is such a difference of opinion on a specific product. I've read all the reviews here and there are more similarities among the reviews than contradictions. So, let me add to the reviews, and as a reader, you can make your own assessment, based on the frequency of user's feedback on these points.

1. The quality of the build of the subwoofer is very, very good. Looks a lot better in real life than in the picture. For instance, the volume knob on the front of the subwoofer "feels" expensive. Nice glide to it, very stable. The finish is good with a lot of attention to detail in the suspension legs, the corner work, the back panel, etc. It's actually attractive!

2. The sound quality is also extremely good. I'm not into the "thump" of a subwoofer for the physical effect only, it has to reproduce low frequencies with a lot of nuance to compliment music. It's a showoff with 5.1 DVD soundtracks, but it's actually the first subwoofer that makes my music sound better. To be fair, I spent a lot of time tweaking all the volume and crossover levels, but I have other subs that are only suited for movie soundtracks. And they cost 2 to 3 times as much.

3. It did take a while to set it up properly with my 5.1 receiver. I had to tweak the LFE level and the sub level on the receiver, and the crossover and volume control of the subwoofer itself. But once set(it took me close to an hour), you have an impressive sound for both movies and music. Incorrect settings can really produce unflattering effects. When I first connected it and turned it on, I was terrified that I had made a bad purchase. An hour later, I was patting myself on the back.

4. Don't let my subject line fool you. You aren't going to be giving up a lot of performance for the price. It's a great buy, with great performance. I have a Polk sub that cost more than double what I paid for this sub, and while good, it isn't ALL that much better than this sub. In addition, this sub sports a very industrial high tech look, which is a plus for folks who care about their room esthetics.

5. If you are interested in buying something that is a "quality" product, but have a self imposed spending limit, this is a very smart buy. You'll get the best of both worlds. You'll get a great performing speaker for a very reasonable (and downright cheap!!!) price.

I am thoroughly impressed with the range and depth of this sub-woofer. I am not a "shake the walls"(even though this subwoofer is fully capable of doing so) kind of guy, but I do like a strong solid base when listening to my music. I played with the settings on my reciever and sub-woofer for the better part of an hour trying to find the sound I liked the most. It blew me away when I finally sat back and relaxed to listen to my music. I have always been apprehensive about buying subwoofers because 95% percent of the reviews I have read have to do with movies and not music. The other 5% usually say that "so and so subwoofer" is good with movies but not music. This is amazing with both. I am very happy with this purchase. You really can't go wrong with the price.

As for a sub-woofer interconnect, you will have to buy it separately because the subwoofer does not come with one. I bought the "Monster Cable THXI100-SW16NF Thx Certified Sub Woofer Interconnect". It is long and decently priced(THX certified to boot).

Note: (Read the Instructions that come with the Sub-woofer) Instructions state that the subwoofer should NOT be plugged into the accessory type AC outlets on the rear of your reciever. Also, there is a break-in period(as with all speakers) that I strongly suggest you adhere to if you want your subwoofer to last longer and produce a consistent quality sound.

This will be the second Athena AS-P4000 subwoofer I've purchased.
I bought the first one after spending the majority of my home theater budget on my center channel speakers (Polk CS2), front channels (Polk Monitor 40), side surrounds (Polk Monitor 30), and rear surrounds (Polk R30). I didn't have a lot of money to spend on subwoofer, but I didn't want to settle for the cheap "tub thumper" subwoofers that are out there. I certainly didn't have the money for a quality SVS or HSU sub. After doing quite a bit of research, and getting input on different audio forums, the name "Athena" kept coming up.
When the Athena As-P4000 went on sale for $149 (shipped !), I decided to give it a try. Am I glad I did ! This subwoofer not only provides large volumes of sound when called upon, it provides QUALITY sound. Deep bass notes are delivered strong and solid. Tonal qualities are very, very satisfying. Different bass notes can be distinguished, not just a a "wall of thump". Powerful ? Definitely so. I can easily rattle pictures on the wall while watching "Jurassic Park III" or "Fast and Furious" on DTS-enabled DVD.
Are there better subwoofers out there ? Yes, SVS and HSU come to mind. But that quality comes at a much, much higher price.
This Athena AS-P4000 definitely holds its own with subwoofers at twice the price.
This little trooper is definitely one that you will not have any regrets over having bought. Guaranteed. The only question you will have will be, "How can they sell a sub this good this cheaply ?". I ask myself that, and I still don't have an answer.
As I mentioned, this is the second AS-P4000 I've bought. The first one was for myself, the second one is for my daughter and son-in-law as a gift. I certainly won't tell them the price I paid, and let them incorrectly think that I spent much, much more; with the quality of this unit, they'll certainly think so.

Once you hear and see this sub you will not believe that it cost less than $200. I have heard and researched subs that cost 2 or 3 times the price of the ASP 4000 and I am not convinced that more money equals better sound. In both movie and music applications this sub sounds absolutely great. The low pass filter, front volume control, high level inputs, etc. Not what you'd expect at this price. Highly recommended sub!

I've had my Athena AS-P4000 for about 2 weeks now. My first impression right out of the box was that this is a VERY good-looking sub. It's not boxy and it's not overly "modern"-looking either. The grey panel on the front is a great touch. The driver and surround both look very sturdy and the spike feet don't seem as cheap or dangerous as I expected. Cosmetically, this is a very good-looking unit.

As far as performance, you won't need much power from the 400W amp to get noticeable low-end. Even though it's a 10", you'll get the kind of sound that you can feel more than hear. I have the volume dial set at about midway between 1 and 2. Anything above 4 would probably be ridiculous...and even a little painful. I did a frequency sweep at normal listening volume for DVD's and I found that the frequency response for this unit is just about as advertised...approx. 25Hz - 120Hz. The output is clean and very strong. As always, the sound quality/quantity coming from this sub is going to depend greatly on the setup. Which leads me to my biggest point...

The number one thing I can say about integrating this sub into your HT system is this: You WILL have to do some tweaking to get it to sound good. At first, I was worried that I had too much sub. But then I messed with a few things and I noticed that I set the volume on the sub WAY too high and I forgot to turn the sub crossover all the way up and utilize my receiver's crossover. The size of the room and whether the sub is on hardwood or carpet will also change the way it sounds. I would recommend allowing at least a week for the sub to "break in" and for doing the necessary tweaks to the rest of your HT setup. When you have everything just right (which I just achieved last night...approx. 1.5 weeks after I first set the sub up), this unit will give you everything you're looking for at a very nice price.

Oh yes this subwoofer is gooooood. The guy who wrote that he only had it on 3 and it scared his wife was not kidding. I have it hooked up to my A/V receiver and when a tv show was on with good bass I told my daughter to put her hand at the front port to feel the air. Well the beat changed and my daughter said it pushed her hand away. It has an easy to hook up low level line ( I used a Monster THX sub woofer wire) and since it is down firing you can place it anywhere.

I got this sub to handle the low end for a stereo pair of bookshelf speakers from SVS (the very good SBS-01). I'm using the speakers in my office, so it's not a critical listening environment; I just wanted decent sound. Still, I'm very impressed with the Athena sub. Even though it's only got a 10" speaker, it delivers an amazing amount of clean, deep bass. The built-in amplifier is very powerful; I'm using the sub on a hard wooden parquet floor, and I only have the amp's volume control turned up to around 2 (out of 10). That hard floor can also make the bass a bit overpowering on occasion. I'm going to try putting a bit of carpet under the sub and seeing how that affects the sound.

At the time I bought the sub, Amazon carried it themselves and offered an excellent price, considerably lower than list. At the price I bought it, I would certainly purchase it again. At list price, I would shop harder and look at some of the alternatives, though you may still end up with the Athena.

this sub is the real deal... especially for the price. it produces a clean, solid and tight sound. i looked high and low for a sub that would compliment my home theater system, and this has surpassed my expectations. it also sounds great while playing music.