Athena

Athena Technologies was originally founded as part of Audio Products International Corp. (API), established in 1973 in Toronto, Canada by Howard Heiber. In the late 1990s, API created the Athena Technologies brand specifically for Best Buy, becoming one of their largest orders with distribution to over 500 stores. The brand was known for producing affordable, high-quality speakers including the flagship AS-F2 floorstanding speakers and popular Audition series. API was acquired by Klipsch in 2006, and the original Athena Technologies brand was discontinued. However, the Athena name lives on through Arion Audio, established in 2004 by Mike Kalellis in Charlotte, North Carolina. Arion Audio's flagship Athena loudspeaker system represents a completely different company - a boutique high-end manufacturer featuring two-way open baffle active systems with six proprietary AMT drivers and two 10-inch dynamic drivers. This represents brand name reuse in the audio industry, where defunct brand names are adopted by new companies for different product categories.