I don't think there's anything wrong with them. They just unfortunately been considered the poorer brother of the Chorus line and was the model line that received "hand me down" designs from the top models, so basically, you were getting older, carry over designs from Campy when you bought the gruppo. No really a good marketing strategy fron Campy, when component technology was progressing in leaps and bounds, led by their main competitor, Shimano). Although, some of the handed down stuff was excellent, most notably, the monoplanar brake calipers that started life in Chorus brakesets.
The finish on the chorus coponents were alos not too impressive and does not have the nice deep, silky, satin finish the top line models have, just a clear anodized finish on bright silver aluminum. So it's all just superficial, the Athena gruppo worked very well otherwise. being mostly already tested designs.