Finally had some time over the last two weekends to give a good hard listen to this center. I recently got Odyssey Lorelei mains and had also picked up a Nemesis from Klaus for a center. The nemesis is good, but it's not up to the level of the Lorelei's IMO. So, the search continued. I've already posted a bunch of pictures and an initial impression here -
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=10276 - Yes, it's more than I would normally have spent for a center, but whoa damn, what a center. Last weekend I was up until 4AM just watching and listening. The 616 nearly equals what the Lorelei's bring for home theater. Dialog is clear and natural, the tweeter placement on it works perfectly for me and gets the tweeters aligned as closely as possible in my setup. It's a big, beautiful heavy sucker too. Fit and finish is impressive at a minimum.
I recalibrated the HT again today and this time took note of the tonal differences in the full range pink noise between it and the mains. I've got them all set to large, sub crosses over at 80hz. The place the Lorelei's really outshine the 616 is when it comes to bass. I don't know if the 616 just needs a little more break in or what, the drivers are pretty much the same size and based on the Scan Speaks that are in the Lorelei's but with Kevlar instead of cabon doped paper. To be fair the 616 is about 1/3 or less the internal volume. Don't get me wrong, it's no slouch when it comes to bass, any speaker would have trouble keeping up with the Lorelei's! Anyway, tonally, it's right on other than the bass. I've got it set 2db lower than the mains to produce my reference volume.
I'm very happy with this center from every perspective. Looks great, sounds better, integrates perfectly. Finally the search is over. If you have Loreleis, ProAc, Sonus Faber, Usher, anything that uses scan speaks you really have to take a listen to this center. Stan was great to work with, it arrived very quickly and in perfect condition. Very highly recommended!
