[byteme]

OK, I was finally able to get hold of the 616 center channel.  Fit and finish is fantastic, much better than I expected, down to the Usher inscribed brass plugs on the wood end caps!  The thing weighs almost 50lbs!    It is big, but works out perfectly in my room, as you can see.  I haven't done a critical listen yet, but from very brief initial listens it sounds to be an excellent match for the OUTSTANDING Odyssey Lorelei!  I'm running the 616 and the Lorelei on Large, this weekend I'll give the 616 a run through the lobby scene and a couple other Matrix tracks to see how it holds up.


Full frontal assult...


3/4 view


Full Front view


Full top view


Connectors

[byteme]

Here are the rest...


Side panel detail


Kevlar woofer


Tweeter


Top view of the tweeter housing


Comparison of the 616 and the Nemesis

The match of the wood with the light cherry Lorelei and the 616 is quite good, the 616 is a touch darker shade but not so dark to be VERY noticeable, the grain with the birch and the cherry is VERY similar.

[vpolineni]

Brian, out of curiousity, how much did that cost?

[byteme]

Brian, out of curiousity, how much did that cost?

I got it directly from Stan, the US distributor, retail is $880 delivered, talk to your local dealer or Stan about pricing discounts.  It is more than I would normally have spent on a center, however, the Lorelei are soooooo good for two channel and not surprisingly also took my HT to another level that I very much wanted something for a center that would not only match tonally the Lorelei but also be able to keep up with them.  I'm rather excited to break out a couple disks and see just what this thing is capable of.  

Stan told me he uses the 616 with the big Usher Horn main speakers and it has no problem keeping up with them!

[Smeggy]

Loverly lookng piece of work there   I often wish I was absolutely loaded so I could just buy all these gorgeous toys (heh, don't we all) great design.  

[byteme]

Loverly lookng piece of work there   I often wish I was absolutely loaded so I could just buy all these gorgeous toys (heh, don't we all) great design.  

 I hear you!  It's taken over 4 years of saving, buying, selling and trading to get where the system is today.  Piece by piece I've gotten to the point where I'm very happy with my system!

[Jon L]

Loverly lookng piece of work there   I often wish I was absolutely loaded so I could just buy all these gorgeous toys (heh, don't we all) great design.  

 I hear you!  It's taken over 4 years of saving, buying, selling and trading to get where the system is today.  Piece by piece I've gotten to the point where I'm very happy with my system!

I might be in the market for a center speaker.  How do the various centers compare?  

BTW, which center channel stand is that and how much?  I have Sony GWIII, and there's no room on top or on the TV stand, so I have to go floor-standing...

[byteme]

Jon,

Sorry, but I don't recall where I found that center stand.  I know for sure it was on line someplace, which isn't much of a help.  I searched back through my records and just don't have anything, sorry.

Thus far the 616 is a terrific match for the Lorelei's.  It's beefy enough to handle being placed on large and really brings it!

[Captain Humble]

byteme,
I was ready to pull the trigger until I noteced that your Usher appears to be either bi-wired or bi-amped.  I can't be sure from the picture.

Please explain the setup if you don't mind.  Since I only have a Dennon 3802 and a Dual mono that drives my mains our setups look like they will be significantly different.

Any idea how the Usher will fair with the Lors if I simply drive it from the center speaker out on the 3802?

I really don't want to buy an additional amp.

Thanks,
Jeff

[vpolineni]

Jeff,
  would this work for your setup?

Signal Cable Ultra Shotgun Bi-wire.... not too expensive at 129 dollars either.

[byteme]

Jeff,

It is bi-wire / bi-ampable, however, comes with jumpers, the solid kind that run between both connectors.  You should be just fine using either the cable shown above, the jumpers or some other jumpers - I've had Klaus put together a pair for me he made from Groneberg quattro cable.  The Denon should be fine for powering the center, from what I remember the 3802 is only powering the center and the two rears correct?  That should make a little easier load on it since you've got the dual mono for the mains.

Brian.

[Captain Humble]

Quote vpolineni:would this work for your setup?

Thanks for taking the time to offer this solution.  I'm sure it would work but I need help understanding what bi-wiring a speaker brings to the table.

I'm not a techy but as I understand it, in bi-wire mode one is simply splitting the signal from a single amp to two sets of speaker ports.  Since only one amp is driving the speaker this mode dosen't lighten the amp load so I don't understand what one gains in this mode vs. just using my single groneburg cable and plugging in to one set of ports and jumping to the other set.

I want to be clear, I'm not saying that bi-wiring isn't superior to a single speaker cable.  I know that many people spend extra money on cable to employ this technique and therefore must feel that it is a superior way to drive a speaker.  I'm just saying I've never understood it.  If someone could help me understand how bi-wiring is a superior solution I would invest in it.

Quote byteme:I've had Klaus put together a pair for me he made from Groneberg quattro cable.

What did Klaus put together for you? Are you bi-wiring or bi-amping?  Does the cable look like the one vpolineni shows above or are you using two amps?

Quote byteme:The Denon should be fine for powering the center, from what I remember the 3802 is only powering the center and the two rears correct?

Correct.  3802 powering two surrounds and the center.  The Dual Mono powers the Loreleis.

Thanks guys.  Sorry to be such a pain in the ass.  Just trying to learn.

Jeff

[byteme]

Jeff,

Bi-wiring and bi-amping are totally different.  Bi-amping is using a different amp for each driver (or more accurately each crossed over section i.e mid/bass and highs in a two way).  Bi-wiring is using a single amp and either a double run of cable or a single split and terminated as in the picture posted above.  Bi-amping can have sonic impact because you're lowering the load on an amp, can use different cable for each frequency range, etc.  Bi-wiring is getting into the "are there differences in cable" argument.  Some say bi-wiring was invented by speaker cable companies to sell twice as much cable.  Others swear by the results.

I, for one, bi-wire my center only because when I bought the 20' run of Groneberg TS premium I had it cut into a 12' and an 8' section.  It's pointless to sell a single run of 8' so I just biwired the center.  Had I stuck with the Nemesis, which isn't biwirable, I would have just stored the other chunk.

Here's a link to something close to what Klaus put togther for me...

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?cablspkr&1088288898

So you can get an idea.  Nothing fancy, just something to link the two 5 way binding posts on the back of the speaker together.  Again, some people swear that the gold plated metal connectors that come with the speaker are crap and these sound better.  Others would never know the difference.  YMMV!

Enjoy!