Price Paid:  $100.00 from promised not to tell

Summary:
I am now using the aegis centre and WOW! Now I got these brand new for 100 bucks canadian because I know the store owner. I used to use the JBL TLX movies for my centre, and of course the AE's blow them away. Very clean sound, excellent power handling and deep bass are just some of the awesome features of this centre.

Strengths:
Bass, Power handling, crisp clean sound.

Weaknesses:
Directionally sensitive. Place wiseley.

Price Paid:  $284.00 from http://www.son-video.com/

Summary:
This Center speaker matches the Aegis Three very precisely.

Be careful though !!! This speaker, as every speaker of the Aegis Series, must be driven by an excellent AV amplifier, and connected with a very good speaker cable !

It takes some time so that the speakers open up (sometimes up to 2 or even 3 weeks). Anyway, It's the same for the Aegis Three speakers as well as the other Aegis products. Once the drivers have roved, the sound is absolutely fantatic. Be careful, too, with this Center speaker direction angle. Try to place it rather below the TV set instead of above...

An Please : For all Aegis speakers, take off the front covers when you use them !!! You will hear that the sound is much more tucking...

I find that speakers that usualy cost 3 to 5 the fee are sometimes less good than this Aegis Center.

Strengths:
Very clear, absolutely well balanced sound. Can go down to 50 Hz with an absolute linearity.

Weaknesses:
None to my opinion.

Similar Products Used:
Technics, Cabasse, Mission, etc... heard in show rooms.

Price Paid:  $279.00 from Celestion Sounds

Summary:
I have not bought these, but have auditioned them for about 10 days. It takes a good 20-40 hours to break in this speaker, then the midrange and bass open up well. The midrange is as smooth as the Aegis ones and there is good bass extension for a center channel.

5.1 music
Used many CDs in my Denon 3300's 5.1 stereo such as Dido, Sarah Maclachlan, Sting, Smetna "Ma Vlast", Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastique". I used the channel by itself and with the rest of the speakers to get an idea of the soundstage is added. Of course the blending was seamless between this and the Aegis ones and the overall dynamic of the female voices and classical instruments were as true to the recording in this price range. Musically these are a fine match with the Ones and give you beautiful surround music with little if any listening fatigue.

Dolby Digital, DTS
The DVDs I used to audition the center channel were The Fifth Element, Gladiator, the Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, Samurai X. The music on these DVDs sounded just as wonderful on the CDs. But when it came to center channel effects, some of the detail was missing from some of the scenes, ie swords clanging in Samurai X, The German Shepard in Gladiator beggining scene was not always audible. The Matrix sounded good but some bullets seem to be missing, that were there before. The bass from the movies was good though.

I do not know what other people use seeing as that there are 59 review for the Aegis Ones and 4 for the Center. Personally, I am going to go with the Phase Technology Teatro 6.5. This is the only center channel that acoustically matched the Ones. Midrange is very smooth and forms a practically seamless sounstage and was also the most detailed of the speakers I tested.

Overall though, Acoustic Center is very capable for music (if you listen to music like that) and probably average for home theater effects.

Probably 4 stars for music and 3.75 stars for home theater.

Hope this helps.

Strengths:
Transparent Sound, matches the Aegis ones, looks

Weaknesses:
Not as detailed as many of the other center channels, vertical and horizontal dispersion not that wide

Similar Products Used:
B&W CC6, Paradigm CC-370, Paradigm Reference, Phase Tech Teatro 6.5, Boston Acoustics VR-490, Mirage model?, Klipsh?, PSB 8C, Vienna Acoustics center, Sony 30CN

Price Paid:  $249.00 from pro musica - chicago

Summary:
seems excellent for the money. was limited to this center because i own the aegis 3's for fronts. previously used speakers in my sony 53" projection tv - the sony has a set of speaker clips to connect the speaker to your amp which can be selected via the tv's on screen menu. blows that away. for the money, the sound from the center is outstanding and nonfatiguing. like the rest of the aegis series, you can listen for hours and hours.

i use denon avr3300 which utilizes 5 channel stereo with plain old stereo signals...this is a HUGE improvement. now all i need to do is replace my crappy klh rears..

aegis series is excellent for music and theater. center fits that bill perfectly.

Strengths:
dialogue, sound, music, value

Weaknesses:
?

Similar Products Used:
aegis 3 fronts

Price Paid:  $249.00 from pro musica - chicago

Summary:
seems excellent for the money. was limited to this center because i own the aegis 3's for fronts. previously used speakers in my sony 53" projection tv - the sony has a set of speaker clips to connect the speaker to your amp which can be selected via the tv's on screen menu. blows that away. for the money, the sound from the center is outstanding and nonfatiguing. like the rest of the aegis series, you can listen for hours and hours.

i use denon avr3300 which utilizes 5 channel stereo with plain old stereo signals...this is a HUGE improvement. now all i need to do is replace my crappy klh rears..

aegis series is excellent for music and theater. center fits that bill perfectly.

Strengths:
dialogue, sound, music, value

Weaknesses:
?

Similar Products Used:
aegis 3 fronts