Hard to say without being able to walk into a store and hear them all perform side by side. But if you are going to spend $2k on something and plan to keep it for a long time, what is another say $400 over a 10 year span. Of course, if I did the 896 pair, it would be without a center for a while until I saved additional funds for one, but right now I'm still leaning towards the 596.2 set in black finish. And I get that in a store they won't sound the same as at my house, but at least you can get some sort of idea of the speakers capability. Especially when the store does A / B testing with the same equipment and locations. They used to do this when I bought my magnepan's back in the 90's anyway.
If I get the 596.2 setup, it may have to run on my existing onkyo 636 for 3 or 4 months though, but it won't be permanent. Will that be an issue you think?
And one more thought. The sound of the 596.2, via the u-tube links above anyway, reminds me of the warm sound I remember when listening to Totem speakers in person. Very warm, up front presence with strong midrange. But the Cantons have more bass than I remember from those Totems. Don't remember the model though.
