Sounding good...
Written: May 30 '01 (Updated Jul 26 '01)
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Pros: Powerful, bi-wire/bi-amp capable, voice matched to other Polk speakers.
Cons: Just a little bright.
The Bottom Line: A terrific center channel, well balanced and matched to other speakers in the Polk family.
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| jmoral's Full Review: Polk Audio CS400 Center Speaker |
I recently purchased the CS400i as the center channel in a system made up of Polk Rt55i's for the mains, Polk f/x500i's for the surrounds and a Velodyne VA-1250x subwoofer.
The CS400i is very smooth, blending in nicely with the RT55i's producing a seamless soundstage. Sound effects that pan from one side to the other do not change in pitch or volume as the sound crosses the center channel. Human voices sound airy and natural, if not a bit on the bright side. The brightness may come from reflections off the walls of my listening room and should not be technically seen as a flaw. It may sound perfect in your environment. At high volume levels, the CS400i is clean and strong; it's mid-woofers putting out a good "punch" when called to do so.
Physically, the speaker is quite large; close to 9" tall, 19" wide and 14" deep. It's also fairly heavy at 25 lbs. or so. Polk provides small rubber feet you can stick on the bottom to keep it in place. Due to the size of the speaker, anything less than a 32" TV would look too small for the speaker, at least for my tastes. On the rear, there is a power port panel, a technology Polk uses to control the first reflective surface the ported audio output interacts with. Also, 2 sets of 5-way binding posts are supplied bridged together with copper strips. If you bi-wire/amp the CS400i, you would remove these strips. Personally, my center and main speakers are bi-wired. To me, they image a little bit better this way (this would be more for the mains listening to CD's rather than video use, but to make the center and mains sound as close to each other as possible, I've bi-wired them all).
The speaker cabinet is well built with a definite solid feel to it. Build quality is top-notch. The speaker would have benefitted with some sort of mechanism to tilt the unit forward to better aim towards the listening position. I had to resort to propping it up with another object to get it into ideal position.
As with all audio equipment, I recommend you listen to it first and let your ears guide you. If possible, being along a DVD whose audio track you are familiar with when you go speaker shopping. That way, while the audio components may be changing, your program material stays the same and lets you evaluate the equipment more effectively.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 399
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Epinions.com ID:
jmoral
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Location: The deep South
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 9 members
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