Decisions, decisions....

ranger

Hi, newbie here, first post. I have been reading this forum for a few days and I believe I can get some help here with my new sound system.

I just ordered a pair of refurbished TSi400's from the Polk E-Bay site. I already have a CS1. I planned on buying a pair of TSi100's for rear speakers, however the best price I can find is $200 from an authorized dealer. That is when I realized I could have a pair of TSi200's refurbished for the exact same price. I really did not want that large of a speaker for rears but...man that is tempting. I also thought about getting Monitor 30's for $95 a pair but they wouldn't be an exact match aesthetically.

Oh, I would probably have to buy at least one speaker stand for the 200 (haven't even looked into the cost of that yet!).

Question 1: Would the 200's make a big difference soundwise used as rears over the 100's? What would you HA veterans do?

Question 2: I need subwoofer advice. I was looking at the PSW10 or PSW110 but I have read on forums not to buy a Polk sub, there are better subs out there for the same money. Looking for suggestions, especially from guys with similar setups to what I am building.

My room is 17' by 17'. I just bought a Denon 1911. I imagine my use will be 75% movies and 25% music.

Thanks in advance for your help!

djperez81

Welcome to Club Polk!!!

I would look at getting a better center since you stated you use your system moslty got HT, and your center is the workhorse in a HT. As fas as the rears go i dont think you have to go so big, a smaller bookshelf speaker should work for you. And for the sub i would check out a PSW 505 for the price you cant beat it. Good luck ranger.

ranger

djperez81 thanks for the reply. I can't even find a 505 for sale, discontinued looks like. Reading the reviews on it maybe it is too powerful for me. Not really looking to anger the neighbors. I do live in a stand alone house however.

I assumed the CS1 was good for my setup, guess I was wrong! Already looking for a sale on a CS2 series 2 at Newegg. It is an inch and a half less wide than the CS20 and in my cabinet that is important. Aren't they the same speaker?

cfrizz

Welcome to Club Polk Ranger. You should go for the larger center channel since the majority of movies go through the center channel. As for rears I was looking on the TSI page and noticed this statement which might be an alternative for you.

The OWM Series are designed to be used with TSi Series for rear surround speakers in your 5.1 or 7.1 system. They feature Capacitive Coupling Technology (CCT) which creates a gentle impedance dip within the range where conventional sealed-box loudspeakers are subject to severely reduced bass output. The result- you get 3dB more bass output over a fairly broad range. It's as if the loudspeaker's enclosure grew by 30 to 50% in volume.

ranger

Thank you cfrizz. A nice option, especially at $110 a pair on Newegg right now. Attractive speakers and I found good reviews on them.

zx_toth

Although I do not know what your cabinet looks like be careful with putting your center speaker inside a cabinet. I tried that with my LSiC, placing it in a drawer which was actually designed for center speakers and I found that it badly muffled the sound. I guess the port in the back got some form of bounce back. I would definately try both before settling on whether it should be in the cabinet or out on top of the cabinet. I was disappointed at first of the less aesthetically pleasing look of the center speaker on top of the cabinet but soon forgot about that when it sound 20% better.

+1 on the bigger center .... as mentioned the center speaker does the majority of dialogue and you want the best center you can afford. It has less to do with volume out put per se but more to do with range of sound frequency it can reproduce, a smaller center speaker will likely have a more limited sound frequency thus limiting the accuracy of dialogue reproduction. Im sure there are other disadvantages but that is the one I am most concerned about.

Enjoy!

Z

djperez81

ranger wrote: »

djperez81 thanks for the reply. I can't even find a 505 for sale, discontinued looks like. Reading the reviews on it maybe it is too powerful for me. Not really looking to anger the neighbors. I do live in a stand alone house however.

I assumed the CS1 was good for my setup, guess I was wrong! Already looking for a sale on a CS2 series 2 at Newegg. It is an inch and a half less wide than the CS20 and in my cabinet that is important. Aren't they the same speaker?

I think the 505 should be fine you can control the volume on the sub. You shouldnt get on your neighbors bad side unless you want to:biggrin:. About the cs2 and the cs20 i dont see much difference in each other except for the cs2 goes up to 175 watts and the cs20 only goes to 150 watts. I really liked the sound of my cs2 when i had it, but cant really comment on the cs20 because i have never heard one.

ranger

Thank you zx_toth. Actually my "cabinet" is an open shelved audio rack. Poor choice of description on my part. Thanks again though for the heads up...never know what I may end up doing in the future, furniture wise.

I will definitely buy the larger center, hopefully I'll run across a sale soon.

ranger

Thanks again djperez81.

I ordered a pair of OWM's for rears. Great reviews, good looking, and smaller than the TSi100's.

Looking at a PSW111 for the sub. Again, great reviews and attractive, should blend well with my system. Appears to have enough oomph for me. Can't even find a 505.

ranger

Update: I have ordered my speakers.

My system:

Denon 1911
TSi400's
OWM3's
CS20
PSW111

Can't wait until it all arrives.