Choosing center and surround with tsi400's

kylemm

I am fairly new to Polk and I just purchased two tsi 400's for the left and right setup. I also have a klipsch 450 sub which I love. Im hoping to evenually build my way up to a 7.1 system. Quite a slow process when your a college student! I am now planning on buying a center channel for my system. I was looking at either the CS20 or the CSI A6. I know that the CSI A6 would be a better quality sound, but I had heard that it's best to stick with speakers that are all in the same series so I was curious what you guy's thought.
Also I was looking at the FXI a6's or A4's vs. the bookshelf speakers in the TSI series for the surrouds and was curious if you had any suggestions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated since I really don't have a oppertunity to listen to most of these speakers myself.
Thanks!

ranger

I have Tsi400's for fronts. I have a CS20 center and I like it. It blends perfectly and produces clear sound. Don't know about the CSI A6. I will say this however, I have gotten paranoid about center speakers. I have been researching a new, more expensive system for months and when I buy I am going to buy a big, badarse center. Just so I don't have regrets later.

I just have OWM3 surrounds and again, they work fine for surrounds in a decent, budget minded system.
Btw, when I added a dedicated amp to my system (Emotiva XPA-5) my 400's sounded like totally different speakers. Huge improvement in dynamics and clarity.

kylemm

Thanks for the info! ill definitely keep that in mind! Sounds like the CS20 isnt a bad way to go. I have been paranoid with the center channel as well. Im trying to figure out if the Rti center would be a better sound and still fit in with my 400's or not. Ill definitely look into those OWM surrounds as well. Thanks for the help!

chumlie

I currently have the cs20 matched with a pair of tsi400's. They sound great together. That said. I'm putting another system
together with rti-a7's up front. They sound great and i plan on getting the csi-a6 for those. If you plan on keeping the 400's
i would go with the cs20 so they stay matched.

kylemm

I was thinking thats what I would end up doing. I just didn't know if the Rti's are that much better that it would make sense to sacrifice them matching for the quality. Thanks for the help! so if I got the CS20 for the center with the 400's would I go with the Tsi bookshelfs for surrounds or could I do something with the FXI's? Or would the acoustics not match on those as well? im curious because those are really what drew me to the rti series. I like the two directional speaker setup.

djperez81

I would get the cs20 since it is timbre matched to your 400's. For your surrounds/rears it is not necessary for them to match your fronstage. I hear the fxi's are a killer speaker for surrounds but getting the matching 100's wouldnt be a bad choice either. I guess it all depends how much your willing to spend. What receiver are you using to run your speakers?

kylemm

Okay, Ill do that for the center channel. Thanks! And I heard the fxi's are really great as well so that's what I was leaning towards as well. I want great sounding surrounds so I think ill go with the fxi's. I heard they give a great emersive feel with the 2 directional speakers. I have a yamaha RX-V671 for my receiver.

jbooker82

Yep the FXI's are nice. I know some guys say that the surrounds dont really have to be voiced matched. I would prefer they were though. Maybey you should buy the FXI's, listen to them to see if you want to continue on down the TSI road or move up to the RTI's before buying a center channel. Nothing else you could post your TSI's up for sale and pickup a pair of RTI A5's from polk's ebay store for a good price.

kylemm

Ya that's definitely not a bad idea. Is the audio quality that much better with the RTI series? I know they have a better lower end, but I have a very nice sub that compensates for the lack of lowend on the TSI's

jbooker82

I havent herd the TSI's in a good setting, only at Best Buy and being powered by an unknown AVR. The RTI's are a little brighter but have cleaner sound. They do get better with age as they break in. I use mine about 50/50 for music and ht. I would deffinatly buy them again, except it might be the A9's instead of the 7's. You know how the upgrade bug can be. Most guys who upgrade from the monitor / tsi line say it was well worth it. Even ones that have went from the large Monitor 70's to the small RTI A5's.

Not trying to hijack your thread just discussing possibilitys.

chumlie

In my opinion a huge differance. Like i said i have a pair of 400's. Just got the rti-a7's about three weeks ago. Now just useing them for music. Put on Roger Waters Amused To Death and hear sound never heard on 400's. Waiting on a csi-a6 to incorperate them into my home theatre.

jbooker82

Here is the Refurb FXI A4's for 284 for the pair.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-FXi-A4-FXiA4-Black-Surround-Speakers-Polk-Audio-/360400643796?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item53e98d66d4

vs. $399 normal retail price.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107FXIA4B/Polk-Audio-FXi-A4-Black.html?tp=190&nvpair=FFCustomer_Rating%7c%5brank1%5d5+stars%5bimg%5d

jbooker82

Make sure you have the room for a CSI A6. It is a great speaker but it is huge. Thanks for the pic SRTer

CSI A4 / A6 comparison thread.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?125185-CSI-A4-vs-A6&highlight=center+channel+size

kylemm

Thanks for all the help! This definitely helps alot and points me in the right direction. I really wasn't sure what to go wtih starting out. I just might have to upgrade to the RTI series now. This gives me a good idea of where to go from here.