Center Speaker advice / question about polks / tsi series

bobblah

Hello

I recently bought some Dec Tech 350 bookshelf speakers and then grabbed some TSI100 bookshelves when Best Buy had em for $110 a few months back. Using as a 4.0 system and In all I think the two pairs of speakers sound phenomenal together. The 350s I find a bit brighter and smoother across the spectrum and the TSIs are a solid speaker with a great punch in the midrange. I think they complement each other really well. But if I had to keep only one set it would be theDefTechs they were more expensive so no surprise. But on their own I find the TSIs a little boxy sounding.

So now I need to get a center speaker as I just got a 5.1 amp. I would prefer something physically small. So considering the Polk tl1 the deftech procenter 1000 or the CS10. The polks are cheaper and most of the reviews are great but a few of the reviews mention a boxy sound so I'm just wondering is this a characteristic sound from Polk? I haven't been able to hear anything in person other than the TSI series. Is the RTI / CSI series known to be brighter / smoother? Should I consider a csi center?

Oh and I'm primarily a music listener. But when I do watch a 5.1 movie my amp requires a center speaker, can't turn that channel off. So I'm not that concerned about how great it sounds during movies. More concerned it might adversely affect my music listening cause I'm very happy with the 4 speakers I have now.

Thanks

rpf65

If your going to run the TSI's as your front speakers, the CS 10 would be a good choice. If not get the center the manufacturer recomends.

All speaker manufacturers sound different, and each family of speakers from one manufacturer will sound different than another. The TSI line sounds different than the RTI line, which sounds different than the LSI line, as an example. Try to keep the front 3 in the same family, or better all speakers you plan to run. The exception is the sub.

heartystatue

I don't know about others but on my Onkyo when I'm listening to only music I listen in the stereo mode and only the front l&r and sub are utilized. ( turned on ). If other listening modes are used you can always turn the center down if you don't want to hear it.

bobblah

you know i don't think i can actually turn the center off on my amp, i can minimize it though. And i know you're supposed to match the center but may be blasphemy to some but i really like the contrast I get from using polk and def tech speakers together and I guess i was more curious as to whether polk's in general are known for having a punchy boxy midrange or if its just the tsi100 or maybe its just me?

I might order the CS10 and procenter 1000 and keep the one I like best.

bobblah

Oh and after listening to music with 4 speakers now i couldnt imagine going back to 2 although i could see that from a purists standpoint. But stuff like pink floyd or radiohead or amon tobin (ISAM especially) any bands that have great stereo separation sounds mind blowing with a 4 speaker set up. I was so excited when i got them all hooked up, it's like hearing these albumns for the first time again. Sounds coming from all over the room.