Think I found my new vintage HT system

skrol

A while back I picked up a pair of S8's that needed a tweeter but were otherwise in great shape. I figured I'd flip them but really liked the sound quality. The Polk engineer (ZSP) did a great job voicing these things. About a month ago I found a CS250s which looked to use similar drivers as the S8. I set it up with my Denon AVR-888 the S8's and a PSW10 for a 3.1 HT system, fired up Lord of the Rings and found out what timber matching means. Wow, it was a wall of sound.

Yesterday I found a pair of S4's at GW for cheap, and other than some paint drippings, are perfect. I think I have found my HT system (though I may look to upgrade the sub though). I just need to run some wires for the surrounds.
Stan

Mystery

Good for you.
What's lacking on the sub?

gmjungbluth

Great work! I did the same when I paired some Monitor 7Bs (front surrounds), 5Bs (rear surrounds) with a 5JR for a center and a PSW10 for the sub. Was great! I have moved back and forth with other speakers but I did really enjoy the timbre matching across the front. In the back it was less noticable to me.

The PSW10 is a great deal but when I moved to a used B&W ASW600 I realized what I'd been missing. The PSW10 does low but it's huffy and undefined. It does not match well for music. I don't know about the other Polk subs but you can find lots of great other gear out there and timbre matching isn't an issue for subs.

Enjoy!

G

cnh

That's one series I've never heard. But the pics and info on this site look very good! I had two Denons back in the day. The previous AVR 887 (my first). Followed by the AVR 2807 which I still run because it has the HDMI 1.1 ins, that the 887 did not. That said, I remember the 887 having an oh so sweet sound for an AVR--eventually sold it to a friend for about a 1/4 of what I paid for it. To this day, I'm not sure if the 887 was a little sweeter sounding than my higher model 2807 of the same year?

From the Polk info, it looks like the S8 is a newer cross between a Monitor 5 and a 7, as it has a 1" dome, a 7 1/2" MW, and a matching 7 1/2" PR. I wonder why there is so little discussion of this period of Polks? And while I'm at it, what period was that? Early '90s, perhaps?

Enjoy!

cnh

Mystery

I had S8 and S4.
Didn't care too much for S4 but S8 sounded very good.

I remember that I preferred 5B over S8 so sold the S8's.

skrol

The S-series was from the early 90's. I have compared the S8 to the Monitor 5B (SL-2000) and am actually more impressed with the S8 overall. Nothing really jumps out with the S8 but it just has a very pleasantly balanced presentation while the 5B tends to be a little harsh. I prefer the 5A (Peerless) to the 5B on the top end but like the 5B lower end. I would like to see how the Monitor 5 Series 2 (SL-2500) compares. The same engineer voiced the old Monitor Series 2's and the S-series. He indicated that the S6 was aimed at the Mon 5, S8 at the Mon 7 and the S10 at the Mon 10 but the S8 was the sweet spot of that series as the S10 was for those wanting mucho bass.

I haven't really given the S4 a listen yet other than to verify that the MW's and tweets were working. In any case, they should do ok as surrounds. Or, I have a pair of M3's (those wedge speakers) that I could use.

boston1450

The S8 is a pretty good size also. Would you be putting those on stands ?

evertune

You should enjoy it very much.

skrol

The S8's really do out shine the S4. The upper end of the S4 is decent but the lows sound kind of boxy. If one were to cut them off higher and use a sub they may be good. They should still do well as surrounds though.