Polk CS400 Center Channel Speaker

boston1450

Anyone use this speaker? Im using Monitors now & wondering how it would compare? Ive got the monitor standing straight up & its not wife friendly & would want to know if it would blend in with the monitors sound wise?

Polkie2009

Have been using a CS400 I bought used for about 5 years now, and it handles everything quite well. The center is being powered by the Yamaha 663, I think I might have pegged 30 watts on the meter briefly a time or two. All other channels on the AVR are running preouts to outboardpower amps. My fronts are Polk SDA-SRS2's pin/blade IC powered by a Parasound HCA-1200II.

tonyb

Great center and will blend well with a variety of Polk lines. What do you mean by having the Monitors "standing straight up " ?

boston1450

Thanks for info. Im using Monitor 5jr's temporary & dont care for their size/looks where their located

teekay0007

Hey Randy, I've used several of Polk's centers and the CS400 (or CS400i) is the one I've been most impressed with, especially with vintage speaker setups. I've got two very minty ones that I use in two 5.1 setups with my Monitor 10Bs and my SDA 2BTLs as fronts and they blend beautifully and leave nothing to be desired. Here's a couple of pics (see post #9) of my secondary system with the 10Bs: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?153941-Seeking-advice-on-TV-stand-entertainment-center&

Loud & Clear

I always thought the CS400/CS400i were great center speakers. Very dynamic.

tonyb

boston1450 wrote: »

Thanks for info. Im using Monitor 5jr's temporary & dont care for their size/looks where their located

Gotcha.....have to agree too, not very appealing.

boston1450

Thanks. I researched alot last week & bought one for great price 2 days ago. Its being snail mailed. I figured if i didnt like it i could sell it off. I think it will do a better job than the Monitors & the csi3 i just sold for50.00 to help pay for the other. There was alot on CP & other sites about it BUT wasnt sure about match with Monitor line.

dbKiller

I have 2 that I use with different systems and they are very solid. I have used for a few years now and they continue to delight.

jon s

The only problem with the CS400 is the soundstage... I had one with RTi55s... You can tell the center channel images differently because the woofers are laterally positioned. I used another RTi55 for the center channel to correct it.

dbKiller

I use mine with RT2000p's and RT55 wides and it blends perfectly with my setup. I do know they are timbre matched to those, not sure about the RTi line though.

WLDock

I have the CS400i and was considering moving to the CS1000P. But at the $500-$600 asking prices I have been seeing I might just mod what I have....will see. The 400 is a very good center.

dbKiller

Hey WLDock, a friend of mine just bought an RT5000 system. I will say that the CS1000 is nice and the subs add a little, but they don't add much over my CS400 to warrant $500+. The CS400 seems to be the exact same speaker less the subs. Good fronts and a sub will make it almost unnoticeable.

boston1450

QUESTION ? WHAT IS PROPER SURROUND SOUND 5/1 signal settings ? If im noticing more my Center Speaker & my Rear speakers-should i turn down my center- & turn up my fronts? Do i need to balance it so i hear each fts & rears ? My center stands right out there nicely. I have the fronts adjusted @ 8.. Center @ 7 and rears 2below--wife hates the rears (i like them) but the fronts i really dont hear the greatest over the Center Channel.....should i turn down the center & see what it does ? Does AVR's tend to send better signal to C Channel ? My fronts work fine. Not sure how proper surround is suppose to be-newbee HT

dbKiller

Your center gets most of the important dialogue and it should flow with the fronts. The rears don't get near what the others carry. Really its all in what sounds good to you in the end. My Onkyo has Audyssey and I still tweaked my settings. But the center and fronts will produce more sound than the surrounds and rears.

boston1450

dbKiller wrote: »

Your center gets most of the important dialogue and it should flow with the fronts. The rears don't get near what the others carry. Really its all in what sounds good to you in the end. My Onkyo has Audyssey and I still tweaked my settings. But the center and fronts will produce more sound than the surrounds and rears.

i will try bringing the fronts up a tad. Ill bring down the center to balance out a hair-to incorporate the fronts to blend with them. Thanks

tonyb

That's pretty hot dude. +8 on the speaker levels ?

Put the fronts and center back to 0....adjust slightly the front left and right so that it seems balanced to your listening position. Then adjust the center but it shouldn't be anymore that one or two notches hotter than the fronts.

I keep my surrounds a tad hotter because of distance so I have those at +4. Keep in mind the surround info will vary on movies so some will have more than others.

dbKiller

I find that mine differs slightly with different movies. Keep tweaking and enjoy!

boston1450

Great advice ill do that. Ill post later how it came out..
..
What should i set the Subwoofer at on the receiver settings ?

dbKiller

I will have to run back through my Onkyo to see what I have it set, but should set the frequency to around 50Hz and let the sub handle the lower range, and set the center and fronts to 50Hz and they can pick up and go from there on the higher frequencies. Then you will have to adjust the power to taste. I understand all receivers are different, that's where I set mine and it works perfect.

Polkie2009

This has probably been mentioned in a zillion threads here, do you have a db meter? Does your AVR set up distance ,size, crossover to each speaker?

dbKiller

Mine has Audyssey that does that with a mic. Usually you will have to set the speaker size, but not always. I do not have a db meter, though I have been telling myself I need to pick one up. I went in and adjusted the crossover settings. If your receiver has a setup mic I would let it run, and then you can fine tune it yourself. At the moment I am living in a smaller condo, and I have a large SVS sub, so I am constantly finding that I have to turn it up and down. I was running a Paradigm setup on this receiver before and when I put my Polks in here I had to tune the settings, they sounded completely different. All equipment is different, that goes for receivers and amp also. But I will say if your receiver has a setup mic system I would let it run, it will get you close and fine tune after

boston1450

Thanks for the wonderful advice all. No mic here. I played around with it & sounds pretty good. Watched part of movie & seems better now i can hear fronts better. Then i had enough & put on some N Young to relax me for the evening. Thanks again

dbKiller

Anytime, glad to hear you got it adjusted out.