ls90 and cs350 review

ohskigod

I got a chance to put the LS90 and CS350 i bought from Crivera through some paces. I used to have RTA 12B's as mains and a pair of Monitor 5's as the center.
First off, after i hooked up the "new" speaks, i noticed it definitly looked better (the cabinets on my older speakers were beat up and showed their age). this actually made the wife a little happy. Also, the CS 350, as big as it is, is significantly smaller than a pair of monitor 5's, again, a plus in the wifey column.
As for sound, I worked in some multichannel music first with DVD audio. Definitly sounded different than my old soundstage. little bit More midrangey. definitly something i could get used to, since the music leaps out a little more, kinda in you face. overall, not as much an improvement, just different. Still good though!
Now for Movies, things got interesting. It seems having a perfectly timbre matched front soundstage is much more important than i thought. I though the Peerless tweet of the RTA's and the SL2000's of the monitors were "close enough" but the performance of the LS90 and CS 350 amazed me for movie viewing. Seemless, crystal clear, big @ss soundstage, these were the speakers i rememberred listening to at Crivera's house. I became much more happy with my purchase. Pick a volume, any volume, and the LS and CS barely break a sweat. My amps barely get warm, much less hot when driven hard. The movie experience as a whole increased dramatically with the "new" speaks.
I havent even played with placement and what not yet. Played with the crossover settings a little, but kept them the same as what i had my old setup at 60hx for center and main, 80 hz for surrounds.

Thanx again Carlos for a sweet transaction, I am very happy with my purchase. and you definitly are going to miss these speakers

dorokusai

What are you using for power? That's a cool speaker, have fun with it.

ohskigod

2 bridged Rotel RB 960's )one for each LS90 and one bridged amp section of a Rotel RB976 going to the center (so about 150 watts to each) could allways use more but i figure that'll do for now, at least until the budget heals :rolleyes:

greg099

Do you think that the CS-350 Center would be a good timbre match for a pair of Monitor 10B fronts?

wallstreet

Glad you're enjoying the new rig. I've got the same setup, but I switched out the 350 for the 400. The 400 goes a little lower so it won front and center in the HT. At the last Texas shootout I hooked the 90's up to a Sunfire amp and it rocked with no problems. I've only run into distortion one time on the 90's and that was on a Chemical Brothers woofer destroying track that I've yet to hear a speaker handle well.

dorokusai

Lou - You will shite yourself when you get some big power on those....they really open up quite nicely.

I almost picked up a pair of B&W's that would timbre match perfectly with your DM1400's...but the guy must have started smoking crack before I came over.

I came, I saw, I went....anyone know how to put that in Latin?

ohskigod

i've had the ls90 and cs350 combo for close to 2 months now, and they are still soundin good. great for the movies, which is what the theater does mostly, but it performs well with the DVD audio as well, concerts and whatnot. I'll be keeping this for a while. more power might be in the cards down the road, but the theater is performing so well, i have no urge for upgrades at the moment.

I know they can handle power. My wife inadvertently left the volume on 0 db (looooong story), so here i come putting in a DVD (Peter Gabriel to be precise). pressed play, put the music on, and the volume was insane. scared the friggin bejesus out of me. way louder than i would ever listen, but the 90's and 350 didnt break up a bit. no distortion. (it did blow the adire audio decorative dustcap of my Shiva though) WOW was i mad at the wifey!!!!!! but all is well.

shack

Originally posted by dorokusai
I came, I saw, I went....anyone know how to put that in Latin?

Sure.....Vini Vidi See Ya

ohskigod

Originally posted by wallstreet
Glad you're enjoying the new rig. I've got the same setup, but I switched out the 350 for the 400. The 400 goes a little lower so it won front and center in the HT.

i figured the 350 would be better to to exact timbre matching. does the 400i sound a little off. its not a timbre match if i'm not mistaken. did you notice the difference when you switched?

criverajr

OHSKIGOD,

ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!!!!!!

CRJ:D

Tour2ma

Originally posted by ohskigod
i figured the 350 would be better to to exact timbre matching. does the 400i sound a little off. its not a timbre match if i'm not mistaken. did you notice the difference when you switched?

I believe both centers use the same tweeter... SL6001... at any rate they both use tri-lams (as does the CS400), so timbre-wise there shouldn't be much diiferent.

I ran a 350 up front until I landed my first 400. Like the look of the 350 better, but the 400 sounded "fuller" to me and it pushed the 350 to the rear...

wallstreet

Originally posted by ohskigod
i figured the 350 would be better to to exact timbre matching. does the 400i sound a little off. its not a timbre match if i'm not mistaken. did you notice the difference when you switched?

They match surprisingly well. The tweeters are the same but the remaining drivers are slightly different. But the 350 drivers are smaller than the 90's, so there was a slight difference already there. The big plus for me was the voices were fuller sounding with the extended bass in the 400. When comparing with white noise, the match is spot on. The 350 is a much better looking speaker though. The 400 is just a big ugly box. The wife complained severely about it, but after awhile, she sounded just like Charlie Brown's teacher. Come to think of it, I haven't run the 350 with the B&K 307 receiver. Might be time for another comparison. Just for fun, I'll even throw in the CSi3. I also need to double check whether I have the 400 or 400i.

ohskigod

Originally posted by wallstreet
I also need to double check whether I have the 400 or 400i.

please do. I'm kind of curious. i was under the impression that the 400 and 400i had different tweeters from the 350, where the LS90 has the same tweet as the 350.

jcaut

I think what you're talking about is the "shiny" tri-lam, in the older speakers (LS90, CS350LS) versus the "dull-looking" tri-lam in the later speakers (CS400, 400i, RTxxi). I can't comment on whether or not they sound much different.

wallstreet

As it turns out, I have the 400i center in my main HT. Here's a shot of the tweeter.

wallstreet

And the 400i tweeter is definitely different than the CS350 tweeter.

wallstreet

The 350 is a mighty fine center that blends seamlessly with the 90's. It was Polk's best center at the time the 90's were available. The 400i certainly will dig a little deeper than the 350 while still providing a seamless soundstage (IMO). A true audiophile, which I am not, may fall off the couch at my opinion of timbre matching. But the bottom line is it works for me. When I get some free time in the HT, I'll run my centers through a workout again to see if I can change my mind.

Tour2ma

Walter,
May just be the PQ, but I'm not seeing the telltale blue MW's the 400i had...

Tweeters seem to dominate the whole tone matching thing. I believe the 400 and 400i's tweetes are the same.

wallstreet

Look on the right driver. The blue's there. It just washed out in the left driver.

VR3

The 400 driver is not the same as the 400i driver, I believe it was slightly rebuilt.

The 350 uses a different driver as well...

The CS400 and CS400i are completely different, diff. xovers, drivers, and cabs

Tour2ma

Originally posted by wallstreet
Look on the right driver. The blue's there. It just washed out in the left driver.

Yup, too lazy to scroll over... (large photo posting ****...)

wallstreet

Originally posted by Tour2ma
Yup, too lazy to scroll over... (large photo posting ****...)

Geesh. And to think I already cropped 60% of the photo before posting. What do you want, a Sid pic?

Tour2ma

Why would I want a picture of Sid?

VR3

A 'Sid Pic' is cropped 50% before posting