CSi3 vs CSi5 to match with RTi12

marker

Does anyone believe the CSi3 might actually be a better match for a pair of RTi12 than a CSi5 since the 3 has 5.25" mid bass drivers to match the midrange driver size of the RTi12 instead of the 6.5" mid bass drivers like in the 5?

landry_p2000

These guys are going to yell at you for asking that question.:D (just kidding)
I have the CSi3 for my RTi10s, and I wish that I had got the CSi5 instead. My buddy has the CSi5 and a set of RTi10s, and I am jealous of his center channel speaker.:rolleyes: The CSi5 will keep up with the Rti12s a whole lot better than the CSi3. Don't get me wrong, if you have the CSi3 and you may be able to deal with it, but IMO the CSi5 is way better for those speakers.
The way you stated the question makes a whole lot of sense if you think about the size of drivers and all, but if you can, go with the CSi5.

As a matter of fact I am praying that Crutchfield keeps the CSi5 for a little longer. That will be my next upgrade after I save up for the SVS sub upgrade. Good luck, and I hope this helped.

Landry

Mike Reeter

Go with the 5,and don't look back.

Parson

First landry would benefit fromt he csi5 over the csi3 because he has the rti10's which use a 6.5" driver just like the csi5.

But! the Rti12's use 51/4" drivers just like the csi3.

I own the rti12's and the CSi5.

Now first off I love my csi5 and yes it puts out alot more sound than the CSi3 and reches deeper and has the cascade tapered array with it's two 6.5" drivers which the csi3 does not.

As far as matching goes, it's a little more complicated.
There are two reasons why the csi5 doesn't match perfectly
with the rti12's.
1:The larger drivers in the csi5
2:The csi5 is a "ported" speaker whereas the
rti12 use a sealed enclosure for the tweet/midrange drivers
and only the three 7"s use the powerport on the 12's

These differences cause the csi5 to have less midbase sound with voices than the rti12's, which have a fuller sound to the voices.

For movies you wont really notice any differences, Though I do turn my center channel down relative to my mains(12's). Mabye this is because of the fact that the csi5 if ported thus making it more efficient, or because the less midrange makes the tweeter stand out more relative the the 12's?

THOUGH for multichannel music you will notice a diffence IF you are a serious listener. Before I noticed the difference I sometimes would listen to my music in multichannel. Though now I solely listen to music in two channel.

SOooo being that the csi3 has a sealed enclosure like the 12's AND uses the same size drivers it MAY match better BUT I haven't heard the csi3 in my system so I don't know.

The reason why I did stay with the csi5 though is because of how good it sounds. Seriously, when I first got my system I wondered why I didn't just by 5 csi5 to go around seeing as how they sound great, put out alot of sound, and would be perfectly matched for multichannel music.
The reason I didn't though is because after listening to music more on the 12's I like the fuller sound alot better.

Mabye one day I stick in a csi3 if one comes available to do a comparison, but seeing as people who've upgraded from the csi3 to the csi5 rave about how much better it is, I'm not going to worry about it unless someone who already had one wanted to bring it over for a comparo.

pic of inside of rti12 with sealed enclosure.

marker

Great post Parson! You summed up my line of reasoning to a T.

I also think maybe the RTi4 and FXi30 would be better matched surrounds to the RTi12 than the RTi6 and the FXi5 for the very same reason.