Q: about my CS350.

KevH

I have a CS350 center that I have had since '99. It is my last piece to upgrade. (At the time, it was my first!) My mains are Polk Audio RTi8's and my rears are RTi6's. My sub is a 12" JBL PSW1200. I am using an older Infininity for the rear center for now. My Receiver is an Onkyo TX-SR601 6.1. All cables and wiring is Monster Cable. All my speakers are bi-wired except for the CS350. I have two questions:

1. Will I be able to tell a HUGE difference if I replace the CS350 with a CSi3 or CSi5? If so, would the CSi3 be enough or should I wait and spend more for the CSi5?

2. If so, should I sell the CS350 or would it go well for a rear center? It's hard to find a single RTi6 or even RTi4.

Thanks. :cool:

Dennis Gardner

I personally don't think either the 3 or 5 are an upgrade to the 350. In fact, if they made the exact same model with todays silk tweeter and 4.5 inch mids it would kick the 3 and 5s **** all over the place. Can you tell I Like my 350?

I would change to the Csi5 to match your newer RTi mains for tweeter voicing and asthetic looks. The 3 is a step down IMO.

As Polk centers go, my top list is: 400i, 400, 350, CSi40, CSi5, CS1000P then starts those with dual 5 inchers. The 350 hangs with the big boys only because it does so much so well, a matter of balance. The 1000 would be my choice if they had made the 4 woofers unpowered, with a progressive crossover like the newer centers.

Just my personal opinion from my experience with most all of the above.

BTW, welcome to Clubpolk!!

bassaholic

I was using a CSi 5 and bought a CS350ls on craigslist. I am keeping the 350 anyday over the Csi5. much better vocals during movies...musicwise...its hard tell but im keeping the 350 and the CSi5 is gonna colect dust

KevH

Do you want to sell your CSi5?

soiset

What is the outer (mounting) diameter of the sl6001 tweeter in the CS350ls? I would like to upgrade from my current CS250, but the tri lam tweeter in the 350 may not match the silk domes that are in all my S4's and S6's. If I could switch out the tweeter with an sl5001 that is in the 250, or maybe the sl5000 that is all the S speakers, I believe it would match well. What do you think?

adam2434

KevH,

While the CS350LS is a nice center, it's not a good match for the RTi's.

I've owned it and currently have a 400i. In my experience, the 350 had a much more laid back high end, and I feel the 400i matches my LS90's better.

Since the RTi's are known to be towards the bright side, you may also notice that the 350 seems much more laid back in the highs. Try a CD in 5/7 ch stereo and put your ear to the RTi's tweeter and 350's tweeter, and listen to cymbal crashes and female voices. You may notice what I noticed.

I not knocking the 350 at all, just saying it's a different beast.

I'd go for the CSi5.

*Seby*-Polk-

If your system consist of RTi speaker lines, I recoomend to you CSi5. Is the "perfect combination" for those speakers you have. Try to compare them and feel the difference :cool: