What's Your Favorite Center Channel

Jazzdrummer

Klipsch RC7.

B.Meek

mystik610's assertion that the center should have the same drivers as the mains leads me to ask which Polk centers use the same as the Polk RC65i in-wall speakers?

I would like to mount a center speaker above or below my HDTV (which is on a swivel-mount).

Thanks,
-- brian

maandjojo

Phantom.

Joe

domflane

My CsiA6, hands down

20hz

I still got that polk cs300 I havent a place for it , it will probebly go on ebay .
It sounds beyond awesome (old polk rules) .

Snowdogyyz

CSiA6. I have the CSi5 as well. Both are excellent center channels for my needs.

cdn5003

My favorite is the Csi A6. It is the most accurate center I have heard. I have experience with Csi25, CS2, Csi A4. The tweeters in the A4 and A6 are more accurate for movies. The A6 dominates the A4 though in output, especially with deep male vocals.

The CS2 is good for its price point, offering as much output as the A6 but less clarity. The Csi25 can't keep up in a large HT.

I would advise using a phantom center if you are building a HT piece by piece and start off with a nice pair of towers. Save money until you can get a large center that will really deliver.

love2listen

I'm currently using a Lsi9 which replaced the LsiC and I must say, that for my ears, the Lsi9 does a much better job than the LsiC.

dane_peterson

This is a tough question to answer on such a broad scale... the rest of your system will largely affect what center sounds good with it.

For me, the best center I've ever owned was the Ascend Acoustics CMT-340. This was before they released their "SE"s. It blended very well with the matching towers and 170 rears, and produced a very full sound. In fact, that may have been my favorite Surround Sound setup I've ever owned!

newsman

love2listen wrote: »

I'm currently using a Lsi9 which replaced the LsiC and I must say, that for my ears, the Lsi9 does a much better job than the LsiC.

I'm curious about your assertion, because after moving from RTi series to LSi, the center channel in LSi series was the only regret I have over the RTi C400i speaker. In what whey you like LSi 9 more and have you tried both bookshelves together or does it create some sort of phase or load issues? My main feeling is that LSi C is underpowered and lower mid range heavy compared to LSi15 - but it might be intentional for the deeper monologue.

kevhed72

I just bi-amp'ed my CSiA6 with 2 pairs of MIT EXPS1's, which used to run my front speakers. Took the cheesy brass jumpers off, and ran the pair to an Adcom 545ii. To hook the amp to the avr, I used a pair of Blue Jeans Belden ICs and a Radio Shack RCA plug splitter off the single center channel output.
Now considering the IC's and splitter are the weak link in this equation, I was quite impressed with the improvement in both detail and clarity of the center.
Last night I demo'ed parts of the 2nd Star Wars flick and the hockey game, and couldn't be happier. The improvement I noticed was in bi-amping vs. just running a single channel and using the brass jumpers. I'm going to do some more comparisons this weekend, but so far so good...

mantis

The one that matches the given speaker package I'm working with.

polkfarmboy

I just had a listen to the martin logan stage yesterday ............ Now that probably is the best centre channel out there for accurate sound reproduction ........ but for $3000 I think I will pass

love2listen

newsman,
The biggest difference I noticed when I replaced the LsiC with the Lsi9 was the cohesion of the front sound stage. The Lsi9 seems to tighten up the and bring together the front three better than the LsiC, at least to my ears! One other aspect I prefer of the 9 over the C, is the overall sound of the vocals. With the 9 the vocals sound more natural, whereas with the C, sometimes the sound was too muffled for my taste. I know there are a few memebers that have had their LsiC XO's moddified and have been very pleased with the result. At some point I plan on experimenting with 2 Lsi9's as centers and also bi-amping to see if there noticable difference. Hope this helps!

Sherardp

I still remember the night I swapped out my old Yamaha center with the CSi5. My face literally lit up when hearing the difference.

olds97_lss

Probably shouldn't even post this, but I recently picked up a polk center. I was planning on buying something with at least 6" drivers in it to give me more mid-range, the CS20. But, after listening to the CS20 compared to others, there wasn't much of a comparison to the CSi A4 and CSi A6. I bought the A4 since it was more affordable and compared to the JBL CS25 I had, night and day difference with general sound quality. I had no idea how muddy sounding the JBL was.

Now I'm on the hunt for better front bookshelves and rears to better match the A4. The JBL's I have are ok (E20's and E10's), but if the difference is as great as the center was... I'll be selling what I have on ebay soon I'm sure.

Since I live in an apartment, quantity of sound isn't as large a concern as quality of sound.

I had tried the bose center and it was just aweful. Thoughts of "headphones in a soup can" come to mind... That's what I replaced with the JBL and it got me by for 6 years or so, if not longer.

bsturgeon89

Sunfire CRS-3C .

I like mine a lot because it can handle a lot and still sound fabulous in the process

yepimonfire

any ones that are as loud and authoritative as a large bookshelf or floor speaker, polk sells a center with 6.5" drivers, this thing is a beast.

scoobygt68

Paradigm Sig C5 v3

bradkara124

I like my LSi C its awesome !