Noob needs help with Center Channel Please!

drjennix

Hi,
I am trying to set up a budget basic system to start off. Have a Yamaha HTR-5940 receiver, Dayton 10" sub and a pair of R30's.
I want to add a center to the setup. I am torn between going budget with a CSi25, or spending more for a CS2 upon hearing how important the center channel is. But I want to make sure the speakers are going to match!!!
Oh, to add I feel the existing system lacking in dialogues (mid's ???!!!) and it's driving me nuts!
I am totally new to this field and forum. Any help/ advise will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Jennix

texastown

I put your R30's into the "products" tab at the top of the page and this came up:

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/r30/

If you scroll to the bottom of the page they list center's recommended with these speakers. They list CS1 as their recommendation. I assume they know their own products and it would probably work well.

I know what you mean about dialogue loss. I just added a CSi5 to my RTi8's and the improvement is huge.

drjennix

Thank you for the response Texastown. I was confused because I did not see the CS1 matched up with the R30 in this page. They list it with the CS2 instead!
http://www.polkaudio.com/education/showanswer.php?question_num=63

I do not know how much more appreciable the sound difference would be with the CS2 (as opposed to CS1, evaluating cost vs benefit) considering the basic nature of my setup??!!!

Jeff1

Untill recently, I had r30's, csi20, and r15's. The center was always the weak point. I always had to turn up the signal to hear dialogue in movies. I now have replaced the r30s with rti8, and soon will replace the center with the csi5. I'm not sure what size drivers are in the csi25, but my center has one 5.25 and one tweeter. I think you should choose something with two 6.5 drivers to better match your r30s.

danger boy

drjennix, welcome to club polk..

one thing you can try and this may not be the best solution.. in your Yamaha receiver select NO center channel.. that will send the center channel info to your R30's. some people have good luck with this setting, and other's don't. but it doesn't cost anything to try it out that way.

I agree with what Jeff1 wrote.. that's good advice.

drjennix

Thank you Jeff and Danger Boy. The settings change in the Yamaha did definitely help !
Based on your advise, here's what I see
CSi25- Two 5.25" woofers with a tweeter (4 ohms impedence, receiver output 8 Ohm impedence!!!)- $70 (electronics-exp.)
CS1- Dual 5.25-inch woofers and a tweeter- $116 (Amaz..)
CS2- Dual 6.5-inch woofers and a tweeter- $270 (Amaz..)
CSI3- Two 5.25" mid/woofers with a Tweeter -$124 (Amaz..)
What do you think my best bet is in bang for the buck to match the R30s??
Thanks again

Jeff1

I'm not sure how the r series will match the csi series. My rti8's are definately brighter than my r30's were and the csi is a match to the rti. The cs2 sounds like a good match, but I think it is a little too expensive. You can get the csi5 (again probably brighter) for $235 shipped at amazon now (I ordered one earlier). Given that you are on a budget you could try the cs1. Having two 5.25 drivers has to be better than the center I had with just one. Also, I have a large livng area where my system is. The cs1 would probably be ok in a small to medium sized room.

Kex

drjennix, I recently had a similar center matching problem. I contacted Polk Support and they answered immediately with good suggestions. If you are worried that the CS1 is not good enough, they could tell you if the CS2 really could be a better choice or not.

On pricing: when I looked a few weeks ago, the CS1 was at $160 or more everywhere. That cheaper pricing (seems to be on the black model only, not cherry) may not last for long (the cheapest amazon.com price, from Electronics Expo, says there are "only 3 left").

drjennix

Jeff, I do hear from other sites too that the CSi may be a bit too bright for the R30s.
Kex, I agree with the pricing. Feel that this is he lowest I have seen for the CS1 for a while now. I will contact polk support to see what they have to say about the setup options.
Based on the inputs I seem to be leaning towards the CS1. My room for the setup is about 15 feet by 20 feet. Feel like I may be ok with the CS1.
I appreciate all your inputs. Thank you.

Jeff1

dr, I received my new csi5 on 10-4. It is not as bright as I had expected it to be, so far. We watched 300 last night and had no trouble with dialog, as I had before. The two 6.5" drivers produced a strong accurate human voice. I'm not sure if you've pulled the trigger yet, but if you are still considering the csi3, I could hook up my old r30's with my new csi5 to see how they would match if you would like.


My impression so far has been that in 5.1 or 6.1, the rti/csi is more accurate and clear instead of brighter, than the r series. However, in 2 channel mode (for music) the rti is noticeably brighter. With my r30's, I used to find myself using stereo mode where I could increase the treble (and bass) by about +4. I find the rti's sound just about perfect in the direct mode setting (no processing).

G-2

Hi drjennix, welcome to the club, hang out and stay a while. You've gotten some great input already, we would only mention that for HT the Center channel is one of the most important speakers in your sys, for precisely the reasons you and others have already mentioned. I'd recommend calling Polk and finding out what your choices are, then going with the best, of those, you can swing ($$).

Sounds like your system is coming together, please keep us posted and enjoy!

mrbigbluelight

drjennix, we run R30's as fronts, and use a CS2 as a center.
If you can afford the extra moolah, I'd suggest the CS2.
My daughter and SIL have the same setup, except their center is the CS1.
I'd say the CS2 is worth the extra money.

From your searches, you've found the CS1 goes for around $120 (+/-).
You found the CS2 on Amazon for $270, but it can be had for not much more than the CS1. I don't have a link off hand, but our CS2 was bought for about $180, shipped. I think we got it off of eBay.
I'm posting from work today so, having nothing better to do I'll spend some time scrounging around.

Keep looking but remember the Main Rule: it's all good. Be happy with what you can get. It'll always get better.

drjennix

Folks, update! I got the CS1 that came in a few days ago. Am very happy the way it sounds. Thank you for all your input.
The CS1 seems also just the right size and weight to sit on top of my TV! Any bigger, and my CRT boy may start creaking ! But frankly am not sure if I could have swung the extra $ for the CS2 at this point.
Anyways, thanks again to all you good folks- I am a happy camper!