TSI series sounds dull...

kdog03

So upon upgrading a center to a CS10 I have come to the crossroads of what to do with this great looking piano black center. Started with monitor 60's, I picked up a CS10 because of a really good deal over the CS1. Why not, its basically the same speaker right? Well im not sure...

First the monitor60's sounds great, nice and bright but the CS10 center was dull and flat, seemed muffled almost. I have convinced myself the silk dome tweeter is the culprit and now regret not getting the CS1, but are center speakers less accustically involved because of their size and that is what im hearing? Am I playing head games with myself in thinking the CS10 sounds muffled? After trying to EQ and tune the speaker in better it simply wont come around like the monitor 60's do for clear sound.

What are my options here? I was going to nab some TSI400 to match this center but I'm not liking the "warm" sound at all if that is what i am hearing. I don't want to end up with a system I don't like. Thoughts on the TSI series please.

kawizx9r

Did you give them time to 'open up' by breaking them in? Btw, welcome to CP!

wutadumsn23

Just food for thought, but have you checked your settings to make sure that the center is setup correctly? You should be able to increase the output of your center if it is hard to hear by increasing the "loudness level" or whatever your AVR may call it. Also, while the TSi's and Monitor do seem to be very similar on paper, I have never heard a "mix-matched" TSi and Monitor series. I would doubt that it would be that much of an issue, since they are very similar spec wise. May I ask why you chose the CS10 over the CS1? The CS1 is easily half the price of the CS10 and is still available at most sites online. Also, I would have gone for the CS2/CS20 seeing as how you have the Monitor 60's as your fronts and the CS1/CS10 may have a hard time keeping up with the 60's and may sound muffled or hard to hear as a result. Just my $.02 and hope you get it working properly. I have the CS2 in my setup and it works great with my Monitor 70's/40's. Also as Freddy suggested, if it is new, it will need some time to break in as he said so be patient, the problem may just fix itself. Welcome to Club Polk!!

-Jeff

metalbandit

I have the TSI 400 and they are not warm at all. On the contrary they are too bright and need a really warm amp to balance out the sound. Give them some time, at least 70-80 hours to open up.

leroyjr1

Which receiver are you running?

vijayl

wutadumsn23 said it right and depending on your receiver, u cud run calibration for now. after break in, run the calibration again. It shud work out fine. If your receiver didn't come with any calibration feature, u have to play with adjusting speaker level, tone, equalizer etc..
If you like M60, stick with it. CS10 shud match w/ M60.

hearingimpared

+1 on the driver break-in.

Nicknice

You should check the binding posts on the back, and make sure that all four of them are tightened down. If all four posts aren't touching the jumpers you could be getting no tweeter. I have had this happen to me before, and the speaker did sound muffled.

Nicknice

Please disregard my previous post. I just checked the owners manual for the cs10, and saw it only has one pair of binding posts, so there are no jumpers.

Face

I wouldn't consider those speakers warm, something else is amiss.

kdog03

Running an Onkyo 626, which is basically the 606; 130w rms to each speaker-this 626 came withe the okyo package in a 7.1 setup. I went with the TSI because I wanted a great looking center and I was going to add the tsi400's and move the monitor 60's to the sides/rear. The CS1 is not appealing visually and is bigger than the cs10 in height. The cs20 might be a good hit as it is a tad smaller than the cs2 but wider. There is a good chance within the next month that i will be adding an onkyo 806, then go from there for now. If the tsi are not considered warm, are the rti series considered warmer than the tsi series? Can someone give a breakdown of warm to bright based on the monitor-tsi-rti-lsi series? Also are the fxia4 sides a good match for either a tsi series or a monitor series if you had to choose...

kdog03

Update...I stand corrected. I pulled the trigger and purchased the TSI500's and having tested them side by side to the monitor70's---they are much clearer and pronounced. BTW-I was comparing the CS10 to a CS2 which is likely why the sounds were clearer in some way on the cs2 to the cs10--larger driver, larger cabinet, etc. I am upgrading the CS10 to the CS20 now. I appreciate your comments.

Here is another delima I am facing now---what to use for the surrounds and rears. Polk recomends the OWM3-which i think will sound good with such a strong center sound stage that I have but what are my options? Room is only a 12X20 or so. Will the FXI A6 line be a good match for the TSI500-CS20 setup?

Thanks.

wutadumsn23

Yeah, comparing a CS10 to a CS2 would be a pretty easy win for the CS2, lol. Personally I would go with the TSi 200's for your surrounds, they are the best timbre match to your 500's and CS20, although I would imagine the OWM3's would work as well. I have the Monitor 40's (TSi 200's "replaced" them) and they are an amazing surround speaker.

-Jeff

BlueFox

wutadumsn23 said it right and depending on your receiver, u cud run calibration for now. after break in, run the calibration again. It shud work out fine. If your receiver didn't come with any calibration feature, u have to play with adjusting speaker level, tone, equalizer etc..
If you like M60, stick with it. CS10 shud match w/ M60.

"u cud" "shud" "u" "shud"

Is this a foreign language, laziness, or stupidity?