Worth the Money
Written: Sep 24 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Flatness: |
|
|
| Imaging: |
|
|
| Overall Sound: |
|
|
|
Pros: Good voice creation with clear mid's.
Cons: Should not be used for music only as the highs could be better.
The Bottom Line: Nuf said. This speaker is a good home theater center channel. Not the best, but definitely worth the money. It does the job!
|
|
|
| SHOSHOSHO's Full Review: Polk Audio CSi30 Center Speaker |
This is a good center channel speaker to be used if you are setting up a 5.1 surround system.
If you are not familiar with a 5.1 (or 6.1,7.1) system you should know that the center channel is primarily used to recreate voice only with some mid-range effects. Therefore the center channel speaker should recreate realistic sounding voice effects. For $199.00 this speaker does just fine. You could spend $100 more for the CSi40 but I could net really tell the difference when comparing at the store. The only difference between the two is that the CSi40 uses two mid range drivers that are 1" larger, as well as a center port for more air flow. The only thing that the CSi40 does better is recreating the "crash" effects which the center should not really be responsible for anyways (those are charicteristics you should look for in the side and rear channels).
Here is the system that this speaker is paired up with:
(2) Polk RTi70 floor standing front speakers
(2) Polk RTi28 book shelf rear speakers
(1) Boston Acoustics PV1000 sub (Read My Review!)
(1) Onkyo DS 989 Receiver
If your not familiar with these components, lets just say that this makes up a great system. Keep in mind that the key to this system is the sub, otherwise it just doesn't work. You should also have a higher quality receiver with seperate amplifiers for each channel as does the Onkyo. The Onkyo receiver I am using is way more than this system needs but I got a great deal on it. You should be pumping at least 100 watts per channel though.
The bottom line is this center speaker is more than capable of recreating realistic mid-high effects which correlates into good voice reproduction. Don't bother spending the extra $100 on the CSi40, you should not expect anything more from a center channel speaker than this one in a well matched system.
Read my reviews for the other components on this system.
Also remember that a good sounding system is mostly personal preference. If your retailer will not let you sample all of the available products then go to another! The other, and probably most important part of a good system is proper speaker matching. You need to hear all of the components together. Generally speaking you should stick to one manufacturer when making the surround speaker choices with one exception, the sub-woofer.
I know that this review is specific to the CSi30 but this speaker is most definitely used as a compenent in a surround sytem therefore the extra information provided in this review is necessary.
One last thing, my system setup was designed to be equal between a home theater and music applications. If you are looking to lean towards music or a music only system I would generally not choose Polk but I would go with Boston Acoustics. In my opinion, you get a better bang for your buck with Boston Acoustics because the higher end Polk speakers are a bit pricey and do not stand up to Boston in sound quality for the price.
All in all, when properly matched, this is probably the best home theater center speaker for the money.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
SHOSHOSHO
|
|
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 2 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.