Customer Reviews

Polk Audio CS20 Center Channel Speaker (Single, Cherry)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this CS20 about a month and a half ago. This center sounds great very clear and smooth sound. Highs are very soft with no painful sharp sounds (herd this sound with Klipsch and Bose centers} I also had a CS10 for about a week this was also a nice center but sound is much smoother and more realistic with CS20. The fit and finish are also excellent I love the way it looks. If you are looking for a great sounding center I would recommend.
The only downside would be for people without much room. This is a rather big center but it has big sound.

This center rocks. I've had Cerwin Vega and Acoustic Research centers, and this Polk is way better. Dialogue sounds clear and not muddy, very crisp highs and good lows. Excellent for late night viewing, when you can't have loud volume. The style, build and finish are also superb. This is a big center, with 1" tweeter and two 6.5" woofers. But that helps with the dynamic and the lows.

Pros - Great clear highs,lows, & mids. Pushes out mass amounts of sound.

Cons - Extremely Large, has a cheaply built cloth speaker cover.

Conclusion - Takes up tons of room under the TV. wish polk could make the same sound quality in a smaller package. I was looking for center channel with great mids and this is it.

This speaker is a great bargain. I have it matched to the TSi500s with an Onkyo TX-SR703. Sounds great! The first week was all burn in and I was regretting my purchase because the center wasn't as commanding as the TSi500s. But now that it's settled in I've re-ran the auto configure on the receiver everything is very crisp and it all matches up seemlessly. They say with movies 80-90% of all the audio (mostly voices) comes through the center, so instead of complaining that this speaker is physically big, it's awesome that it has no problem deliverying everything it's suppose to, without depending on the other speakers to make up for it's short comings. Highly recommended in it's price range.

Much has been written about the acoustical qualities of this speaker so I just wanted to add a comment about the cherry exterior. First off, it is beautiful. It looks like quality wood furniture and the high gloss piano black accents are very sophisticated.

I want to assure you that the color of the cherry is not nearly as orange or shiny as it appears in the picture. The photograph makes it appear almost garish in my opinion. It is a classy muted cherry and the finish has a fairly flat hand rubbed appearance.

This may be good news to you or not depending on your taste, but at least now you have something to help you decide.

This center channel sounds excellent and for the money, nothing I tested even came close.

Pros: The sound is really good for the money. I listened to about every center channel in a wide price range, and this one came out on top. The center channel is VERY important, because when watching movies, this isthe speaker that does MOST of the work and almost all the speaking. I highly recommend. The CS10 is also very good, but with the importance of the center channel I opted to pay just a little more. It is also a little bigger than the CS10.


Cons: It is pretty big, and I could not find a good mount to mount it under my television above my fireplaces, so I had to have it custom fabricated.

I listened to just about every speaker in this price range and bang for the buck these things took the cake. They sound better than many speakers costing much more (Bose did not even come close). They have very clear high to mid range, but they are light on the lower mid and obviously the bass, which they are not designed for. They clearly need to be paired with a subwoofer, but any seaker in this size would.

I have a 7.1 system with a Denon 1911 receiver, OWM5 sides, CS20 center, PSW 505 sub, and the tSI 500 fronts, and the TSI 300 rears, and it sounds amazing. A couple of my firends that spend far more are very jellous, which is always nice. At first I was disapointed, but apparently they require a break in period and after playing them for a few days fairly regularily, they came around nicely. I am very happy with my purchase decision. As I said, you can get better speakers, but you will be paying far more.

I bought this speaker to fit into my entertainment center. It was going to be paired with some Polk Towers. I have a very limited space, exactly 21", to put this speaker in and so it was important to me that the measurements be extremely precise.

Well I got this speaker and it turns out that this speaker is actually 23", not the 20" described in the product description. The dimensions are actually those of the smaller version of this speaker, the CS10.

So I had to return the speaker and get the smaller version since does not fit into my entertainment center. That being said, the speaker did sound great while I had it. I have the CS10, and don't notice too much difference, but I was not able to compare them side by side. The CS20 is a monster, so be prepared to have plenty of space for it if you buy it.

This center channel is great. I upgraded my theater in a box system to a collection of Polk audio speakers. The c20 has provided me with the movie like experience that I envisioned for my new media room. I also purchased a new reciever thinking my old receiver wouldnt be good enough for speakers. I definatly didnt need to do that. Speakers sound great with a sony strk840p. But should sound even better with my new onkyo 609 which i havent hooked up yet. The only thing with this speaker is the size. If you have space for this speaker get it. Won't be disappointed.

I'm glad I upgraded my small Yamaha center to the CS20. The depth of sound is amazing. It really compliments the larger floor standing polk speakers I already had. I put on the MTX audio test blu-ray and am ashamed to admit that Celine Dion sounded amazing...Don't judge me. Did I forget to mention that it makes action sequences (especially the explosions) sound awesome.Hopefully that makes up for the Celine Dion comment. I wouldn't spend $350, but $170 is a great price. By the way this thing is a monster. It looks great, but it's huge...TWSS.

I debated heavily to buy this or the CS10 from Polk. While I'll never know my personal take on comparing the two, I am extremely happy with this speaker. A center speaker covers a lot of dialog, which is what ultimately helped me decide to spend more money on this model. I have my sound system attached to my TV (two side speakers and this in the center) and it does wonders for both music and movies. More importantly, movies are dialog heavy and you need a good center speaker. I have this center speaker hooked up to a receiver that can export 100W of power per speaker and it does wonders.

PROS
*Crisp and clear
*can get very loud (more than I need it to be)
*Looks great

CONS
*Will be bigger than you will think it will be
(I assumed it would fit on a shelf under my TV and was wrong - had to make a custom shelf above TV)
*Maybe more than I need? (I guess I'll never know but am very happy with it).