Customer Reviews

Polk Audio Monitor Series CS1 Center Channel Speaker (Single, Cherry)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First off I must rate JR Computers & Electronics;
5 stars there. Ordered this unit on a Wednesday & it arrived via UPS Friday, same week. It was in original factory carton unopened, packed inside a second larger box with still more packing material, safe and sound! I've ordered other items from JR and as always, for an online purchase I barely had time to blink.
Now about the product;
Nice looking wood finish, with the face in silver. (w/o the black grill) Very solid and heavy construction. Certainly does not feel or look cheap. Being a noob to the home theater scene, and by no means an audiophile the price made me nervous because I was assuming that it couldn't be as nice as it is for the price. The sound is just as impressive, sounds great in my low budget setup. Frequency response is good per the specs on both ends, (high and low) and it has a good midrange for voices.

The center that came with my Sony 6600 HT in a box set has annoyed me for 6+ years. I was about to buy another set of smaller speakers in a set, that is, until I saw this one. This isn't the biggest and baddest you can buy, but that wasn't what I was looking for. I'm no real audiophile and I'm not a dude who needs to impress others with the size of my equipment (no pun intended). I just wanted something that wouldn't sound so puny watching movies or CNN.

First thing I noticed, this box is big and heavy and I can only imagine the size of this thing. I knew the dimensions on paper, but it was quite different seeing this speaker in person. This is quite big for those used to dealing with a Home Theater in a box. I can only imagine the magnitude of the CS2. I'm sure it's a great speaker, but it would be way too big. This speaker was less than a 1/4" too big for my entertainment cubby so I had to shuffle some things around to accommodate it. When they say 18" wide, they mean it.

Update:
The only con I can find is that the treble seems a bit harsh. I had to keep making adjustments to the treble and bass for better blending with my front Polk Monitor 60s. I'm curious if the CS2 has the same issues as this one. As is, I can't fit this speaker into the cubby I planned, so it won't make much difference with going a bit wider. I'm still debating on trying the other. For reference, I still have my old Sony Subwoofer, but plan on upgrading the HSU STF-2 sometime soon.

One note of caution. Once you buy this, it will probably set you on a path to upgrading the rest of your system.

Update II:
After just receiving the CS1, I ordered the speaker (CS2) that everyone at the AVS forum previously recommended. The CS2 is a much better speaker overall. Now that I was able to try them both out, I can say that the CS1 definitely has a sharper tone. Yes it's very clear, but it is also very harsh in regard to treble. Almost too high, even with receiver adjustments.

The CS2 has much more bass, but it also blends in with my other speakers much better. My system now sounds like one voice, instead one isolated speaker a majority of the time. The CS2 even blends well with my smaller RM6751 Surrounds.

The CS2 Cabinet is not that much bigger than the CS1, and for some reason the CS1 feels heavier. The CS1 is going back to Newegg tomorrow.

For Reference: I have Monitor 60s in the front and 6751s for surronds.

This center channel is a bit bigger than I had thought it would be because I just imagined a size with the picture they provide, which provided no basis for me in guesstimating the size. Regardless, this thing sounds amazing and is a great deal! Highly recommended.

Speakers arrived days before expected-during Christmas season yet. Great condition and beautiful sound. Very happy with the entire package. Thank you

This is the second Polk Audio speaker I've bought. The first was another Center channel, though it was a gift for a friend. The clearity and bass response of this speaker out performed my expectations by quite a margin. I can only say good things, and the looks are very nice too. As long as you are using a quality receiver/amp, you'll be happy.

I wanted a good sound system without spending a fortune, so here's what I did -- I bought a cheap Philips Home Theatre sound system with a decent power rating and replaced the center speaker with the CS1. The result is spectacular! Even though the impedance didn't match (Polk=8ohms, Philips=4ohms) I didn't notice any loss of power, in fact I had to turn the center channel down slightly. The center channel is really the heart of a home theater system, so this is where I targeted my spending and I feel like I created a great system, for peanuts. I paid less than seventy for the CS1 (about the price of a Monster Cable) and it sounds great with special effect movies as well as plain dialog.

Supposedly this model is inferior to the cs10, but I didn't see any difference in the specs. Some reviews complain that the CS1 is too large. The speaker I replaced was small. That's why I replaced it. It sounded tinny. Block it out if you're concerned (the measurements are given in the product description.) My TV is 60" so the size of this doesn't bother me at all.

For fun, shop around for the best price, which fluctuates wildly, with frequent and unfathomable discounts -- For some reason the cherry version was heavily discounted over the black when I bought it (elsewhere). It's just a veneer, and not as rich as the picture but it looks very good. Hey, for the money I saved I would spraypaint it black, but it actually goes well with my TV stand which happens to be real cherry.

The bevel in the cabinet allows you to point the speaker upward, if desired. Nice touch.

Just hooked this up a couple of hours ago and this thing sounds amazing right out of the box.The cherry finish is beautiful and it looks great on top of my tv.I know they say speakers have to be broken in so I guesss I'm in for a real treat as it already sounds great.

I purchased these last December, 2007 from Amazon and after all these months I have been completely satisfied with the Polk Audio brand. The center channel has made my 7.1 in-ceiling speaker setup a complete joy to listen too. I am using these speakers with my Onkyo TX-SR705 7.1 receiver and it just all sounds great for playing movies, music cds, and console games.

This was my setup for the home theater and my wife and I are completely happy with the sound, look, and would purchase Polk Audio again.

Front: RC80i
Surround: RC60i
Back Surround: RC60i
Center: CS1
Sub: PSW505

I bought this to pair with my polk audio monitor 40 speakers. the sound is amazing for this price and highly recommended.

The reason I give this speaker 4 stars is because of the poor specifications in the instructions manual.

When I ordered the CS1 I wasn't sure about its power rarting or impedance. To my surprise, the manual does not mention POWER and only states "compatible" with 8 ohm systems. Well, after sending my amplifier to the "protected stage" (it turned itself off) a couple of times, I decided to verify the impedance and it happens to be a 4 ohm speaker.

Surprised by the result I decided to measure every speaker in my home to find out that all of them were 8 ohm except for my front speakers...again Polk Audio R50s.

I don't understand why Polk Audio does not clearly specify Power and Impedance after all that is what one should look at when buying a speaker.

The speakers sound and look great, but if not careful you can blow your amp.

I decided to keep the CS1 and for that I matched the impedance using a transformer. I works fine and it has not given any more problems, but it was definitely not compatible with my 8 ohm "only" center channel.

I did not catch the R50s right away because my front channels will take 4-8 ohm speakers.

A matching transformer makes the speaker look like an 8 ohm load to the amp. If you have the same problem, do not try to use a resistor connected in series because it will consume about half the power, for example, with a 100 watt center channel, about 50 watts would go to the resistor. You would need a big resistor that can handle that power and that will probably get very hot. Do not use a 4 ohm resistor in series, get a matching transformer instead.

I hope this will help...