Center Channel for M20's, cis25 or csr?

[simonpeter2]

Hi,

I'm just building my first surround system. I have 4 M20's to start, I have hit a brick wall as far as center channel. I was hoping someone in the actual Polk forum could make it a bit easier. From other forums I have had people say go with the csia4, while others said no way to that because it is not the proper matching center. From the research I have done the best I can figure the "proper" matching is either the csi25 (older) or csr (newer). Any advice as to which would be better or it would not matter would be great, I have posted the link for the M20's so as not to confuse with the VM line...
In a perfect world I could fine someone who has the M20's and has used both, but alas ours is not a perfect world.

M20
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/m20/

CSi25
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/csi25/

CSR
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/center/individual/csr/

[simonpeter2]

Looks like its a stumper so far, I'm not worrying so much about the difference between the CSR and CSi25 because I think they are almost the same. But most people don't rate them high, and if I could jump up to a CS1 or CS2 or their newer models and make it sound better without having to worry about matching problems I would go that way.

Hopefully someone can shed some light....

[xcapri79]

Welcome to the Polk Forum. I think that you will enjoy your experiemce with Polk speaker. I know I do.

First, I'll say that I have all the speakers you have mentioned except the CSi25. The best match for your speakers is the CSR, except for its appearance. The CSR uses very similar if not identical drivers and a tweeter as the M20. The CSR will definitely work in your case and is typically available at a large discount.

The CSR is also a good choice if you are thinking about going with going with R50 fronts. (Two driver floorstanding speaker typically selling at a big discounted price, if they are still available).

The CS1 is a little closer to the outward appearance of the M20 with the speaker grille on and doesn't sound much different to my ear. Because of this, I would lean towards the CS1 to avoid problems with your eyes telling you that they don't match. To me , the eyes win over the ears in this case.

The other reason to consider the CS1 or even CS2 is that you may want to upgrade. Right now the Monitor series is discontinued and the stock is selling off at big discounts. Especially now that Circuit City, which carried the Polk Monitor series, is going out of business. Because of this, you may be able to pick up a pair of Monitor 50's, or 60's, or 70's at a great price for your fronts to improve your system and upgrade from 5.1 to 7.1.

By the way what sub are you using? I have a set up with Monitor 50 fronts, CS1 center, M20 surrounds, and four PSW10's for base enhancement.

If you are considering this, I would recommend the CS1 with the Monitor 50's or the CS2 with the Monitor 60's or 70's. I would say that I've seen the stock disappear on these items from different sellers, and they may not be around new for that much longer. However you can never really tell with these things until it is too late.

To summarize, the choice is based on visual vs sound equivalence, cost and upgrade path. If you don't wish to upgrade to Monitor series fronts right now and wish to keep the cost down to a minimum with good sound, then the CSR is a good choice. For the price that you can get it at and relative to the M20 speakers or R50 speakers, it is a solid choice.

If the outward appearance is a little more important and you are thinking about adding Monitor series fronts, then look at the CS1 or CS2. What you can afford is an overriding factor in most cases.

[simonpeter2]

Thanks for the reply. Good ideas all the way around. I chose the M20's because they where just too good of deal to not pass up (about $110.00 US/pr), and because Polk seems like a good choice for a company to stick with over the many years of upgrading that will follow. I would have liked to grab some Moniters but I live in a tiny town in Canada and access to them at a discount is slim. I was hoping down the line to make the jump to the RTi series, but I am keeping my eyes open for Moniters since they are being cleared out, if I find some at a real good deal I might swap the front end. I will probably go with the CSR for the M20's since sound will be the decision maker for me. I am guessing a good audiophile might be able to get the cs1 to matchup but since this is new to me it might be more difficult.

As far as a sub goes I have not yet pulled the trigger. Since my room is only realistically big enough for one I am really leaning toward the ED a2-300, in my area the only real other option if I wait for a sale is a Klipsh sub-12, so I might just bite the bullet and order the ED from the US.

[xcapri79]

Have you looked at the Canadian subwoofer brands such as Paradigm, PSB, Energy, Mirage and D-Box?
SVS and Velodyne also sell in Canada too.
I understand that Future Shop was selling the Polk PSW505 at quite a discount during Christmas.