My CS1 just sounds plain terrible.

[Nightsbane]

I have gotten my other speakers sounding great, but my CS1 sounds absolutely awful. The sound is so blatty and difficult to make out. You can definitely tell the difference of the sound coming out of it, and when it is coming out of the monitor 50's and 40's I have. I also leaned close and have never heard any sound coming out of the two side bass speakers that I can tell at all.

Any suggestions here?

[tcrossma]

Double-check your connections first. Second, with the power off, swap the CS1 with one of your front Monitor 50's and see if that makes the CS1 come alive. If it does not, then I'd say you have something wrong with the speaker.

[Nightsbane]

I will give it a shot thanks

[Nightsbane]

I check the connections and got it working somewhat. I think the problem is the source. I think Cox cable might be just transmitting a crappy signal. I am also using digital coax for that input so I will try and buy a optical cable and see if it makes a difference.

[clarknova_666]

Try putting in a DVD and compare that to the Cox cable input (I really enjoy saying the name of that company)

- the coax versus optical will probably not solve this problem........

If the DVD sounds correct - then it is a source issue

- however - I would place bets on it being a defective speaker or the amplifier for that channel or the pre/pro signal.

[Nightsbane]

The rest of the speakers all sound great, all hooked up the same receiver (a sony DG820)

Some movies sound great, some movies the center audio still struggles. I don't know, I don't feel like it's the great center channel speaker I thought it would be so far, too much hassle.

[wutadumsn23]

Might just be one of those things, the CS1 is a good quality center channel and is well matched with what you are running. If you have exhausted all other ways of troubleshooting it and it is still under warranty see if you are able to send it in for repairs or see if you can swap it out with a CS2. Although I have never heard a CS1 IMHO the CS2 is a much better center channel it is just quite a bit larger than the CS1.

[nooshinjohn]

Might just be one of those things, the CS1 is a good quality center channel and is well matched with what you are running. If you have exhausted all other ways of troubleshooting it and it is still under warranty see if you are able to send it in for repairs or see if you can swap it out with a CS2. Although I have never heard a CS1 IMHO the CS2 is a much better center channel it is just quite a bit larger than the CS1.plus 1... it is a decent center, but sometimes cannot keep up. For dialog sometimes it just lacks depth and presence

[Nightsbane]

^ that's the problem. When people are speaking slowly it is fine. It cannot keep up with dynamix voices and yelling ect... It is just flat and lacks dynamics. The monitor 50s and 40s are awesome and blew away what I had, the cs1 is hit and miss compared to a standard kit center that is 1/4 it's size.

[tcrossma]

^ that's the problem. When people are speaking slowly it is fine. It cannot keep up with dynamix voices and yelling ect... It is just flat and lacks dynamics. The monitor 50s and 40s are awesome and blew away what I had, the cs1 is hit and miss compared to a standard kit center that is 1/4 it's size.

How did it sound when you hooked it up in place of one of your Monitor 50's?

[Lasareath]

Cox cable input (I really enjoy saying the name of that company)





Maybe you shouldn't have admitted to that! LOL!

[Nightsbane]

I honestly can't not easily switch it out with the monitor 50s due to my set up. I starting messing with it, but I decided not to. Last night I watched weeds, nurse jackie, and a movie on showtime HD. The vocal clarity sounded great with weeds, ok with NJ, and great with the showtime HD movie. I am beginning to think it might be the signal. I will update after I watch the ghostbusters blu ray tonight

[NewHTguy]

Maybe I am way out in left field, but have you tried turning up the level of the center in your receiver's set-up menu? My Onk's auto eq programs seems to set the level of the center too low unless you are listening at really high levels. I had that problem with my old CS2.

[slowpolky]

hey buy a csi3 if all else fails , I have a black one for sale ? 95 dollars?

[snow]

hey buy a csi3 if all else fails , I have a black one for sale ? 95 dollars?This is not the for sale area!!

SNOW

[comfortablycurt]

This is not the for sale area!!

SNOW

+1!!!

Quit trying to sell your gear in the wrong area.

That wouldn't even be a good center channel for his setup. Considering that he has Monitor 50's and 40's, the CSi3 would sound terrible. The tweets in the Monitors are fairly laid back sounding, while the CSi3's tweet is very forward, and somewhat bright sounding.

[Nightsbane]

I have fiddled around with it, and come to the conclusion that some audio sounds great, and some sounds like crap. I think it is just the source, and not the speaker. I just didn't notice until I had a good setup how poorly some sound is produced.

[NewHTguy]

FWIW, the same is true even with a "phantom center" (no center). Some material is fine, no problems. With other material I have to either keep the volume way too high for my tastes, or keep adjusting.

[nguyendot]

Have you gone into the setup menu (hit setup twice) and changed the audio output to Dolby Digital. Usually it's set to OTHER or HDMI

This will help some channels, others it wont change (stereo only).

[Nightsbane]

yeah I did that, and it does help some channels, some channels are just terrible. I really think it's just the differing sources.

[nguyendot]

Some channels are stereo only, and will either have no sound from the center, or crappy derived sound.