RM7302 vs. CSi3 Center Channel Speakers

[fayoub]

RM7302 vs. CSi3 Center Channel Speakers

I need some advice and can’t seem to make a decision. Hopefully someone can help me with my dilemma.

As shown in my signature, I recently added the RM6900 surround system to my existing sound system. Everything came together very well and sounds great most of the time. There is only one area of the whole system that I have concerns with. Sometimes I feel that my current RM6902 center channel speaker is unable to keep up with my front channel RTi10s. The dilemma that I face concerns both a space and sound issue. I know that if I upgrade my center channel speaker to the RM7302 it will fit under my television without any modifications to my cabinet. On the other hand, if I was to make some minor modifications to accommodate the CSi3, I feel it might be a better match sonically to the RTi10s. My obvious choice would be to upgrade to the CSi5, but due to space limitations, this is not an option at this point.

My preference is for better sound quality since the center channel provides so much of the sound content during movies and video playback. I am not concerned about the center channel for music since I only use the two front channel RTi10s and sub while listening to music content.

And the last consideration is that the RM7302 is substantially more expensive than the CSi3. But if the RM sounds better than the CS, I would gladly pay the extra. Also, the RM would probably look better in front of the television, but it’s all about the sound.

Please let me know what you think.

Thank you.

[MillerLiteScott]

I am thinking of getting rid of my ebony CSi3 ( bought it September 2, 2006) and getting a CSi5.

Just Sayin

[amulford]

The CSi would be a better match

[fayoub]

I finally had a chance to go to Fry's and listen and compare the CSi3 and CSi5 along with the RTi10s. It appears to me that the 3 has a more natural sound when it comes to dialogue in movies and the 5 excels in the music department. It was very apparent to me that the 5 has a much deeper sound than that of the 3 and sounded better by itself without the 10s playing. But once I added the 10s back into the mix I felt that the 3 provided a better match to the 10s for movies. The 5 just made all of the voices sound way too deep and unnatural. Now I am a little relieved that I don’t need to bulldoze my cabinets to try and fit the 5. But I’m sure that once I take home the 3 it will sound completely different and I’ll have to figure out a way to upgrade to the 5 at some point (hopefully not) in the future.

The only question left is I am wondering how the 7302 would sound compared to the 3 or if I should just forget about the 7302 altogether.

One last observation. When I asked the consultant how the centers were setup in the receiver, he explained that they set them up as large speaker, not small. I am assuming that it is alright to do that at home, but I’ll just have to experiment with it.

Let me know what you think…

[surfntomm]

the csi5 is the top dawg, it dwarfs the csi3 and sounds much better. if you get the 3 you will regret it and always wonder "what if" and prolly end up getting the 5. i should post a picture but the csi5 is on top of my 24" tv and its just as wide as it, very hilarious to look at. (its my roommates tv)