The CS250 center channel speaker features:
- Magnetically shielded to allow safe placement next to TVs and video monitors
- Dynamic Balance® drive units ensure timbre matching to other Polk speakers for seamless imaging
- Fluid cooled tweeter provides the high power handling essential for center channel speakers
- Non-metallic driver basket assures the best magnetic shielding
- Angled cabinet allows the CS250 to be pointed upward when placed in a low position (such as under the TV)
- Low profile design allows unobtrusive placement on top of TVs
The Center Channel Loudspeaker:
Whether you're assembling a new home theater system or upgrading an existing one, to experience the full potential of Surround Sound you will need a center channel loudspeaker.
Contrary to popular opinion, the center speaker is not just for reproducing dialog. Since all on-screen action, including explosions, gunshots and sound effects as well as dialog, must be faithfully reproduced and anchored to the TV screen, not just any speaker will do.
Here's a checklist of things to look for in a center channel speaker.
- High Power Handling - as much as 90 percent of the sound comes from the center channel loudspeaker. Since most home theater is played more loudly than music, the center channel is going to be driven harder than ordinary speakers can handle.
- Clarity and fidelity - You should be able to feel the impact of an explosion and share the intimacy of a whisper, something that only a well-designed full range speaker can do.
- Exceptional Magnetic Shielding - Since the center channel is placed usually on top of or below your TV, it must be magnetically shielded so it won't distort and discolor the TV image. Prolonged exposure to stray magnetic fields like those from poorly shielded speakers can cause permanent damage to your TV.
- High Utility - The center channel speaker needs to be compact with a low profile so that it can be placed on top of a TV without sticking out like a sore thumb. Its size and shape should allow it to fit into a variety of furniture and spaces.
- Flat, accurate frequency response and a neutral tonal balance to insure a "timbre match" with new speakers you use for left and right. As visual images move across the screen, their sonic images move with them. If the three front speakers are not well matched, the character of the sound will change as the sound moves from speaker to speaker. A fighter jet may sound more like a single engine plane as it passes through the center speaker. Using the same speaker in the center as you use for the left and right channels is not practical. This would most likely mean having a large, obtrusive speaker sitting on your TV set. However, it takes accuracy and neutral tonal balance to make non-identical speakers blend well.
Designing a speaker to address all these criteria is a tall order. How do you build an uncolored high performance speaker capable of handling lots of power, magnetically shield it and then package it into a compact, unobtrusive enclosure? By applying the latest technological advances in materials and measurement to an understanding of people's needs, Polk has done exactly that in three new center channel loudspeakers. The Polk Audio CS150, the CS250S and the CS350LS.
- Excerpt from 1994 promotinal information
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