Product Description

Center channel speakers easily carry the 50% or more of center channel info delivered in multi-channel sources for home theatre systems. The Polk Audio CSI A5 Center Channel Speaker has an upside-down aimable cabinet to give you placement flexibility and finer sound-tailoring for your high performance home theater system. It is also timbre-matched to fit into any Polk Audio home theater or multi-channel music system for a more realistic and seamless surround sound environment. The CSi A5 features the latest generation of Dynamic Balance polymer composite drivers for smooth wide-range response with low distortion as well as a 1-inch silk/polymer dome tweeter to deliver better sound detail. Venting through the rear panel Power Port and the front panel ARC port vastly reduces chuffing or port noise. It provides deeper, more powerful, lower distortion bass than other conventional ported or sealed designs can offer. All-MDF construction creates an acoustically inert cabinet. You are assured classic Polk performance in a design that speaks to today's high-end home décor. True performance art.

Product Details

• Color: Black
• Brand: Polk Audio
• Model: AM4115
• Dimensions: 8.00" h x 14.50" w x 24.00" l, 29.00 pounds

Features

• A single center channel speaker with butyl rubber surrounds for high performance durability
• Two 6.5-inch mid-woofers with dynamic balance polymer composite drivers
• One 1-inch silk composite dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet
• Acoustically inert, asymmetrically braced 0.75-inch MDF cabinets
• Power port bass venting for superior clean, low distortion bass

From the Manufacturer
CSi Center Channel Speakers easily carry the 50+% of center channel info delivered in multi-channel sources; their upside-down aim-able cabinets give you the ultimate in placement flexibility and sound-tailoring for your high performance home theater system.

Features

• Acoustically inert 3/4" MDF cabinets, finished in Cherry wood or Black Oak veneers. Turn them upside-down to aim them "up" when your placement requires them to be below your TV or video screen (it's a Polk innovation we pioneered back in the 90s!). Or, use the CSi5's Adjustable Kick Stand Prop to balance the speaker on your shallow-depth RPTV.
• Dynamic Balance polymer composite drivers for smooth wide-range response with low distortion.
• Power Port bass venting for superior clean, low distortion bass that you can really feel.
• Acoustic Resonance Control (ARC Port) technology for more natural midrange reproduction.
• 1" silk dome Dynamic Balance tweeter features a neodymium magnet for clear, detailed highs; heat-sinked for superior heat dissipation, power handling and reliability.
• Butyl rubber surrounds for high performance durability.
• Acoustically inert stamped driver baskets.
• Floating anti-diffraction grilles minimize grille diffraction for spacious, 3-dimensional imaging.
• Magnetic shielding for safe placement near video sources.
• Mylar bypass capacitors in the crossovers extend high frequency response and improve detail and transparency.
• Dual, bi-ampable gold-plated 5-way binding post inputs (with wide holes for large-gauge bare wire connections) for the most secure connections and the most versatile wiring applications. (The CSi5 is a truly bi-wire- and bi-amp-able Center Channel Speaker!)
• Timbre-matched to fit into any Polk Audio home theater or multi-channel music system for a more realistic, more seamless surround sound environment.

Customer Reviews

Good, but not perfect
I am a consumer electronics professional and have been in the business for 20 years now. I say this just to add some context for this review and to let readers know that I'm far pickier than most users.

Given how much of a movie comes from the center channel, it is arguably the most important speaker in any home theater system. Before this I had a high-end Infinity with dual 5.25" mid/woofs, but found it to lack depth. The clarity and openness were great, but I wanted to feel the menacing timbre in Darth Vader's voice and get the full impact of a baritone singing voice, which I felt was missing.

They say that your center should be the same type of speaker as your fronts, but putting a tower on your TV is a bit excessive, even for me. So I did the next-best thing.

The CSi5 is an imposing speaker with dual 6.5" woofers, a sizable ported cabinet, and a clean but not shrill tweeter. The subdued highs of the tweeter were actually what made it such a good match for my Phase Tech front speakers.

Well, while I definitely got the depth I was after, and the highs are wonderfully mellow, the problem is that the speaker lacks the openness of the Infinity. I thought the thick and dense cabinet would solve this problem, which I've heard in other Polk speakers of lower quality, but it didn't. The sound is very localized and often sounds like it's coming from a box, which, of course, it is.

I've always liked, if not always respected, Polk speakers, and actually had a pair of the old Monitor 10B speakers. They were boomy and a little too sparkly, but they had a pleasing sound and were more open than today's models. They started messing with the two-way design they used in all of their speakers--all the way up to their monstrous SDA SRS1.2s--and wound up kicking themselves in the butt.

It's a good speaker, but to a guy that values open sound above so many other aspects of sound quality, this is a tough pill.

-Doug

Great speaker, but...
This speaker sounds great, but so does the CS1 which is priced at only $179 which is less than 1/2 the cost of the CSi5. I actually had the opportunity to test the two products side by side and honestly I couldn't hear a difference, even with full tone sweeps including lots of bass.

I rate this as 3 stars because, although it sounds fabulous, I think it is overpriced since you get almost identical performance from a much cheaper speaker (minus 1 star). Also, this thing is huge which means many users may have a hard time placing it in the right spot so the soundstage would be messed up (minus 1 star).

If you have lots of money to burn and plenty of space for this speaker, then I'd recommend it, otherwise go with the CS1.

Great speaker
I'm in love with this speaker!!!
I love the sound quality! I also like the fact that you can bi amp it.
My only reservation is the weight and sheer size. Its on the heavey side and a bit bulky so plan your placment carefully