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The Infinity had a higher freq for high notes, but the Polk Audio was more true to its purpose (vocals, center screen audio) it gives more of a breathy feel and excels in the reproduction of male vocals, which other center channels in its class have a hard time doing accurately. I previously owned an Infinity Primus C25 speaker. I purchased the CS2 to match well with the rest of the Monitor Lineup (Monitor 70 mains & Monitor 40 Surround) and the negative reviews for the CS1 scared me away. My guess is the relatively large volume of the enclosure provides the effect. All vocals that come out of this thing sound lifelike, from movies, games, even the local news.
I finally purchased a Z-line Balboa Park TV stand from Target for a decent price just to fit this speaker. It is worth mentioning again. Take your idea of a large center speaker and then multiply it a few times. It was just 1/2 inch too short. If taken care of well, speakers last for years and years, so the extra $30 or so is not bad.If you can manage the space issue, I would highly recommend this speaker. However, nothing will eliminate it completely if you are worried about loud volumes. You will need about 8 - 10 inches height in a shelf to be safe, and quite a bit of depth. This is part of the design of the speaker, and it works incredibly well.
Dialogue sounds just like in the theater, and in some cases even better. loud action scenes. smaller center speakers though.I can't speak to cs2 vs cs1, but these days you can find it online for only a little more than cs1 and from what I have read, it is worth it. It actually seems thicker than the floor standing polk 70's.
I had an IKEA benno tv stand with what appeared to be a pretty large shelf and never dreamed a center speaker would be too big for it. You must check measurements and make sure you have extra clearance in your home theater setup to accommodate. First off, like others have mentioned, the speaker is HUGE. Make sure the front of your center speaker is in line the with front of the front channel speakers and the tv for the best sound.I'm sure many struggle with the eternal battle of increasing and decreasing volume while watching 5.1 content to hear dialogue vs. Before this I had a yamaha center that was less powerful, but sounded good. Amazingly crisp and full of depth. Trust me on this one and check the size.
The sound experience watching blurays and playing ps3 games in 5.1 is really amazing. I realized this the other day watching Harry Potter 6 in the theater. I got this cs2 to go with 2 polk audio monitor 70's in a home theater setup. I think this speaker really helps in this regard, simply due to the richness of sound and clarity. I could really hear the difference, because before I got the new tv stand, I went back to the old yamaha after already testing the cs2 -- like night and day. Dialogue in theaters really is much much softer than loud action scenes -- the sound is deliberately mastered that way and the same soundtracks end up on blurays.
The sound is huge and clear, even at lower volumes. If you have monitor 70's, it is definitely worth it, since cs2 is meant to match the same tonal timbre as the monitor 70's. Seriously. You will see definitely the benefit vs. Once you set it up, it actually looks pretty good and discrete with the grille.It sounds silly to spend extra money just to accommodate a center speaker, but I really feel it was worth it. If the speaker is not at ear level, you can place it upside down so the speaker points up at you.
The CS2 really does, in my opinion, a faithful reproduction that sounds amazing. It will really take your home theater experience to a new level.
The size of speaker would make you think the sound would be too loud, but it sounds great. The only drawback is the size. tou have to find the right tv stand with the proper shelving space for it to fit under your tv.
Purchased to match two Polk Monitor 70s. I love the center channel. They all sound beautiful together. I feel like I'm at the movies
We're really enjoying our new speaker. Ordering was easy, delivery was especially fast, thanks for offering a quality product at a price that was affordable for us.
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