Polk R50 matched to CSR?

[Deleted member 4644]

Is the Polk R50 floor speaker matched to the Polk CSR center?

How much of an upgrade would these speakers be over the Onkyo HT780 standard HTiB speakers?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

When I e-mailed Polk, Ken Swauger said the CSR was the best match for the Polk R-series. I was asking about the newer R-series, but I believe CSR is also the best match for the older R-series as well.

I'll leave the upgrade question to someone that has heard both hopefully. I've heard the speakers on the Onkyo 790 set, but not the Polks.

 

[sao123]

I matched the CS1 to the R50's and it sounds great as well.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: sao123
I matched the CS1 to the R50's and it sounds great as well.

Many people think the CS1 sounds a little too bright for the R50 (but not nearly as bright as the CSi3), because it's matched to the Montior series of speakers. The CSi25 is a perfect timbre match to the R50 as it was made to go with the older R series. This is what I'm using with my R50. I don't think frys.com carries them any more, but they're frequently on ebay.

As for the CSR, I believe that's just the newer version of the CSi25 just like the R300 and R150 are newer versions of the R30 and R15, respectively. I believe the CSM is a decent match as well.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: sao123
I matched the CS1 to the R50's and it sounds great as well.

Many people think the CS1 sounds a little too bright for the R50 (but not nearly as bright as the CSi3), because it's matched to the Montior series of speakers. The CSi25 is a perfect timbre match to the R50 as it was made to go with the older R series. This is what I'm using with my R50. I don't think frys.com carries them any more, but they're frequently on ebay.

As for the CSR, I believe that's just the newer version of the CSi25 just like the R300 and R150 are newer versions of the R30 and R15, respectively. I believe the CSM is a decent match as well.

The CSi25 is part of the CSi series meant to match the RTi series.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homea...cts/individual/center/

I haven't heard any of these though, so I don't know how much any of this really matters.

My original e-mail to Polk was specifically a question of whether CSi25 or CSR was better for matching to the new R300s/R150s and CSR was the answer I got.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
The CSi25 is part of the CSi series meant to match the RTi series.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homea...cts/individual/center/

I haven't heard any of these though, so I don't know how much any of this really matters.

My original e-mail to Polk was specifically a question of whether CSi25 or CSR was better for matching to the new R300s/R150s and CSR was the answer I got.

I'm not sure why the website has it listed that way. The CSi25 was made to go with the old R series as you can see in this home-theater package. The consensus on the Polk forums is that the CSi20 and CSi25 are the best matches for the old R series since they have the same woofers and tweeter as the R15.

One thing I've learned in my correspondence with Polk support is that they never recommend a product that isn't currently being produced. I emailed them asking what center I should get for the R50, and they replied with the CS2 as the best match and the CS1 as the second-best match, even though neither of those is a perfect timbre match for the R50.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
The CSi25 is part of the CSi series meant to match the RTi series.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homea...cts/individual/center/

I haven't heard any of these though, so I don't know how much any of this really matters.

My original e-mail to Polk was specifically a question of whether CSi25 or CSR was better for matching to the new R300s/R150s and CSR was the answer I got.

I'm not sure why the website has it listed that way. The CSi25 was made to go with the old R series as you can see in this home-theater package. The consensus on the Polk forums is that the CSi20 and CSi25 are the best matches for the old R series since they have the same woofers and tweeter as the R15.

One thing I've learned in my correspondence with Polk support is that they never recommend a product that isn't currently being produced. I emailed them asking what center I should get for the R50, and they replied with the CS2 as the best match and the CS1 as the second-best match, even though neither of those is a perfect timbre match for the R50.

Hmmm, yeah that's odd. I'm rather confused why they put an "i" in the name of the center for something that's supposed to match the R series then.

A polk rep just got back to me about CSR being the best match for the older R-series (R50/R30/R15) as well.

 

[kalrith]

It looks like the Polk reps' recommendations vary. I did some searches on the Polk forums. One rep recommended the CSi25. Another recommended the CSR, CSM, and CS1. On this support page, Polk recommends the CS2 as a match to the R50.

I know that the CSi25 matches the R50 perfectly, and I would assume that the CSR does as well. My question is how much is the OP paying for the CSR? You can frequently find the CSi25 on ebay for $80-90 shipped, and it's probably the same speaker.

Edit: It looks like the CSi25 is about $70 shipped on Amazon.com through Electronics Expo. The cheapest price I found on the CSR is $110 shipped from Crutchfield.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: kalrith
It looks like the Polk reps' recommendations vary. I did some searches on the Polk forums. One rep recommended the CSi25. Another recommended the CSR, CSM, and CS1. On this support page, Polk recommends the CS2 as a match to the R50.

I know that the CSi25 matches the R50 perfectly, and I would assume that the CSR does as well. My question is how much is the OP paying for the CSR? You can frequently find the CSi25 on ebay for $80-90 shipped, and it's probably the same speaker.

Edit: It looks like the CSi25 is about $70 shipped on Amazon.com through Electronics Expo. The cheapest price I found on the CSR is $110 shipped from Crutchfield.

Fry's/Outpost has the CSR for $79.99 is seems. I'm not sure on local pickup or shipping options though.

 

[Deleted member 4644]

hmm So it sounds like the CSi25 or the CSR is OK then? Thanks guys!

 

[PurdueRy]

Its the CSi25, CSi3 and CSi5 which are matched to the RTi speakers. The CSi25 uses the same drivers as the RTi series.

The CS* line is matched to the R*** line. They don't use the Vifa drivers that the RTi and CSi line use.