I bought a "PRO" CS5 at Radio Shack, but unfortunatly it was on Close out!This means you cant take it back for money, only merchandise credit!!!
It is a poor center channel speaker.
the linaeum tweeter has a peculiar plactic coloration associated with it, and no high frequency extension.
Yes, the tweeter has some good points, but overall, its not as good as the best domes!
Lets get real!
If it were so good, B&W, JBL,Paradigm, Polk, would of bought it, dont you think?
Instead, AURA, A CAR STEREO COMPANY bought it!
That should tell you something!
I tried my best to like this after finding out I was stuck with it, and couldnt return it, except for more junk.
I, being an experienced and savvy audiophile should have known better, but I got seduced by price!
I refuse to engage in mental masterbation, it sucks!
Remember, as I somehow temporarily forgot, The center is THE MOST IMPORTANT speaker in your system, and thats what determines the overall sound of your system!
I use the Sunfire Subwoofer, Celestion SL6 combo, so popular among veteran audiophiles.
My Speakers have tweeter domes made of copper, and there is no matching center for them as they are no longer made.
I will probably get another pair and use one as a center, they are that good, but it will have to be a big screen as they are not magnetically sheilded!
SO I kinda have to go to a different center, but it sure aint going to be the CS5!!
ABSOLUTELY NOT RECCOMMENDED

Lets get this straight this is not an audiophile speaker. It is however the best under 300 dollar center channel there is. I have had mine for about a month and am still impressed by it. I compared long and hard and there was nothing under 300 bucks that sounded as good as this speaker. I heard plenty of Center that sounded better but they were at least 4x times the price. You figure in the 80 dollar price and if you are savy you can find a 15 dollar off coupon on the net. 65 bucks? Wow. This is the perfect first center or for a second system. 5 for 5.

I've owned a Pro CS5 for about a year now, and have been very happy with it. This is a great center channel speaker for the budget minded home theater user. I really can't say anything bad about it for the price ($99). Voices sound natural, with maybe a hint of warmness. Since I prefer the warmer sound, it suits my ears well. If you don't like a slight warm tendency in the vocals, don't buy this one. Using this speaker in conjunction with the Pro X77's up front makes for a well matched sound across the front sound stage (just make sure you have a subwoofer!)The only thing I might consider possibly is a crossover tweak to replace the series electrolytic caps with poly units, to possibly clear up the tweeter sound a bit. Other than that, great buy for $99!

This is a great center channel speaker for the price. I matched it with the LX8 for the front, and some old Pro77 for the rear. I replace my previous Advent center channel speaker with this one. The CS5 had good base for the drivers and I love the sound of the tweeter. You know it is decent when even your wife notices a difference between the old speaker and the new speaker. I you can still find one pick it up.

At times the sound is thin when not sitting in the sweet spot. That is the biggest drawback. For all the Linaeum tweeter is cracked up to be the horizontal dispersion is not that great.

For a person on a budget, this is a good choice. I have it matched to a Denon 2400, Denon AVP2000 Dolby Digital processor and I love the sound when DVD's are playing. Good luck finding one, if not wait until the CS5II goes on sale or is discontinued a couple of years from now.

Similar Products Used:

The advent center.

Plays loud, Lineaum Tweeter, Decent bass, Matches my Aura LSW-628M's perfectly.

I bought it two years ago for 120$.. It could be purchased on closeout for 29$!

Well, I've had this guy for about two years.. Fed by a formerly top-of-the-line Sherwood Receiver 7050R Pro-Logic Rx with about 80W RMS of Power at .015 thd X 3. (I think it is the most underated Pro-Logic RX ever made)

The speaker handles the power rather well. I'm a college student and for parties, I need all the SPL I can get. The mids and Highs really shine at Obnoxiously high volumes. Loud and Clear must be said. I'm amazed. FYI Seems to handle more juice than my LX7 L/Rs

Good: It provides adequate bass that is relatively accurate. I leave my system in Pro-Logic Theater mode because it sounds the best for music and movies. (A DSP mode on the RX, I never use Plain Pro-Logic with the center in normal mode) When changing from "Phantom" mode to "Normal" the center does it's job and I don't feel like I'm being robbed of sound from my L/Rs and the center staging is what is should be. I'd give it a 5/5 for that.

Worth noting: I believe that the RX's implementation of Pro-Logic seems to have a huge effect on the audio spectrum sent to the center channel and therefore if you use a cheapo Rx you might be dissapointed. (I think the sherwood has a 100hz highpass filter in normal mode. This may be why I can crank it so loud before they start popping.)

Recently I purchased two pairs of Aura's own brand LSW-628M 29LB 6-1/2" "Bookshelf" speakers... They will never fit on any bookshelf I've ever seen but they were 17$ each to buy and 17.26 each to ship Via UPS gnd.... They ROCK.. anyway What a DEAL from UBID. I had formerly used the LX7's as L/R and a Optimus passive sub... the system sounded GREAT.. especially in my 10x14 hard walled dorm room.. I love overkill. No matter where you were you were near a wall and the bass was KILLER. (The sub stinks in large rooms)
Now I use 4 auras and no sub.

The point.. the CS5 matched the LX7's almost perfectly.. especially when at the same height.. (VERY IMPT)

But the CS5 matches the Aura's perfectly.. what can I say. I'm happy.

So, I've retired my LX7s and my sw-14.. use the CS5 and 4 Aura's.. Now all I need is a DVD and DTS receiver.

I have a thing for Linaeum tweeters. I just havent heard anything with a flatter high-frequency response.

Similar Products Used:

LX7,Aura LSW-628M

Great sound quality, value, and nicely put together.

RCA name plate (not a weakness to me but some people lack self confidence so need to buy Bose's crap)

Picked this up on ebay for 65 bucks shipped and all I can really say is AWESOME.. I've been through more than 3 different speaker setups and can finally say that I'm satisfied. The ProCS55's (RCA) replaced 3 hollow sounding centers, two of which cost twice as much as this beauty. The center sounds incredible matched up with the LX-55's and create a wonderful, powerful soundstage for both movies and music (though I usually don't use the center when listehing to CDs). I've finally found the perfect setup for me all at less than $400 bucks! (Optimus / Rca's up front, Acoustic research bookshelves for the rears, sony subwoofer). Thank you guys for helping me find these killer RADIOSHACK (?!??!) speakers and the sony sub I would have never thought of buying! Lastly, I don't hear ANY of the distortions people talk about... I had to do a little adjusting on my receiver (the levels were out of whack) but everything sounds nice and balanced and such with no boomy bass at all... Hmmm..

Also, a quick question - I picked up a crossover from radioshack since it was on clearance - what do these guys do? Are they worth the 10 bucks? Thanks!

Freedomsbeat@yahoo.com

P.S. This center is not just a value at the 65 that I paid- I would gladly pay $100 to $300 for it - auditioned a Polk that cost $450 and it did NOT sound as good..

Similar Products Used:

JBL, BIC and JVC centers

Price

Sound quality

For $30 its a good center. But you can find better center channels on the net these days for $100 to $170 such as the Infinitys and Polks. I've had the CS5 for 7 months and have recently upgraded to the Infinity CC3 center for $145 purchased at Mercata.com and there is a huge difference in sound quality. The CS5 is not a bad starter speaker but you will find yourself upgrading your center shortly. I would recommend spending a little extra and purchase a good center.

I use this center speaker with LX-8s in front and LX-5s in back and I am very pleased with the CS5's performance. Its deep bass and power-handling capabilities never cease to impress and the speaker has a clarity and accuracy that is worth much more than the CS5 sells for. That said, this speaker doesn't really match the other LX series speakers all that well. As much as I love this little guy I cannot give it a perfect score when it does not match the speakers it is intended to be used with.

It came time recently to upgrade my Advent center channel. My friend manages an electronics store and he brought over a Cerwin Vega center, an NHT center and a JBL center. Each one sounded a bit different. Of the 3, I personally liked the NHT the best. He commented that my Optimus LX-8 mains sounded very clean, which reminded me that the shack sells the Optimus CS-5 Center. We drove to Radio Shack (he refused to go in) and I brought home their last CS-5 for $79. We drove back to my house and hooked it up. It too sounded a little different then the others. Not quite as much bass as the Cerwin, not quite as crisp as the NHT, but much better then the JBL. I ended up with a center channel speaker for about 1/3 of the price I was going to spend - The Optimus CS-5. Those who have written that the midbass is too boomy must have strange room accoustics. As much as my friend wanted to, he could not find fault with the CS-5. I'll grade it 4.5 price indifferent, but considering the $79 price tag, 5 stars is not enough.

I had to actually go to the states to buy this center channel because they do not sell it in Canada but I do not regret it one bit because I think this a great center channel. It's not a perfect tonal match for the 4 LX-10's that I have in my system but it's close enough that movies and music in 5.1 offer a seemless frontstage. It was definitely worth the $99 I paid for it, even with the lousy exchange rate. I intially found the center channel to be quite boomy also but after upgrading my Kenwood KR-X1000 to an Marantz SR-880mkII, it lost its boominess. It might also have to do with room acoustics like the last reviewer suggested because I also moved in the process of my upgrade. Lastly, I found the speaker to open up even more after I faced the speaker more to my listening position. Since I have a large screen T.V. and even with the rubber feet that came with the speaker, it was pointed way above my listening position. But after I increased the angle of which the speaker was pointing it made a drastic improvement.