Over the years this mid range price center is still a proven player for most HT systems. I have had one for about 6 years and recently pick up another to use in my outdoor setup. 1. Very well balanced 2. able to handle as a large speaker setting for HT 3. very musical 4. Current price (2019) hard to find a better center for the price, can be found online under $75

No weaknesses to date

Crisp, Clean, Accurate sound.

None

I recently returned a Bose VCS-10 center channel speaker for the Polk CS1. I thought the Bose would blend well with my other Bose speakers, but it didn't. Movie dialogue was too muffled. The Polk sounds Crisp, Clean, Accurate and blends in well with the sound of my Bose speakers. Even though the enclosure is pretty large for a center channel speaker I think it looks great.

clean sound. Price.

Not small, Rear ported so clearence is required. may not work close to wall or in wall unit.

Sounds very balanced with Polk Moniter 50 mains. Good deal. easy to understand movie dialog. Strong highs and mids. Blends well with Polk subwoofer (PSW250). Used with Sony electronics.

Similar Products Used:

Owned: Advent, Polk RM600S, Auditiond many others: Bose (not recommended rates a 1), Klipsh, Sony, Yamaha and others.

I like the looks, voices sound precise, clarity

sounds a little flat, may be my setup though

After reading the review of the person giving this product a 1 I felt I should give a honest review. First off, it is not a good idea to mix and match components in a home theatre, of course it is going to sound bad if you are not matched, especially up front. The center sounds great with my R50's in movies. I do not find the center boomy, I do have everything set to small with a 80hz cutoff so I do not feed all signals to it, I find it precise with voices but the mids slightly flat.

Lower Price. OK Quality At Best.

Not the cleanest sounding speaker. Cheesy, all plastic front baffle board. Silver painting on these Monitor Series looks almost like I painted them using a spray can. Just wasn't impressed at all. There are probably other new manufacturers that can produce a speaker this good or better for less money, while Polk has been in the business now for over thirty years. It's on e of those "all name" deals. If you want real Polk, you are going to have to fork out the big $ for their LSi series!

I'm not exactly a "Polk Basher" owning a small pair of 1986 Monitor 7s. Maybe, I'm just spoiled by my Klipsch. I found this Polk CS1 to be booming and too much colorization! It had a "standing in a cave" colorization to it next to my Klipsch RF-3s, this center speaker just wasn't going to cut the mustard at all. Also, the highs were muffled, and it just plain had a cheaper sound to it in my experience, so I returned it for an Infinity Beta C250BK being that I can't afford to try out or keep a Polk LSi series for $800! The additional $70 though was well worth it folks! I know the CS1 isn't Polk's finest, and maybe it's just a matter of class, but for a little more, the Beta kicks it's booty "real bad"! The Beta is very compact and highly dense as opposed to the larger, boxier Polk. The Beta is a sealed design and it uses better materials in it's drivers. The grill is even a high density (low resonance) metal, very heavy when removed. The screw terminals and nuts are both gold plated and both metal! The Infinity Beta proves to yield a much tighter and cleaner sound. The details in the voice are much more accurate and distinct. Construction materials, tolerances, and overall quality is readily apparent as soon as one opens the box and removes the packaging materials. This speaker more accurately rivals the sound quality I've become accustomed to in my RF-3s. I think it's a keeper! :)

Similar Products Used:

The Infinity Beta Series C250. Trust me, it's worth the extra $70 if you can swing it!

Great voice clarity, good overall balance, dual mount capability

Doesn't have extreme lows, thats why you buy a subwoofer!

In the Polk sound room I checked all the center channels. I didn't hear much difference between the CS1 and other more expensive models. With 2 pair of monitor 30's and a PSW202 I get an awesome sound stage at a great price.