The center speaker has always been a weak link in my system. That is until Ipurchased the Polk CS-400. I was not immediately blown away by this speaker
,because it blended in with the rest of my system so seamlessly. After owning
the CS-400 for a couple of months now-I am very happy with my purchase. If you
are tired of thin sounding centers-give this one a listen! If you like the
timbre of Polk you will love the CS-400's crushing sound. Great highs and
thick bottom- Yeah I like this speaker!!!!

A great sounding Center channel with nice timber matching with the RT55's. Only after I purchaced the CS-400, that they do not like High-Current amplifiers. So now I am dealing with a melted tweeter. Other than that. When it was playing full range (with tweeter) it sounded great. 4 stars due to the tweeter. (H/K AVR-65).

Build Quality, Bass, Bi-wirable, voice and sound reproduction

Really big (14" deep) and heavy (30lbs) and I don't have it on my t.v. but fortunately on a shelf above it.

For the record, my system consists of:
RT35i for front and rears
CS400i for center
PSW650 for subwoofer

Denon AVR3300 Receiver
Panasonic A320 DVD Player
Technics SL-PD8 CD Changer

The bass is phenomenal. These produce great mids and highs. The sound is both warm and natural. There seems to be no distortion at high volumes. Voices don't sound muddy or congested. Sounds are not bright.

The price and performance is great since I've found through auditioning that the Monitor Audio stuff is overrated and overpriced since I'm getting comparable performance (I think better in some cases) at a much lower price.

The RT35i actual blends quite well with the CS400i and are not overpowered if channel levels are calibrated and balanced properly.

Music and movie reproduction is very good. Sounds do not sound congested or bright. Favourite samplers are DTS CDs containing music and sound effects such as Telarc DTS Sampler. Male voices are done well and not bassy. Best examples are my Boys II Men DTS CD and Eagles DTS DVD. Female voices are very good demonstrated by my Sarah McLachlan Mirrorball CD and DVD.

Dialogue and sound effects such as explosions shine in movies. You can hear Tom Hank's orders clearly on th D-Day assault in the very beginning of Saving Private Ryan even with all the explosions and sound effects.

I have placed my reviews for the other products on their respective web pages.

Similar Products Used:

Monitor Audio, Infinty, JBL, Jamo, M&K

This is a great center channel with ultimate power without having to purchase a powered center channel for about $600 or $700. It has great a effects with DVD and stereo provided you have a good receiver. The better the receiver you have, I found that better the sound you achieve out of this speaker. Great sound for DTS and Dolby Digital. This is a outstanding investment for your polk surround system.

Be sure when you buy this speaker, to be sure your left and rights are powerful enough to handle the 400 center channel. Originally, I tried the 400 with the RT-35s, and my center channel drowned out my left and rights. Be careful. In general, no weaknesses.

Great Purchase, but wouldn't recommend spending more than $339 for this speaker.

very clear , handles highs and lows very well

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I upgraded from the CS 275 to the 400 and can say that I noticed a big difference. Much louder then I had first expected but, Coupled with a set of RT 1000's and a set of RT-7's for the rear along with a Onkyo reciver and CD changer this speaker sounds great with both.

Similar Products Used:

Polk CS275

Great sound,good highs, mids, and bass in the large setting.

very big and deep. Works fine if you have a big screen TV

Picked this up at CC for $259.00 to match my Polk rt800's and rt55's. What a perfect fit. At this price you can't go wrong. Just make shure you're main speakers can handel the power of the cs400.

My Setup
Polk RT800
Polk RT55's
Polk CS400
Klipsch ksw12
Pioneer 608 reciver
Marantz 60" TV

Similar Products Used:

Bose

Build Quality

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This is the first center I've ever owned and after being told time after time that the center speaker was the most important speaker for HT; I decided to properly reseach this purchase. I selected Polk to voice match my fronts, either RT7s or 55s since they all had the same tweeter. I decided to go with the RT7s over the 55s which are used elsewhere and a pair or RT3s for the rear and a Velodyne CT-120 sub.

This unit sits on top an armoire which houses a 36" Sony WEGA so the large footprint doesn't bother me. In fact, I like the imposing appearance especially without the grill.

It is immediately obvious from looking that this is a quality unit and the sound quality does not disappoint. It works well and balances nicely with all the other components in my system. This unit is very clear and accurate which is good if you don't mind the sound of parting lips and subtle breath intakes before speech. This impressed even my inlaws. This unit can handle a lot of power and will get quite loud.

I paid $299 which I feel was money well spent and would have to say the folks at Polk have a winner here.

Similar Products Used:

Tested many Polk Centers

Will handle tons of power. It sounds real warm.

Heavy, Heavy, this motha is Heavy.

Excellent sound, (NOT MUDDLED) Big and heavy, and found an excellent deal at Circuit City!
I had the Polk Audio CS 245, it was good, but I wanted more powerful center channel. I purchased The Patriot and U-571 this weekend, both in DTS, it was magical. Nothing was muddled, at all, crisp, clear and perfect sound. All humans sounded excellent. This puppy is huge for a center channel, it takes up alot space, so be sure you guys and gals measure your space before you purchase the CS-400. I moved my Bose 901's out of the living and moved my Polk Audio RT 55 into the living room and it has made a big ass difference. Excellent sound, and they sound like a perfect match in heaven. This puppy is made really sturdy, aint nothing going to move this 35 pound speaker.

Similar Products Used:

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