Final Setup... how does it look?

Who cares how it looks on paper. It's how it SOUNDS that's important. And the ONLY one who can determine if it sounds good to you is YOU.

Why would the Polk's sound like crap with the Onkyo? If the Polk's are going to sound like crap, they are going to sound like that with just about ANY amp or receiver.

That Onkyo is a good entry level receiver, and those Polk's are fairly nice speakers. They are not going to sound like crap. If you have no experience with home theater, I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck.

The existing center is the new weakest link.

I have no idea how it looks. You didn't post any pictures.
Sarcasm aside, I think the setup is really good for that price point. You will love how it sounds.
As for the "how does this sound on said receiver" portion, I only have this to say. There really is no such thing as a warm receiver or a bright receiver. If the EQ is setup correctly there will be no audible difference between and Onkyo, Yamaha or Sony. The only difference is that the default EQ settings will add the warm/bright characteristic to the the receiver. Once it is EQ'd properly, there will be no difference.
(this of course depends on the components used. Most receivers in the same price range use the same components and just slap their own sound processors to differentiate features)

That you are going to have to test out yourself and see what sounds better to you. I'd be inclined to say stay with the Polk family all the way around, buy you may like the wide rear soundstage the dipole's throw out. Try both out.

I think the Rtis are going to be bright for music no matter what receiver is used.

1. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post17329952

2. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...4#post17338044

3. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post17546982

You know.... you ask for opinions and then s**t-can some that don't fit the acceptance you're looking for.... why?

Look, just unpack your Polks and Onkyo and be happy no matter what they sound like. You didn't invest the time or effort to listen and audition before you made the purchase so obviously how they sound isn't that big of a concern in reality anyway.

Good luck with your rig. I hope it gives you the enjoyment you are looking for. I'm sure it will.

Yep, I agree. I'd get the CSi3 instead of the Csi25 center.

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Cen...0289468&sr=1-1

Hmmm.... well you make certain they have a return policy, you order them, try them out and compare them to your present speakers or another brand you might be considering and if you don't like them, return them. pretty simple to audition really. So WHAT if you take a small hit on return shipping or a restock fee? The investment is well worth it to find something that sounds the best to YOU in your room on your gear don't you think?

Or maybe youre just happy with a few schmo's on an internet forum saying they're great so in your own mind they WILL be great. The thing is, it may or may not all work out that way in reality. I hope it does.... I REALLY do. And no, no sarcasm intended at all.

I learned the hard which may or may not happen to you. Having vintage SDA polks which are used only for 2 channel music, I assumed the used CSI3 center I bought would at least be tolerable for music but it wasn't. I've heard the same about the RTIs and also a few complaints about the Monitors.

No, that's afrogt and I started telling 2 days ago:

CSi5 is the best for your set up (or the newer CSi A6) if you have room to place it well. Otherwise, don't jump the gun, and just get things set up with the new fronts once they arrive. Try it with and w/o CSi25 by turning it off on the receiver, and go with what sounds best to you, not what we tell you to do. CSi5's much smaller brother CSi3 has many happy owners, too. I've had both, and while CSi5 is better, pacing it correctly in your system may be a pain. CSi3 is within 1" of CSi25 in all directions, but still a little larger.

Matched center is a key for enjoyable movie and music, which our friend Cornhulio had to learn the hard way. CSi25, while sub-optimal, is arguably a closer match in your system than CSi3 was in theirs.


... what this means, is that no singe speaker is everyone's cup of tea. There's a sea of happy owners of all speakers mentioned in this thread, and a few people that didn't like them for one reason or another.

My 2 c'

p.s. re: "Final Setup... how does it look?" no setup is "Final" - you'll find out soon enough

I'm a music buff so I wouldn't buy any of polks current models. They are designed for HT which from my experience were engineered to be bright which might be ok for HT but is intolerable for music.

You have it right. Cornhulio was banned on the Polk forum, but he continues to spread his dislike for Polk on AVS. Take him with a large grain of salt.

I had nothing against polk until I listened to a music dvd with my polk csi3 center and it was the harshest and brightest speaker I had ever heard. Luckily I know enough about speakers and tweeters to change the cheap 2 oz tweeter in it to a 2 lb audiophile grade tweeter I had laying around. The difference was night and day. It now sounds like a SDA center with matching vintage Mon 11T fronts.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attac...hmentid=152794

I think it depends on which Polks you get to whether or not they are bright. The R150's I have are definitely not bright, some might call them muddy. I have an Infinity setup which is considered neutral, yet to me it sounds too bright.