great value, clean and well dispersed sound stage

Are you kidding. For the money there was NONE!

I've had this little center for 7 years now and I have to say that it's really a teriffic little center for the money yes but even in general. Nothing touched it for the money--nothing! It's clean, accurate and has amazingly big sound for it's little size. Fits perfectly between my receiver and my dvd on top of my 60" Mitsubishi. I can't find a center this small with this good of sound.

Good speaker to match with other optimus speakers. best suited for mid to low level system. built to last

none if used properly

I brought this unit to replace a genric center by RCA. I pass that one on to my son. I tested the unit with the Matrix, It handle it very well. It gave my front a even balance with the Optimus Pro X77's I using. I notice it take's a little more power to push this unit, but I don't mind. For my bedroom setup this center speaker works real well. AMP: Pioneer 309 VSX DD DTS T.V. Phillips 19" stereo VCR Phillips HiFi DVD Pioneer DV525 Speakers front Optimus Pro X77's old style pre 94 Center Optimus CS-3 Rear Optimus Pro X77's old style pre 94

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JBL, Jensen CCS, RCA

Price, although I don't think it's available anymore. Nice sound for the money

Lack of bass. Power handling

For the money it's hard to beat, but I will be replacing it as soon as I can free up some funds. It is very sturdy, sounds good, it just does not have the bass needed for a good center. If it had 5" woofers it would probably sound alot deeper.

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none

For all you budget consumers who are in a need for a cheap center channel this one isn't too bad. It doen't match too well with any of the Lineaum Tweeter Series of speakers (PRO-LX 5/8/10/X77/X88AV) but does well with almost all other Optimus products. It reproduces dialogue quite clear with a slight forward sound. If you can set your center channel out to normal or small (DD) with the Crossover to 100hz to direct bass away as this thing reproduces simulated bass (like the most of the BOSE product line). To really do this speaker justice test it at home (since most RS has this and most of their speakers setup incorrectly) since RS has a 30-day money back guarantee. Of all the non-hi end hi-fi center channels you can buy this is maybe about the 3rd best you can buy, and if you have about $20 more to spend buy the Pro-CS5 if you can as it is maybe the best budget center money can buy. I have never heard this as a LCR setup and don't know if it would make a good center.

Nice speaker... Well built. Cheap for $59.00 @ RadioShackCaused some distortion on screen and had to return for the CS-5. Much better speaker, a much more dynamic speaker. Although it's sold as "magnetically shielded", it must not be shielded too well. Three Stars.

Inexpensive, fairly good rendering of dialog

power handling capability

This review is actually for the Optimus Pro-CS1, which is not among the products listed for review. The Optimus line, as many are aware, has now been replaced by RCA named products.

The Pro-CS1 is a center-channel speaker that has a woodgrain cabinet and spring-clip connectors. It has a soft-dome polycarbonate tweeter flanked by two 4 1/2" mid/woofers. It listed for $79.99, but I purchased one for $39.99 about 2 years ago.

For 40 bucks, the sound is quite good. It seems to match fairly well with my main speakers, a set of Infinity Studio Monitor 100's, which I have owned for 13 years. One day soon, I do hope to upgrade, but this speaker fills the bill for now. The power-handling capability is only 35 watts, and at times this speaker has shown signs of a bit of stress when played loud. Also, vocals do sound a touch "hollow" when listening to music through it in the Pro-Logic mode. But overall, a pretty decent speaker for the price. They are almost identical in appearance to a center channel that JBL markets for a bout $100. I recently auditioned the JBL N-Center, which I think sounded quite nice for a $139 speaker, though I did not care for its bulbous appearance.

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demo of JBL N-Center, Cerwin Vega center channel

inexpensive, well built, decent sound

inexpensive

At 29 bucks on closeout it was hard to pass this one up. I have searched extensively in my local market and cant find a speaker that can touch the quality of this one for under 129 dollars. Sounds far better than the Infinity CC1 as well as the Boston CS?1. The other speakers under 129 were all crap (ie. KLH, Yamaha, Sony etc.) and I am not yet willing to spend 200+ on a center just yet. The speaker features 2 4" poly drivers and a .75 soft dome tweeter housed in a sturdy plasic case with removable cloth grille. Suprisingly enough it matches my Boston CR8's fairly well, probably because they both use soft domes. The only complaint would be the push type terminals. Overall, an excellent choice for entry level home theater for those on a budget.

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