8.2 Promedia project...

[Insane3D]

Ok, I finally have this all finished and setup to my liking. First of all, it sounds absolutely amazing...I will probably be evicted soon though...hehe. I figured I would let you guys know how I set this all up if anyone is considering setting something similar up. I need to clear up a few things first since I got a little heat in a earlier post. First, I did not spend $500 on computer speakers, I already had a set of the 4.1 Promedia's that I bought and I got a second set for christmas. I am hoping to avoid the "that's a waste of money on computer speakers" reply. Also, I know a home component system sounds better, but this is for a small room and I already have a expensive DTS system downstairs. Ok, on to the details.

This is all set up in a 12 X 10 room, so to say it fills the room with sound is an understatement. I have my computer set up on the front wall and I have the two subs in the front corners with the port facing the corners. I have the first front set in the middle of the front wall, facing me, about two or three feet apart. I have the two control pods on these speakers for easy adjustment. I have the second pair of sats mounted on the front wall in either corner, about a foot down from the ceiling. The third pair of sats is wall mounted, about a foot down from the ceiling, facing each other. These are mounted at the midpoint of the room on the right and left walls behind me. The remaining pair are wall mounted in the back corners of the room, also at the same height as the others. I replaced all the 22 gauge wire with some some 14 gauge OFC wire and soldered on the 1/8" gold mono connectors from Radio Shack. I also have a TV on the front wall with my computer that I watch DVD's on with my H+ card. I have all this hooked up to a Philips Acoustic Edge. Games, DVD's, and music are very pleasing with QMSS and all those speakers. I just finished Gladiator and I was very impressed with the performance from such small speakers. These come close to rivaling my full component system downstairs. I have done some minor game testing with the new setup, only a few games of UT, but it was pretty enveloping. Well, if anyone has comments, or ideas for changing something, let me know. I spent a good deal of time on this, but I am very pleased with the end result.

 

[JewishDoctor]

Holy jebus man your just nutz!!!

I do love the Klipsch Promedia 4.1's though.... just one set though hehe

 

[Insane3D]

I do go overboard sometimes...

 

[Insane3D]

^

 

[Maverick]

Sounds awesome, if I had the money/space I would totally do that.
How did you hook everything up though? I'm not familiar with the Philips AE (planning on upgrading my Live with one soon) hook ups. Nor am I familiar with the PMs hookups. Could you tell us a bit more about how you hooked up all the speakers to one card? I'd be interested to know.

 

[Insane3D]

Shiva112:

The Philips has three analog outputs, front, rear, and center/sub. I have been experimenting with a couple different connection methods. I first hooked up one of the PM front connectors to the center/sub output, the second front connector to the front output, and used a stereo "Y" adapter to connect both rear connectors to the rear output. That was okay, but the AE used the left front channel only as the center and tried to use the right front as the sub. I connected both front channels to the left front output and it worked ok, but it seemed a little off to me. I have it connected different now, and I think I prefer how I have it now. I expected some signal loss from the "Y" connector, but I can't hear any as far as I can tell. I picked up a second gold "Y" connector and I have both front connectors connected to the front output of the AE and both rear connectors connected to the rear output. I have the AE in 4.1 mode now, and it works great. The one thing with two subs is even with both sub knobs turned all the way down, I still get some strong bass. The connection method I am using should work fine with a live card as well. Let me know if you need any more info....

 

[Zorba]

Couldn't you just get a Y connector for the Digital out on the Sound card?

 

[joeryu]

thats a kick ass setup insane, wish i had the dough to do it myself. im quite happy with what i got for christmas, nothing like your 8.2 setup, but i only have the BA4800's on a Philips AE. my oh my isnt QMSS amazing??

 

[Insane3D]

Zorba:

I am not sure what you mean. The digital out on the Philips? I would not be able to use that as it is a SPDIF connection and the PM's are an analog speaker set. I know the digital out on the Live 5.1's can be used as a analog center/sub channel, is that what you mean?

 

[Insane3D]

jOjO316:

Yes, QMSS is verrrry nice. You have a nice set of speakers in those BA4800's, they are top notch speakers. I had them before the Promedia's, but I prefered the sound of the PM's when I tried them, so I kept the PM's. You should pick up another set of the BA4800's and try a 8.2 setup with those..hehe. I keep trying to convince Wingznut PEZ to do it...

 

[joeryu]

my god i never though of that, but that would be serious kick ass. one question, on the subs, which way did you face the side with the "hole" towards?? you?? the wall?? i want to set mine up for optimal bass, and i think you have this setup down...

 

[Madcowz]

8.2 might be fun at first but I honestly think it's kinda impracticle and will turn into a novelty very soon. First off all positional audio will be out of sync whether it be EAX gaming or dolby/DD 5.1 movies. Instead of the sound being engulfing it will be confusing and unenjoyable. Also not to bash the Promedia's as they are okay speakers, but 8 OKAY speakers isn't going to sound as good as 2 quality hi-fi or studio speakers which you would be able to could buy cheaper than 2 Promedia sets. I own a set of midiland S2-4100 and they blow the Promedia's out of the water. Yes I have listened to the promedia's extensively beside the S2-4100. My suggestion is to sell at least one of your sets and try buying a powered center speaker for accurate 5.1 sound. Sorry if I am ruining your fun, but thought I'd offer my advice

 

[Insane3D]

jOjO316:

If you want a slightly harder hitting bass, face the port to the wall. You can even put something right up against the port, but sometimes it will cause some distortion. Try different positions until you find one that sounds best.

 

[Maverick]

wow so the Phillips is a true 6 channel sound card. I guess I still don't really understand how its supposed to be hooked up to the PMs if you're just going with traditional 4.1 surround sound. Do you just forgo connecting the center channel?

I'm thinking about upgrading my home theater receiever in my living room to one with DD and DTS built into it. If I do that, maybe I'll take my old receiver with its 6 channel inputs and put it in my room. Then I'll truly be able to take advantage of the six channel features of the Phillips.

Now if only I had time/money/space...

 

[kami]

Madcowz...he already had this lecture

Interesting project to say the least, but I agree that it would make the surround effect more confusing. at least i'd think so since nothing is designed for the 8 channel audio. For regular stereo music playback it must kick ass though....sound everywhere!!

 

[Insane3D]

Madcowz:

First of all, everyone is entitled to their opinion, so if you don't think it makes sense, that's cool. As far as EAX, you are incorrect. The AE is running in a 4.1 mode now. I have the four front sats all in front of me, two on my left and two on my right. They both share the front channel, so front positioning is accurate. The rear two sets are also both behind me on my right and left sharing the rear output. Positionally they are also accurate. I did some testing with EAX and using the the bullet fly-by seen in the Matrix. The sound start in the front left and go around the room like they should. In UT voices, sounds, etc. are exactly where they should be. Sometimes, I don't even use EAX as the QMSS does a better job sometimes. As far as the Midilands, if you think they are better, than more power to you. You buy speakers for yourself, not anyone else, so all that matters is you think they are the best. I have a friend with the Midilands and they left me very unimpressed. I picked up the B4800's, which were very nice, but the Promedia's sounded better to my ears. Also, as I stated above, I already have a DD component setup downstairs, and I am not going to drop a ton of cash setting up another in a small room like mine. I also didn't buy two sets, I bought one and got a second set for christmas, so I only spent $249. To pick up a reciever and some decent hifi speakers it would be alot more than that.

 

[Maverick]

anyone know where I can get some PM's at a lower than retail price? $250 for the PMs vs $170 for the BA4800's is slightly discouraging when I hear mixed views on which one is better. I know this probably belongs in the ~IWANNA thread in the hot deals forum, but I'm not looking for a "hot deal", just something cheaper than 250 smackers. Thanks.

 

[Insane3D]

Shiva112:

Yes, I am not using the center/sub input now. The AE has trouble with trying to use the 4.1 PM front pair of sats as the center/sub. When I connect the front connection from the PM's to the center/sub output, it plays the center channel on the left front speaker, and tries to use the right front speaker as the sub, so you get nothing. If I connect both front speakers to the left front speaker out on the sub, it works, but it is not quite right. I think it has to do with how the PM amp crossover works. I bet the 2.1 PM's would work fine as the center channel because it is not trying to split the signal 4 ways. There are a few people on the Klipsch board that have used a 4.1 and a 2.1 set as a 6.2 setup and the center channel works fine. It is really not an issue as one of the pairs of front sats are only 2 or 3 feet apart and the "phantom" center channel works well.

 

[Insane3D]

The BA4800's are great speakers too. Some people prefer them over the PM's. The BA4800's are a great deal at $170 and I have heard of them going for as little as $150. The PM's are louder and have more bass, but the BA4800's have better midrange. If you mostly game the PM's might be a better choice, but for music, the BA4800's might be better. I would say there is not enough difference between them to justify paying $100 more for the PM's. The important thing is to get what sounds good to you, not what everyone else says is "the best" or "it rules". You buy speakers for your ears, not everyone else's.

 

[Maverick]

I hear you can actually buy a powered center channel speaker, that might be a solution to your problem.

heh, then you'd have a 9.2 system.

But I think the center channel is fairly useless for anything except movies...where the voices come from the center.

 

[Insane3D]

LOL!.....9.2...maybe 17.5? 26.10? 50.25? :Q

 

[Maverick]

man I wish I knew someone nearby who had PMs hooked up to an AE just so I could hear what it sounds like.
Best Buy and crap places like that never have it hooked up the way that you'll use it.
It really pisses me off...

 

[Insane3D]

Well, when I had them hooked up to my Live Platnium 5.1, they were were tinny and they had a hiss at anything above 40% volume. When I hooked them up to my AE, they sounded much better. Here is a review where they discuss that very fact. Here is a clip from that review:

"We did some listening tests with both the famed Klipsch ProMedia and a Boston Acoustics BA4800s, each a very worthy match for the sound card. The results were amazing. With either of the speakers it was clearly obvious that the Acoustic Edge could handle stereo to quad speaker transformations with a finesse that is surprisingly natural. The few flaws that were present in a 5.1 system were still present, but the clarity of the Klipsch speakers in particular really hit us and really affected our experience with the discrete 4 channel sound. The dimension of the sound was breathtaking, and many MANY songs became instantly transformed. We were pleasantly surprised by the accuracy, or at least the supposed accuracy with which the QMSS algorithms were able to pluck out specific choral elements of the songs and place them into the rear channels for a more seemless surround experience."

The review is here.

 

[Insane3D]

^

 

[MrMole]

Usually with two subs, the sound can be distorted, make sure both of the subs are in teh same phase, I also suggest stacking them or placing them next to each other