BA4800 vs. ProMedia/Santa Cruz vs. Acoustics Edge

[GReddyLude]

ROUND I: Turtle Beach Santa Cruz vs. Philips Acoustic Edge

Ok, I just got my Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, but regret getting this over the Acoustic Edge (the AE seems more music driven and the TB Cruz is geared towards the gamer). Has anybody experienced BOTH Santa Cruz and Philips Acoustic Edge? Which, IYO, is better and why (SB Live! IMO is a joke...please leave out of discussion)?

ROUND II: Boston Acoustics BA4800 vs. Klipsch ProMedia

I listen to music more than I play games. I know that the BA4800 are great for music, and the ProMedias are great 3D surround sound for gaming. Nevertheless, the Promedias intriguing. And for the heck of it, toss in Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 into the fight. Does anybody have recommendations? Any advantages/disadvantages of one over another?

Fuel tanks full and torches lit...let the flame throwing begin!!!

 

[GReddyLude]

bump

 

[Jeff H]

GReddyLude, I'm not going to be able to provide you the x vs. y comparisons you're looking for, but I do have a couple of thoughts to add to your discussion.

First, I had an opportunity to check out an AE card, and I ended up passing on it, due to excessive bass. There was nothing I could do to take it down to an acceptable level, either via the subwoofer control, sound card mixer program, or Winamp eq. The irony of this is if you go to the sound-focused websites and read their forums there are more people complaining of inadequate bass on the AE card. Add to that a totally stupid way of getting driver updates (they took a page from MS re downloading a small agent and then bring the rest of the update directly off the web - no direct download).

RE speakers, if you were doing a comparison between the BA4800's and the Klipsch v2.400, I'd say go w/ the 4800's all the way. However, the v2.400's are out of production , replaced by the ProMedia 4.1's. Improvements include better crossover for a more balanced midrange, better controls on the preamp/satellite, headphone input on the preamp/satellite. I recently took delivery of the ProMedia 2.1's, and whether it's music or games (I'm much more into music these days) the PM 2.1's are tough to beat.

The PM 2.1's replaced a set of Boston Acoustics MicroMedia's (now called BA790). While the MM's were a good set of speakers, they can't stand w/ the PM 2.1's, IMO.

 

[Squisher]

I agree with Jeff H , but keep in mind your comparing a set of speakers that cost $130 vs. $300.

 

[Jeff H]

Good point Squisher, the first area you'll come up w/ differences between the two speaker setups is the price. GReddyLude, you really need to decide how much $$ you want to spend. As Squisher said, it's approx. a 1 to 2 ratio between the GA4800's and the PM 4.1's. Both are at the high end of computer speaker setups, probably only bested by the VideoLogic Sirocco Crossfire setup.

 

[GReddyLude]

Hmm...good points there Jeff. But does anybody know the difference in QMMS that the AE has vs. Aureal?