dolby prologic II for Promedia 4.1

[lostatlantis]

Is there any add-on/preamp/decoder on the market that'll work with the Promedia 4.1 and add Dolby prologic II decoding?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What are you trying to do with the set?

Is there a reason you want to go for Dolby Prologic and not Dolby Digital?

 

[lostatlantis]

I already have the Klipsch DD-5.1 preamp/decoder. Of course, Klipsch got cheap and left out Prologic II decoding. Just want to have decent surround for two-channel materials (CD, mp3s, even movies if no ac3/dts).

any ideas?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: lostatlantis
I already have the Klipsch DD-5.1 preamp/decoder. Of course, Klipsch got cheap and left out Prologic II decoding. Just want to have decent surround for two-channel materials (CD, mp3s, even movies if no ac3/dts).

any ideas?

Generally I prefer to keep stereo sources just stereo. Surround effects like Prologic II tend to really mess up the soundstage for music for example.

What kind of soundcard to you have? You might want to consider getting a new one that will include some functionality that's basically equivalent to what PLII would be doing. Creative calls this CMSS. I haven't heard that in person vs. PLII, but it would serve the same purpose of giving you fake surround from a stereo source.

Does the decoder you have allow for analog (for passthrough) and digital inputs or just the digital input?

 

[lostatlantis]

I like stereo as is too, it's just more fun to have a little surround when people are over. And I actually think prologic II is half way decent - at least much, much better than prologic. It's especially good with hip-hop or R&B, with lots of surprisingly good rear channel result.

I actually have a laptop - gateway m505x - believe it or not, the onboard AC97 codec has native 4 channel output (line-in doubles as rear, also front can double as S/PDIF out), so I can actually get prologic II through PowerDVD 6. But of course it's not the best player in terms of usability and playlists. I also have a Audigy 2 NX, but CMSS really sucks in my opinion, pretty much in the league of prologic.

I was looking at Creative's own little-known DDTS-100 decoder. It looks to do the job, with prologic II and tons of input/output. BUT, I am pretty sure it only supports 5.1/7.1 setup, and with my promedia 4.1 I'd loose out the center channel which is unacceptable.

I even thought about getting a cheapo receiver with prologic II, but then that really doesn't make much sense at all.

Probably the only solution is use the laptop and powerdvd... Or get a new speaker setup, but that's not gonna happen.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yeah, I don't know of any affordable solution for you offhand.

 

[lostatlantis]

btw do you know where I can longer speaker wires for my promedia? It uses the unorthodox 1/8 inch plug + regular speaker plug combo. Probably need 50ft for the rear channels

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

50 feet? You sound like me

I know there are some specifically made cables, but I don't think they are anywhere near that long.

A DIY option would be the easiest way to get the right lengths I'd bet.

 

[lostatlantis]

I don't have any DIY experience with speaker wires... do I just go buy some 1/8" plugs (Radio shack?) plus some speaker wires?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: lostatlantis
I don't have any DIY experience with speaker wires... do I just go buy some 1/8" plugs (Radio shack?) plus some speaker wires?

I've just done some speaker wire termination but not changed the ends of speaker wire to a different connection type. I don't know if they would have a simple way of changing speaker wire to 1/8"