First time hearing the Klipsch speakers...

[Deeko]

I was in Best Buy today and I saw them, so I figured I'd listen to them, see what everyone is raving about. I must say, I was not overly impressed. I mean, sure, I'm spoiled, cause I've got my computer hooked up to a 120x5 reciever with DJ speakers, but still, with how great everyone says they are, I expected them to sound better than they did. Sure, they sounded good, but it just wasn't as mind-blowing as I expected.

 

[kami]

They aren't mind blowing sound quality. That's just what all the hardware sites led you to believe since they know dick all about real audio quality. They have pumping bass but lack an incredible amount of quality in the mid range....it's almost laughable when you compare it to even half-decent home theater systems out there that are the same price or just a bit more. They do have some nice bass though, fairly clean. Good compared to other computer speakers...but if you want good sound quality spend a little more and get a decent reciever and a couple of low-end Paradigm speakers and thank me later

 

[Deeko]

Whoops, I meant to say receiver in my first post, not system(120x5 receiver), so yea, I've already got that

 

[JJHendrix]

so what do you think when you hear cambridge soundworks' 7w sats.?

 

[Insane3D]

You mean floor models in the middle of a Best Buy store on a who knows what sound card didn't sound good? Shocking! I should probably ditch my two sets now...I knew these ProMedia's were crappy sounding..

 

[Pariah]

If best buy is like compusa, they're not hooked up to a computer at all, they're hooked up to a dvd player which should sound better than most PC setups.

 

[AmdEmAll]

Im happy with my Promedia's. But I just upgraded from my FPS1000's. So thats a big jump.

 

[Deeko]

<< You mean floor models in the middle of a Best Buy store on a who knows what sound card didn't sound good? Shocking! I should probably ditch my two sets now...I knew these ProMedia's were crappy sounding >>


I didn't say they were BAD, I said they weren't as amazing as everyone made them out to be. They also just didn't seem as good to me because of the sound system mine is already connected to. And I didn't see any computers lyin around near the speaker area, so I'd assume it was a CD player, or a DVD player(like pariah said), that they were connected to.

 

[Daudi]

I just got my promedias today and I must say that I am not overly impressed either, BUT they ARE geared for gaming and in this area they cannot go wrong for the price. If you can find something that is better FOR GAMING in the $200 range let me know. I mean sure you can get more musical speakers, but your going to be spending a whole hell of a lot more than $200 to achieve this. And please don't rant about your boston acoustics or midilands saying that their more &quot;musical&quot; than the klipsch's. I've owned them all and none of them can get nearly as loud as the klipsch. This is coming purely from a GAMING standpoint though. I may just get my BA's back because I listen to music almost as much as I play games...I give props to klipsch for creating a very affordable solution to most hardcore gamers.

 

[Insane3D]

I know it can be done, but why exactly would they think to hook up to a DVD player with two 1/8&quot; minijack connectors that the ProMedia's use. Also, why would a DVD player have better sound output than a high-end soundcard? Even it it was connected to a DVD player, the middle of a Best Buy is not an optimal location to hear what a set of computer speakers will sound like in a smaller room that they are designed for. I had the BA4800's and I returned them after listening to the Promedia's. I loved them so much with my Philips card, I asked for a second set for xmas. These speakers don't have as good midrange reproduction as the BA4800's but the midrange is not crap. These speakers do well with games, but they are also amazing with DVD's. It doesn't matter to me anyway, my 8.2 setup is pretty damn near as clear and loud as my DTS reciever/6 speaker home theater setup downstairs. The most important thing with speakers is how they sound to the individual using them anyway.

 

[Daudi]

Insane3D: Exactly! You hit it right on the head. I'm sick of people ranting and raving about how the klipsch have no midrange and they aren't &quot;musical&quot;. Klipsch is a very reputable speaker company (they KNOW how to build very good speakers for any audiophile). But, they didn't make these speakers for the audiophile with a golden ear, they aimed them at gamers that didn't know any better and wanted something loud and something that would THUMP and klipsch did exactly that and made it quite affordable. Don't bash on the &quot;musical&quot; side of these speakers, as they weren't intended or built to be very musical in the first place. They do a very good job at what their SUPPOSE to do - that is to be loud and bassheavy for all you hardcore gamers.

 

[Insane3D]

Well, I listen to music most of all, DVD's second, gaming last, and I think they sound great with music too. When I first got them, I ran some tests with some classical music because that type of music gives you an idea of range and has various different instruments. These speakers were only bested in the midrange by the BA4800's, and not by that much. They also sounded much different when I installed my Philips card. The SB live made them hiss and sound very tinny, and that is what I hear some people complain about. The 8.2 setup I have now is incredible. I have two sats and a sub acting as my center channel, two sats and the other sub as my front channel, and the remaining four sats as my rears. The placement is very important as well. My computer is on the front wall of my room. I have the center sats about 2-3ft apart, about eye level. I have the front pair located in the front corners of the room, wall mounted. I have the first set of rears at the midpoint of the room, behind me, on the right and left walls up high. I have the remaining rear set in the rear corners of the room, also wall mounted up high. The subs are in the front corners and have the port hole facing the corner. This makes for a very nice gaming, DVD, and yes, music listening setup. Sure my speakers downstairs do a slightly better job, but for a small room, these sound incredible.

 

[WileCoyote]

i work at best buy.
we use a sony discman to play the cds
the speakers are connected via rca. the difference between rca and something like monster cables is huge.
as computer speakers go, they are nice. not as nice as a component system, but they dont take up the space
that something like that does. you are paying more for computer speakers because they dont use desk space.

 

[Insane3D]

Ahh, another good point. I never even used the stock 22gauge wire that comes with them. I upgraded all my wire to some nice 14 gauge fine-stranded, oxygen free copper wire. I almost laughed when I saw the wire they give you. I mean a speaker system pushing 400W RMS could do with some nice wire.

 

[Daudi]

The wire they give you is fine. Each sat is only seeing 60 watts so the wire they give you is enough..

 

[Insane3D]

Well, that's your opinion. I have my rears on 30ft of wire, I will be damned if I am going to use 22 gauge for that. I agree it will work fine, but I personally prefer a larger gauge wire whenever possible. It may not help much, but it sure can't hurt.

 

[Muadib]

Did you notice any improvement with the wire upgrade???

 

[Jeff H]

I agree w/ Insane3D that a Best Buy store is not the ideal environment for evaluating any speakers, let alone computer speakers. This is not a shot @ BB, simply an observation that the cavernous surroundings of a large building do not do justice to speakers designed for a computer.

From the early reports I've read of the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's, it appears that the 2.1's are designed to address the music-listener's concerns about the 4.1's, namely lack of mid-range, and the hissing that seems inherent in the 4.1's. I see that Klipsch has reduced the RMS output on the 2.1's, and I'm going to follow the reviews on them to see if they are indeed a better choice for those of us that place more value on music than gaming.

I can't get the desire out of my head to find a 2.1 speaker system that will improve both the quality and quantity of sound I'm getting, compared to my current speaker setup, which is the Boston Acoustics MicroMedia (now called BA790). If any of you have any comments on this, I'm all ears <g>. I'm not the least bit disappointed w/ the BA's I currently have. I'd simply like to get more volume, and a better range (that the Klipsch 2-way satellites hopefully will provide). FWIW my sound card is a CL SBLive MP3+.

 

[Insane3D]

&quot;...but lack an incredible amount of quality in the mid range....it's almost laughable when you compare it to even half-decent home theater systems out there that are the same price or just a bit more&quot;

Ok, I keep hearing all this talk about the ProMedia's having terrible midrange reproduction. I do not agree, I think the midrange reproduction is just brighter and different than the midrange in most home speakers...but not bad. Here is a paragraph from the Promedia vs. Crossfires review over at 3DSoundsurge.com.

&quot;As you can discern from the chart and table and text above, the ability of a system to accurately reproduce most sound will depend heavily on the quality of the midrange drivers. You may know from our full reviews that we consider the midrange quality of both the ProMedia and Crossfire to be well above the quality offered by the average multimedia system. However, the ProMedia and Crossfire satellites produce a rather different sounding midrange.

The results where that I found that the ProMedia satellites offers a midrange reproduction that I would describe as somewhat colored and bright, giving a heightened sense of detail relative to what I heard with the Sennheiser HD525s (speaker tests done with the subwoofer also active). You may note that in the full ProMedia review I don?t make a similar statement. The reason is simple?I lacked another high quality system to compare against as my home unit offers rather subdued tones relative to anything decent. Compared to my home unit or any other multimedia speaker system I had heard up to that point, the ProMedia?s relatively crisp, bright midrange were a joy to my ears and I left it at that until now. In doing my research for this article, I came across a great quote that I will paraphrase to sum this section up - that is &quot;one persons clarity is someone else?s harshness&quot;. That is, while there clearly is right and wrong when it come to acoustic accuracy but there is no right and wrong when it comes to taste so keep your personal tastes in mind when you make your decisions and keep in mind that I have been very happy with the ProMedia as my primary system for the past several months.&quot;

That last quote about &quot;one person's clarity&quot; hits the nail on the head. The midrange on the PM's is different than on most speakers, you may like it..or not. If you don't like the midrange of the PM's then fine, leave it at that. Just because you do not like the midrange of them does not make it &quot;crappy&quot; or &quot;lacking&quot;.

One last thing, I don't think you can classify 3D Soundsurge as a hardware site that doesn't &quot;know dick all about real audio quality.&quot;

The Promedia's actually did very well against the much more expensive Videlogics. If you are interested, the full review is here.

 

[Deeko]

It wasn't just like sitting in the middle of best buy, it was in a corner with all the other computer speakers. Granted, it is not the best place to listen to speakers, but I could still get a relative idea of their quality. And I was not saying that they weren't GOOD, I was saying I expected more. And I didn't notice any lack of midrange, I just expected them to blow me away, and they didn't.

 

[Muadib]

Deeko
Are you comparing them to other PC speakers, or your system?

 

[BigToque]

I will never buy a set of computer speakers.

Just go for a sweet reciever and some good speakers. it'll blow away anything a pc speaker can put out.

 

[Sniper82]

Unless the Pro's are in the DVD/surround sound department then they are most likely hooked up to a portable CD player. I was fooling around with some PC speakers in bestbuy one day and saw a portable CD player under neith all the display speakers and saw it running. Of course it was bolted down so no one could steal it.

You have to be looking for it to see it.

 

[Stephen24]

Keep in mind that they are PC speakers. These are no $2000 speaker system. For $250 I think they are very good. I am very happy with mine.

 

[Intol]

WileCoyote what best buy do you work at? im at #583