Sound Card for Klipsch Promedia 4.1

Jun 23, 2000
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I'm building my dream system one part at a time. I want a great sound card and don?t want to let price be a factor in my decision. I just want a great card, regardless of the cost. Well I take that back, nothing ridiculous. For now, it's just music for me. I mainly listen to MP3z.

I am planning on getting the Klipsch Promedia 4.1 There is no doubt in my mind these are the best computer speakers ever, come on, they are THX certified, what other computer speaker can say that.

So what do you use, especially if you have the Promedias? How do you like them?

Any opinions on the SB Live, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or the Philips Acoustic Edge? What about the audiphile 2426? I am using Win 2K. Any problems with that on any of this?

I have heard good things about the acoustic edge, but a sound card from Phillips? I have a tough time imagining that will be any good? And what about quality? I am a loyal creative customer and still like their products? I hate dealing with drivers. How are the drivers for these cards? I know the SoundBlaster should be backwards compatible which I love. What about the acoustic edge and the Santa Cruz? The audiphile? Can you say driver issues? The SoundBlaster just seems old. When is creative going to redesign that chip?

I am willing to pay the price for quality. I want a very high quality card.

Does anyone have this setup? How do you like it?

I like making purchases and keeping the products for a long time. I like to know the part I buy is simply the best out there and will be for a while. Is anything new supposed to come out soon in the sound card field in the next 6-9 months? Basically, what I am asking is what is the best soundcard right now and is it a good time to buy now. Will anything new be coming out in the next 6-9 months? If so, I will wait.
 

Phuz

Diamond Member
Jul 15, 2000
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Sb Live is old technology.. go with one of your other 2 choices, which you can't really go wrong with..
 

squirrelman

Senior member
Jan 1, 2001
869
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I dont have the Klipsch Promedia 4.1s, I have the older v4.00 or whatever they call them. That out of the way i think they sound great with my SB live Mp3+. Now I havent tried any of the other sound cards, but the speakers sound really great right now so i havent had any desire to even try any others. Enjoy.
 

Erasmus-X

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
2,076
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<< THX certified, what other computer speaker can say that >>



Hmmmm.....Altec Lansing makes a couple of speaker systems that are THX-certified:

ADA885 (5-piece w/Dolby Digital decoding)
ADA890 (5-piece w/Dolby Digital decoding)

Hate to burst your bubble :)



 

Noriaki

Lifer
Jun 3, 2000
13,640
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SBLive!: 3 years old...compared to what's current it has pretty low quality analog output, and alot of people are having major issues with it. The Audigy (SBLive2?) is set to come out this fall. I have an SBLive! Value now and I find it sufficient, but I damn sure wouldn't buy a new one.

The Delta AP2496: it's a stereo sound card. No rear channel. But if you just want it for music then maybe that's ok with you. Very poor gaming support. This thing will to basic windows sound (mp3s), and pro stuff. No middle ground.

The Philips Accoustic Edge: Good card, very good card with nice clean analog outs. But...QSound3D isn't all that great for gaming, and QXpander will always be applied to your Mp3s in 4 speaker mode. I've never actually heard QXpander...but I don't want any weird effects being applied to my music...that's just me. It also has Digital I/O which is handy.

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz: This would be my choice. Very good analog output quality (the AP2496 would beat it, and the A.Edge is about the same, but it will wail on an SBLive for sound cleanness). Sensura3D is very very good for 3D gaming if you are into that, I know alot of people that like S3D better than A3D... For music it doesn't do anything funny with 2 channel sounds, it just plays them like a good sound card should. It also has the advantage of a separate headphone jack if you want one. 4 speakers + 1 headphones plug into the 3 jacks...no splitters or anything for headphones. Maybe you don't use them.


If you just want music you won't be able to beat the AP2496 for clarity, but the Santa Cruz is quite good to, and more versatile.
 

Snipa

Senior member
Apr 8, 2000
492
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<<

<< THX certified, what other computer speaker can say that >>



Hmmmm.....Altec Lansing makes a couple of speaker systems that are THX-certified:

ADA885 (5-piece w/Dolby Digital decoding)
ADA890 (5-piece w/Dolby Digital decoding)

Hate to burst your bubble :)
>>




Yeah, my Altec ADA885's have THX support! They sound awesome too! :) To bad I live in an apartment and have to use headphones most of the time.
 

ikaika1

Senior member
Sep 8, 2000
237
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Uhm, the Acoustic Edge is pretty good if you ask me, and there should be a driver set that fixes the QExpander set to on ALL the time for 4+ speaker mode. I dont play Mp3's during 3D sound gaming anyway, so I set it to 2 speakers to listen to music. Its no big deal, the option is in a taskbar icon.

EDIT: You run w2k, as do I. I had some severe probalems with it when I first got it due to its poor drivers, and due to the fact that I have 5 PCI devices and my IRQ's were flipping out. I reinstalled W2k with plug and play OS set to yes in the BIOS and now everything seems pretty good. The 1.4 drivers solve alot of issues, and the updates have been frequent so I'm sure everything will be fine. All drivers have a bit of growing up to do in some way shape or form.