Distec

check out www.hometheaterforum.com Plenty of product comparisons there, and with many posters having $5000+ systems, you shouldn't be short of any advice.

What you define as "bass" could be anywhere between 20hz and 150hz. A room could easily amplify a 50hz signal and cancel out a 100hz signal. So, a song with 50hz bass beats would sound much louder than one with 100hz beats. Experimenting with the sub position should lead to a better frequency response, meaning that a 100hz note and a 50hz note should be around the same db.

What you describe is the basic annoyances of room accoustics. In one part of the room you can get outstanding bass, in another part you wonder if you even have a sub. The best advice I have is to experiment. In my bedroom, having a sub corner-loaded causes a "hole" in the middle of the room. Stand within a few feet from the wall, and there is plenty of bass. Stand in the middle - no bass. Of course, I have hard wood floors and sheetrock walls, allowing a lot of potential for reflection...and cancellation. Insulators such as carpet and curtains can help, and reflectors such as mirrors can worsen the effect. Just experiment with sub placement with this info in mine, and you should be able to get consistant results.

www.winace.com

The promedias do have boomy bass and no midrange -- when compared with speakers costing much more. I think this comparison comes from the promedias being "overhyped" - ie people claiming that the pros sound better than speakers costing twice the price, which certainly isn't true. The promedias sound better than most other multimedia speakers in the price range. They are a great "value", but are certaintly not the end-all be-all to speakers. The promedias compete very well in their targeted market, and that why the product succeeds.

http://www.geocities.com/trustnoho/boseframes.html A nice "essay" on why bose sux, and even gives plenty of suggestions for much better speakers.

Define digital speakers. I think the closest you can come to those are electrostatic speakers, which, to my knowledge, klipsch has never made. If you really want 5.1, pick up an energy, nht, or paradigm 5.1 speaker package for $1k. The promedias are designed to be computer speakers, not home theater. No offense, but if you want 5.1, buy home theater speakers. There are some home theater in a box(HTIB) packages, which usually run around $400-$600. These are usually decent speakers, although still follow the sat/sub combo(which is bad). When you get in the $1000 range, you move up to the bookshelf/sub combo, which is much better quality wise. However, avoid BOSE as all cost. They are pure marketing with very poor products for the money. Pretty much avoid any mass market electronic store(ie circuit city, wiz etc) when buying speakers. Go to a store that specifically sell speakers(which are generally still mom and pop type stores.) For more info on speakers, check out http://www.hometheaterforum.com .

If your deciding on either a p4 or athlon, definately go for the athlon. The p4 just isn't worth the money in its current form. Just because is has a higher MHZ rating, doesn't mean its faster. RDRAM is hardly faster than sdram, and is much more expensive. If you really want intel, just stick with the P3. But overall, I would say that the athlon is your best bang for the buck processor. Now, I would get neither compaq nor hp. I've had plenty of experiences with problems from both companies. That isn't to say you'll have problems with them, but there are alternatives. Northwest Falcon , Dell and Gateway are all better companies. Unfortunately, Dell doesn't sell athlons, although a P3 is still a good deal. Now, if youre just using the computer for school and gaming much, you don't need a top of the line computer. A 500-800mhz computer would do just fine. You don't need a fast cpu to run office. Even if you do some gaming, its better to go with a better graphics card and a slightly slower cpu. Both computers list a TNT2 video card, which is SLOW. A 1200mhz athlon with a TNT2 would probably run just as fast with a 600mhz athlon and a TNT2, since the graphics card is the major bottleneck. Definitely see if you can get a Geforce or better video card in there. Also, make sure you get at least 128mb ram. Anything under that is going to make the computer go slow. Hope this info helps, and try to do some research. There are plenty of websites that review products, such as www.tomshardware.com , www.firingsquad.com , www.overclockers.com and plenty of others. You could even learn how to assemble a computer yourself, which can save a good deal of money, and be better than most of the pre-made stuff out there (assuming you do it right). However, if you have no time or aren't technically inclined, then buying a pre-made is probably your best bet.

Bose isn't hifi, it junk =Þ Seriously, you could probably build one of the satellites yourself for $10. http://www.geocities.com/trustnoho/boseframes.html Koresh gave some good suggestions for speakers. Be aware though, its not cheap. You'll need a decent amp and sub to go with the speakers, which will up the cost a lot. I wouldn't really recommend using the promedia amp, but if you don't have the money, its worth a shot. Just be caseful if you do... Also, check out the Norh 3.0s at www.norh.com . They are $150 a pair and sound great for the price. Problem is you can't audition them

http://members.tripod.com/~terryctheater/shivaphotoalbum/page12.html http://www.avsforum.com http://www.hometheaterforum.com

quote: which do you think is better, distec? 60w sats and a 160w sub (actually 2 80w subs in one), or 35w satts and two 130w subs? Well, you can't compare speakers on wattage alone. At 87db, a medium effecient speaker only needs about 1 watt of power. Unless you plan on playing speakers above 105db, you'd only be using a fraction of the power available. The differences between the 4.1s and 2.1s power ratings are negligable. Personally, I would get the 4.1s just on convience alone. You only deal with one amp and one volume control. Two 2.1s are just a hassle IMO. Otherwise they are pretty much the same. Of course, I just sold my v.2 400s to someone who would appreciate them more than I. I'm planning on spending ~$700 on a new pair of speakers and amp, to satisfy my music tastes.(the pros just didn't cut it)

Although bass below 80hz is omni-direction, room acoustics play a major role in how a speaker system sounds. Standing waves and room reverberation can greatly alter the sound. Having two subs across the room from each other is usually a big nono, as a great deal of the bass is cancelled out. Also, as many others have found out, corner loading the sub gives a greater bass effect, although often at the expense of frequency response. To say a sub placed anywhere in a room will have the same sound is incorrect; just because you can't tell where the sound comes from doesn't mean you can't tell the quality of sound.

quote: the 4.2 satellites are only 35 watts each while the 4.1 are 60 watts (that's a,most twice as loud) That is incorrect. In order to get twice the "loudness", you need 10 times the power, not two times. The 4.1s are maybe 2 or 3db louder, which is hardly noticable.

When you use powerdvd or windvd, you do get the lfe output, so thats pretty much a non issue.

http://www.klipsch.com/ubb/Forum10/HTML/003272.html The search button is there for a reason...