boomer

It's frustrating when a company with a reputation for excellent design, build quality and customer service, seems to ignore those principles for one segment of it's product line. Dealing in the high volume, low cost "Personal Audio" marketplace must be challenging for Klipsch. Most of the competition in this area assumes their products are "disposable" and many customers have been conditioned to simply "buy another" if something goes wrong. Klipsch designed one of the best sounding personal audio products with the Promedia 2.1 system and it is still highly regarded as one of the best sounding systems after nearly a decade. Unfortunately it has been plagued with connector problems since it's inception and many, including myself, have turned elsewhere for a solution. The cost of the system is too high and the sound quality too good to be considered a throw-away for me. Why Klipsch fails to address these seemingly inexpensive to resolve connector issues for a system that has been around nearly 10 years is difficult to understand. For some time I had rationalized there was a replacement speaker system in the works and the connector issues would then be resolved. Recently I again gave up waiting and went elsewhere for a solution. Come on Klipsch. Give us a "Personal Audio" solution for those of us that listen to music with the sound quality and product reliability that had been synonomous with the Klipsch name.

I apologize if I offended anyone with my "cash in" comment. Perhaps it would have been better if I stated that the Promedia din connector problems have provided an opportunity for the aftermarket fabricators. My concern is not with the satellite wire, but with the myriad of problems people have reported with the din connector since this system was first introduced years ago. After 7 or 8 years it appears it is still significant and apparently has not been addressed except by the repair industry outside of Klipsch. Din connectors are very common on pc's, communication equipment and other applications. Yet problems with them don't seem near as prevalent as on the Promedia 2.1. The Promedia is "expensive" as PC speakers go. The audio quality is among the very best. But nobody wants to throw away a perfectly good speaker system because of a connector issue. For me, that unrsolved issue had sent me to an alternative brand and now that I'm ready to again look at Klipsch, it appears I will again be looking elsewhere.

Hmmm. 2 years ago I was going to buy a ProMedia 2.1 since it was touted as one of the best PC speakers for music. I held off because of all the DIN connector problems and the huge number of refurb and broken Promedias on Ebay. Now 2 years later it seems like nothing has changed except there's a few vendors fabricating cables and connectors to cash in on Promedia probblems. Can't help but wonder if Klipsch has plans to leave the PC/MP3 market segment to Logitech, Creative and Altec Lansing.

Link?

Tried a searh but got many hits to an obsolete forum I guess. Was wondering which of these systems sounds best for music (not games). Specs look similar. For some reason the GMX is discontinued, yet it is the newer of the 2 systems. I have seen MANY complaints of DIN problems with the Promedia 2.1. Does the GMX have similar problems?

Magnepan MMGs for mains, NHT Superzero's for other 3. Marantz SR7000 receiver. SW-12-2 sub.

I thought about adding a sub-12 to what I have now, but advice was it's tough to match a pair, much less a dissimilar pair. I'll go find the white paper.

Musically I'm probably ok with the SW12. I like symphony, swing, bigband, dixieland. Not into electric bass much. I have noticed the canon shots on Telarc's 1812 get badly distorted, but that's probably not a good indication of sub (or amp---Marantz SR7000) performance. Main problem is movie explosions sometimes sound hollow or cutoff, deep bass of space ship motors, etc., lose clean rythmic throb and turn into low confused sound. In the new room I have the sub behind a couch firing parallel to a wall. I haven't played with corner locations yet. If I do decide to upgrade I'd want to be sure it is a noticable improvement, not an incremental one.

Is there a chart for recommending sub and amp size based on room dimnesions? I know the room environment would make a difference, but I keep seeing recommendations from people suggesting this size or that for a particular room. My new HT room is 23x20x7.5 (3450 cu ft) not including an open hallway. My SW12 seems a little lite with action movies and I'm wondering if I can get by with a newer 12 (ie Sub-12? SVS?) or do I need to go 15. The RSW15 is getting awful steep pricewise. I seldom see any 15" subs recommended, always 10 or 12's.

Would it be feasable to ADD the Sub-12 to the existing SW12 or is there too much of a mismatch in speaker dynamics?

Thanks, I'll give it a listen. Hard for me to compare specs since they seem to have changed the standards. Marketing specs I suppose. Always bothers me though when I see something that weighs 1/2 as much as what I'm looking to replace. I'm sure that's an invalid assessment, but can't help it popping a red flag. I do see a little better freq response and spl. Amp output seems to be all distorted from the old days. More marketing measurements I suppose.

I have an SW12-ii that I've been using for years, but wondering how it stacks up against more modern subs built specifically for the digital excursions of todays movies. I'm sure there are probably better subs available in the $500- $750 range, but wondering just how much better. Mine sitll works so it's not a matter of having to replace it. It works fine for music, but sometimes I think it's overtaxed for movies.