Insane3D

Distec:You are correct, their is no mulitmedia set up that can match a good component reciever/speaker combo, but you are comparing apples and oranges, so to speak. If you compare the Promedia's to almost any other multimedia speaker setups, they are truly on another level. You say in your post that the Promedia's have no midrange, this is incorrect. Sure a 3" driver isn't optimal when you are comparing them to home speakers, but they do a great job for their size and price. As you mentioned, these or any other speakers can sound totally different in two different locations. For speakers of their size and price, they perform very, very well, in my opinion. You mentioned a comparison to a 500+ dollar reciever/home speaker setup, which may perform better, but at twice the $$$. Just my .02.

I hear this complaint about the Klipsch having no midrange or bad midrange alot on another board. I think it is best described like this. Most speaker manufacturers try to get their speakers to reproduce a sound as close to acoustically flat as possible. Klipsch has a different strategy in this area. They try to have a brighter, more full range reproduction. Many people who have had Boston Accoustics get used to the acoustically flat reproduction of the midrange, and when they hear the "brighter" midrange of the Klipsch, it sounds like bad midrange, but it's not. I think Mark over at 3dsoundsurge.com in his review comparing the Promedia's to the Videologic Crossfires described it perfectly. "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 dont make a similar statement. The reason is simpleI 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 ProMedias 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 "one persons clarity is someone elses harshness". 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. Its also worth mentioning that while the ProMedias are not up to the same acoustic standards as Klipschs home and professional lines, the overall Klipsch design philosophy is to create a more forward sound stage (i.e. closer to the front row of a live performance) than many other loud speaker manufacturers while striving for an acoustically flat response.." That comment about "one person's harshness" is a good point. How speakers sound is a very subjective thing. It depends on many factors including speaker placement, sound card, and most importantly, how the speakers sound to your ears. The same speakers sound different to different people for this reason, it may be that your ears are more used to the acoustically flat midrange of the Boston Acoustics. The point is the Klipsch do have good midrange reproduction, it is just different than most other speakers. Just my thought on this whole matter, sorry to run and on. Also, my Sb Live 5.1 made my Pro's sound tinny and I always had an audible hiss. I switched to the Acoustic Edge and those properties disappeared.

hex21cc:Try to fade your speakers to the front slightly, this increases the bass on my setup. Let me know if that works...

hex21cc:I am not sure why you are not getting enough bass. If I turn my sub knob beyond the midpoint, it gets overbearing. One thing I have noticed about the AE is a weird little thing that happens with the fader. The point between the middle line and two lines down (fading to rear) makes the bass almost disappear. After you go beyond the second line down from the middle, it comes back. Also, if you fade slightly to the front, the bass gets heavier. I imagine this is caused by the crossovers of the PM's. I am pretty sure the sub shares the front channel. Let me know if any of this helps...

I have the Philips card and it is great! I replaced my SB Live Platnium 5.1 with the Philips and I am very happy. One thingto remember about the reviews up about the Philips card are they are all using the pre-release drivers. I am using Win2K and they are awesome...I am considering getting the 2.1's for a 6.2 set-up, but I may try for a 8.2 set-up instead...just got to figure how to connect them all.... BTW...the Philips card is only $76..