VIV

the only real advantage to having 2 subs is the ability to have the higher frequencies of the sub in a surround environment. The low frequences are pretty much impossible to localize, but the higher frequencies that the sub produces CAN be localized by the human ear. This may, or may not be an advantage to some, mainly because the rear channels of most cards don't produce as much bass as the front channels, so you won't be getting THAT much of a boost in your bass output, it's just that you'll be hearing some extra bass tones behind you. Then, there's the issue of having a sub with only 1 6.5" driver as opposed to 2, and the lower power ratings. Overall, there isn't much point in going with the 4.2 setup unless you plan to just seperate them and use them on different computers or other sound sources.

Heh,the P AE kicks ***. How many other cards do you know of that can take a regular stereo mp3 and play it to all channels of a 5.1 setup? And I'm not talking about just mirroring the signal, it splits it up so that each speaker has its own individial signal. For games, the cards sounds EXTREMELY good, only problem is that since it doesn't take as much processing off of the CPU as the SB Live cards do, games run a bit slower on my crappy Celery 466 (might upgrade to T-bird 1.2 GHz as a temp measure till next year), but otherwise, games sound incredible. If you're considering these cards for the Pro 5.1, I'm running a HT setup right now, so at least you can know that the AE can deliver quality sound on a much better setup, so on the Pro's, it should be excellent.

Heh, impatient people be wandering these boards I wouldn't take their removal from the site as an indication that they've been discontinued, more then likely the page is being updated with the new 5.1 informaion, or something along those lines

Hrmm, are the Pro sats a decent match for the Heresys? I wouldn't think so... but hey, if it works, it works...

Not much point in going with a 5.2 setup. I believe it's probably been covered many times before, but I'm lazy, and don't wanna search When you take the price amount of something like a 5.2 setup (which would probably raise the price from 399 -> 500 at LEAST, you're better off going with a higher end setup. Even with a 7.2 setup, what's really the point? If you put a 5.1 setup with a 2.1, you get a MUCH more powerful sub in the 5.1's, and the 2.1's sub might serve to ruin the effect made by the better sub. Anyways, for a little more then a 7.2 setup, I built myself a nice little HT setup, which, if I may say so, beats the holy hell outta ANYTHING and of the ProMedia speakers could ever produce. Of course, if you're just bored and wanna stick those systems together to make new ones, go for it!

You commented WHAT on Canada's education system? ... ok, THAT'S IT! I took the TIME to post a msg on 3DSS a while back that said you rich, blubbery Americans shouldn't take Nashmans piss poor linguistic abilities as an indication of our educational facilities, but nooooooooooooooooooooo, ya JUST have to go do that... *sigh*... hehehehe

Ahh, Gluegun mah boy, you here too Yes yes, I am the FAMOUS viv from those posts (you may get autographs later). Yea, Nashman suffers from what I like to call Dumb Jackarseism. It's a rare disease which makes you illiterate and deaf. Sadly, there is no cure, but ah well, let the kid spend his $$$, we know better

I'll leave the tv/dvd suggestions to DwK, since he's probably more informed on that type of hardware, but for speakers, I'd have to disagree. The Synergy 6 is a nice system, but I'd put my speakers up against it ANYDAY . The sub that comes with it might be a bit tighter then my sub, but for dvd's, there is no comparison, mine would eat it alive For music tho, I might look up a tigher sub, like JBL, but it depends on what you mainly want. If dvd, my sub's a great catch at 160 USD, or a JBL PB10 for 180, or a PB12 for 40 dollars or so more. A fully packaged system is great because there's no work involved, just find a dealer and buy. A component system, on the other hand can produce better results if work is spent on research. And hell, my system + reciever costs the same as the Synergy 6 speakers alone. Of course, I've never heard the Synergy 6 speakers, so obviously I can't rate them, so I turn to audioreview.com to give me some info. They're good speakers alright, with the only weakness apparently being the sub. Well, I use my system for music/dvd/games (its hooked upto my computer). For an example of the volume it can produce (clearly, of course), I keep all Windows volumes to max settings, and I'll I can pump this baby to the 1 o'clock position on the reciever (or about 60% of full reciever vol.) and it is EXTREMELY loud (I'm talking WAY beyond any sort of concert level of volume). Heh, I know that's not a very good way to measure the quality for you, but it's the best I can do. But if you're looking at the cheaper price of my setup to the S6's as a sign of lower quality, remember, my AR speakers are discontinued, and if they were their normal price, the total speaker package price would go from $375.00 to about $850.00 USD But hell, if you can get a chance to test out the S6's, and like 'em, go for it.

Well, if you're gonna go the component route, I guess I can use my setup as an example of a system that'll play EXTREMELY loud, and clearly. I bought 2 pairs of Acoustic Research 206HO's from Egghead.com, I think they still have some, so check it out. I bought my Acoustic Research CS25HO centre channel from Egghead as well, but I don't know if they still offer it. Those AR products are discontinued, so they're an extremely kickass value. The 206HO's alone were 250/pair before being discontinued, and now they're more like 70/pair . For a sub, check audioreview.com to see what you'd prefer, but I went with a Sony SAWM40. It's a 12" sub that'll REALLY pound, altho it IS a bit boomy, so check that out. I got a Yamaha HTR 5250 reciever to go with the entire package. Its 500w total with 100w/channel, it has built in DD and DTS, so you're set for movies. Total, my package cost exactly 1500 Can. but I ordered everything from the States, so it only costs about 700 - 800 USD So, go with those components and build upon it.

Component systems aren't hard to build. You just get main speakers (bookshelves) that're about 300 - 500 dollars, get rear speakers that could be a lesser in quality then the manis, or the same as the mains, depending on what you want. You get a centre channel that's designed to match the main speakers, and a sub thats crossover freq. won't leave a midrange gap (between the subs highest freq. and the other speakers lowest freq.) Bundle it up with a quality reciever, and you're set.

Well, you can look at systems like the Energy Take 5, or you could build your own component system. With a budget like that, you MIGHT be tempted to look at Bose, and if you do, you'll be exiled from your country If you can find quality components for a component system, you can build an very good setup for 1500 or less that would beat the holy hell outta the Quintets (I built mine for my computer for about 800 USD, including reciever).

Heh, my ultra sound system beats yours Mine has 30 THOUSAND Watt AMP! TWENTY-FOUR 15" low freq. drivers! FORTY-EIGHT 6" mid freq. drivers! And who can forget its most impressive spec, being 12 TONNES! Heh, I have yet to see a system with 1/2 as much sheer power and overkill on speakers as this puppy

I wouldn't recommend getting ANYTHING from Yamaha's Cavit line (at least until a few reviews have come out). Yamaha has a sketchy history with their multimedia products, so I wouldn't invest much in them. Also, for the price of the RP-U100, you could get an HT reciever that'll do the job much better.

Depends on the reciever you go for, and the speakers you're hooking upto the system. Obviously if you go for a reciever that's $2,000.00 USD, and $5,000.00 speakers, ya, the sound card wouldn't be nearly good enough to provide for that hardware. Currently, I have an Acoustic Edge hooked upto a Yamaha HTR 5250 reciever, and Acoustic Research 206HO bookshelves for the mains and rears, an AR CS25HO for the centre and a Sony SAWM40 sub. They're probably considered low end for an actual HT setup, but for a computer setup, they easily beat any multimedia speakers in existance So, which recievers have you been looking at?

Heh, check Audioreview.com for a nice, wide range of views and opinions.Are you 100% going with the Nforce, or would you still consider current card? I ask, because I can say from personal experience at least, that the Acoustic Edge is damn well good enough to handle MY HT setup, and should be able to handle anything in the sub 1500 dollar range (assuming, of course, that you're looking to buy an HT setup instead of one for pure music, or anything else of the sort.

I would recommend AGAINST going with the Quintets. Compared to the Pro sats, they're better, but not THAT much better. For the same price, a much higher quality collection of bookshelf speakers can be purchased (bigger yes, better sounding, YES). I went with Acoustic Research 206HO's for the mains and rears, with a AR CS25HO for the centre, and a Sony SAWM40 for the sub. It completely blows the Quintets away, was overall cheaper (the AR speakers were discontinued, so the price was REALLY reduced), and pretty much the only disadvantage over the Quintets really is the size. As for recievers, after looking over a few, I went with a Yamaha HTR5250. 100w x channel, and extremely clear sound, and was only about 350 USD.

Why spend 140k when you can spend a cool 1 Mil? http://www.kharma.com/grandenigmasystem/specsmain.html This message has been edited by VIV on 06-13-2001 at 09:02 PM

Heh, well, that's just the way the low end speaker market works. With high end speakers like the Klipsch's, they don't have to lie about the specs, because the specs are actually good! And while TECHNICALLY, they aren't lying about the specs of that ... nice system, they do have to try and reconfigure the facts to make it more appealing to the customers. And hell, truthfully, for 32 bux, ya can't expect more. But onto the point of the topic, LOL, WHAT A POS! Heh, but of course, compared to MY setup, there's not much that can compare

Heh, if your DVD player has 1 connection for sub/centre, and the connectors on the 5.1s for the sub/centre are seperate, then just get an adapter cable that'll take both RCA signals and makes them one signal. Like I said before, no biggie.

Umm, that process can be done with a simple 2 dollar RCA splitter from Radio Shack. Not exactly a big thing man.

Heh, I'm going with the Samsung 1200NF. 22" of pure Sony arse kicking greatness Its cheaper, looks better, has 5 BNC connectors, built in USB hub, heh, can't lose. From reviews I've gotten from 3dgameman.com (I talked to the game man himself), and even he claims the 1200NF to be superior to all 21" Sonys. This message has been edited by VIV on 06-10-2001 at 07:34 PM

For overall neutrality, the X-fires would blow the 4.1's away completely. For extremely powerful bass and more colourful highs (which a lot of people prefer), the 4.1s would win. Remember, the 4.1s are just the v2 400's with an improved crossover. The drivers are the same quality in both sets, which can't really compare to the Audax drivers used in the X-fires. So in the end, the 4.1s modifications, while a nice improvement over the v2 400's, isn't enough to make them sound as neutral as the X-fires, and the X-fires, while good, don't have the same room shaking power as the Pro's do. Its basically the exact same comparison as the X-fires vs. v2 400's, but the Pro's cost a bit more now, and sound better.

Umm, you can't make a version of the Pro Medias and market it for the HT market because HT speakers use a seperate amp/reciever to power them, while the Pro's use their own amp (and hooking that upto a HT reciever would serve no purpose except maybe to destroy the speakers. Klipsch's "version" of the Pro's for HT setups are the Quintet speakers.

lol, you guys crack me up. Seriously, what's really wrong with what they're doing, and how is it different from what companies like Nvidia are doign? They bring out a 4.1 setup, it easily bests most other 4.1 setups in the price range for a lot of people, but theres some problems, so they fix those probs up, and come out with a refined 4.1 setup. It may cost a little more then the older one, but hell, its still cheaper then some of the other setups out there. They also come out with a 2.1 setup, and while it still might be pretty expensive, it still delivers pretty good performance, while still maintaining a lower price range then some others (Videologic (in North America, that is)). Now, they're bringing out a 5.1 setup, it costs more, you get better performance with better sub, a centre channel, and whatever else. Let's put it this way, if they had just come straight out a few months ago and released the 2.1's, the 4.1's, and the 5.1's, would you still hate them? They might've spread the release dates out, but the effect is no different. You get a better product for a higher price, its NO different then what any other company does.

Heh, you're talkin' boot the Grend Enigma system, http://www.kharma.com/grandenigmasystem/specsmain.html Heh, would mind trading in my HT speakers for this beauty Too bad they weigh so much, they'd break through my floor, heh.