VBlaster

Thanks Amy. OK, guys, let's contribute to the list. 5.1 Soundcards: 1) Turtle Beach Santa Cruz 2) Hercules Game Theater XP 3) SB Live 5.1 4) Philips Acoustic Edge

Seems quite a few are concerned about how to connect their Promedia's to their soundcards, especially the Pro 5.1 to TBSC or GTXP or SBLive 5.1. There's also quite a few queries about how to use WinDVD or PowerDVD with their 5.1 soundcards and Pro 5.1, as well as what the Tornado provides. How about setting up an FAQ page that answers these queries, complete with a simple diagram that shows how they are connected? Seems people expect a simple digital output to the speakers to be the most ideal for 5.1 DVD, but really, TBSC + Pro 5.1 will beat SBLIve 5.1 + DTTS3500 in sound quality. But people hear one is digital connection, and the other is anlogue, and they instantly think the digital is better sounding....

Games are not coded for 5.1. You'll want to play at 4.1, or headphones for best effects. I believe 5.1 gaming support in SBLive 5.1 is only through their Cambridge speaker systems (proprietery jacks). None of the Cambridge PC speaker systems measure up to the Promedia. I'll get the TBSC or GTXP anytime over the SBLive series. I've tried MX300, TBSC and SBLive, and TBSC sounds much better. The difference may not be so clear unless you have very high quality outputs like the Promedia, or better still, a high end pair of headphones like the Sennhesier HD570.

Yes, the Promedia 5.1 will work with TBSC. The inputs for Pro 5.1 are 3 stereo miniplugs, one for front, one for rear, and one for center channel. The TBSC has front, rear, and a Versajack that may be used as Analog Line or Headphones Output, Digital Output or Analog Line Input. All functions accessible from the Santa Cruz Control Panel application. Thus in this case, the Versajack will become the center channel output. PowerDVD and WinDVD should allow you to select 5.1 speakers outout once you selected the correct outputs for your soundcard using the TB control panel. http://www.voyetra-turtle-beach.com/site/products/santacru/specifications.asp

The Promedia's uses analogue inputs, so cards like GTXP or TBSC will do just fine. Even if you use a SBLive 5.1 and Creative's 5.1 DTTS series speakers through their digital input, or DIN, the sound will still be inferior to using a GTXP or TBSC + Klipsch Promedia 5.1 setup. Digital is sometimes overated - as in this case. The TBSC spec page will tell you how to connect it to an analogue 5.1 setup (which is what the Promedia 5.1 is). http://www.voyetra-turtle-beach.com/site/products/santacru/specifications.asp I've used SBLive, Vortex 2 MX300 and TBSC. With my Sennhesier HD570, I could clearly hear the difference between them. Ranging from best downwards (IMHO)... Music: 1) TBSC 2) SBLive 3) MX300 Games: 1) TBSC 2) MX300 3) SBLive I would recommend a TBSC or GTXP + Promedia 5.1 over any Creative setups right now. This message has been edited by VBlaster on 07-12-2001 at 09:14 AM

If you really want great DVD quality, go for the ATI Radeon series of card - they offer the best DVD quality I've ever seen from a video card (not counting hardware decoder cards). You can get a relatively cheap Radeon 32Mb DDR. If Video in/out is important, than go for the 64Mb DDR VIVO. The 32Mb VE version is weak in 3D, but offers just as good DVD quality. The AE should serve you well for the sound. And finally, get a DVD drive that is RC-1 region free (or one that you can patch to become region free). I personally like the Pioneer 16x slot DVD drive. Can be found at www.mwave.com for only $70 or so, and it can be patched to be regionfree by a patch from http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware/

I believe wyaw is from Australia, right? Anyway, hardwarezone is not a sales site - it's a hardware enthusiasts' site, much like anandtech. Here is Tat Chuan's email: tcaudio@singnet.com.sg

Don't know how true, but someone in www.hardwarezone.com posted the following: it is like this. let me explain. klipsch has detected a fault in promedia. a small percentage of it. quote: when they punch the holes for the heatsink inside.. there is a small blurr on the holes and this cause a leakage to the heatsink. and it warmed up pretty fast. and the heatsink becomes a electricity conductor and fried the 10 transistors on the aluminium platting. that's the explaination i got from the Amy Platt , promedia tech support. http://forums.hardwarezone.com/ubb/Forum11/HTML/049360-2.html Even if it's true, no big deal. Fellow who had his woofer/amp overheated was given a 1 to 1 on the spot exchange with local dealer. Klipsch and their dealers are great with customer service! That's why in Singapore, I'll fully recommend Klipsch over Vidoelogic Sirocco X-Fires. They both sound fine, but only Klipsch comes with local warranty and great service. The other must be mail-ordered direct from UK. You can imagine the hassles if spoilt!

Don't know how true, but someone in www.hardwarezone.com posted the following: it is like this. let me explain. klipsch has detected a fault in promedia. a small percentage of it. quote: when they punch the holes for the heatsink inside.. there is a small blurr on the holes and this cause a leakage to the heatsink. and it warmed up pretty fast. and the heatsink becomes a electricity conductor and fried the 10 transistors on the aluminium platting. that's the explaination i got from the Amy Platt , promedia tech support. Even if it's true, no big deal. Fellow who had his woofer/amp overheated was given a 1 to 1 on the spot exchange with local dealer. Klipsch and their dealers are great with customer service! That's why in Singapore, I'll fully recommend Klipsch over Vidoelogic Sirocco X-Fires. They both sound fine, but only Klipsch comes with local warranty and great service. The other must be mail-ordered direct from UK. You can imagine the hassles if spoilt!

I suggest you goto www.hardwarezone.com forum and ask them. There are quite a few Singapore Klipsch enthusiasts there. You might also want to check with the dealer, Tat Chuan direct. I'm guessing is that Australia's Klipsch dealer isn't exactly offering the best deal around, right? I'll post the email of Tat Chuan tomorrow (it's in my other PC).

Hi fellow Singaporean! As I posted in www.hardwarezone.com , I'm now in the States, but will definitely buy the 4.1 when I get back to Singapore. I heard Klipsch may be coming out with the 5.1 + decoder next month. Just hope they don't take too long to make export models (230V) to us. There are quite a few Klipsch fans in Singapore too! This message has been edited by VBlaster on 05-20-2001 at 01:36 AM

The Santa Cruz is pretty good. I got one on loan from a friend. Replaced my MX300 Vortex 2 soundcard. Overall impression: a) Troublefree installation for win98 Excellent sound quality. MP3 sounds more dynamic, DVD great and 3D sound in gaming is nice too. Only thing I miss is A3D 2 (which is only supported by Vortex 2) in games like Half-Life. But then, there's no more A3D 2 games being developed now, so... c) Lots of neat effects to play with as the card comes with Sensuara's MacroFX and EnvironmentFX. Still having fun trying them out. d) Overall impression: well worth the new price of $70 that we can get around nowadays. Only caveat: Because it has so many ports at the back of the card, the versajack is situated right at the end of the card. This is normally not a problem, but my colorcase has a plastic moulding over the usual metal frame. Thus it is difficult to connect to the Versajack in my case as the plastic moulding partly obscures the jack. Personally, I'll prefer to see the gameport go - afterall, all newer joysticks and controllers are USB nowadays anyway.

www.outpost.com

I'm trying to set up a "budget" home system for DVD, MP3 and CD and gaming. I have in mind the following: a) Quintet speaker system with KSW 12 woofer. Denon DVR 1601 Receiver (or 1801 if budget allows): Are these well matched to the Klipsch speakers? c) Maybe relegate my extra PC for DVD, MP3, CD and gaming (with ATI Radeon VIVO TV out and either SB Live 5.1 or Phillips Acoustic Edge). Also, my PC DVD Drive is region "freed"...hehe I know Klipsch System 6 synergy speakers are better sounding, but wifey goes for looks (no BIG speakers!). In fact, she was kinda hooked on my Bose acoustimass, until I showed her the Quintet (So Cute!) - Phew! Any comments on the above setup? Appreciate your feedback, please! Thanks!