JayProgrammer

I have an Audigy Platinum card, so the crossover is better than my roommate's 320 Watt 5.1 surround boombox. If I max anything out or even keep it at halfway, the bass is no longer neutral after the 9'o clock position on my system.

In that case, there's not a chance I'd ever own something like that. 6000 Watts just to drive those things?!! That's 6 Kilowatts. If I calculate it to Ohm's Law, that means maxed out those things would draw 50 AMPS!!!! Not only would that be %%%%%%%%% expensive, but I'd need industrial-grade electrical wiring in my house just to run those things! :-D Not only that, above 95 dB is considered dangerous. What is the decibel count on those things?!!! I'd probably never crank them all the way unless I wanted to drown out and brown out the entire block. :-D On my Promedias I never put the sub higher than the 20% increment, because above the 9 'o 'clock position the sub's bass is no longer neutral where I am. Wow. Overkill is a MASSIVE understatement, considering you could get an entire house where I'm from for the price of a pair of those.

WHOA!!!!!!!! Holy Smoke! You could start a DJing business with speakers that huge! How loud are they? How expensive are they? And exactly what kind of amp(s) do you need to drive all that!

I also don't poke my Promedias on and off. I think this goes along the same lines as the fact that computers will last longer if they are kept on all the time or as long as possible without the room getting too hot rather than turning them on and off. I think the issue is going from cold to warm, etc. Because metal expands and contracts when the temperature changes, that can shorten the life of hard drives. Solder Joints are an alloy of tin and lead, so that's metal as well. I also noticed that most home theater equipment I've seen runs like these speakers too, with either Full On, Standby, or Unplugged. I think you can avoid a lot of wear and tear by keeping everything warmed up at a constant temperature as much as possible without it getting hot. After all, this is 400 Watts RMS we're talking about here. I know some home theater systems that put out this much.

In my honestly humble opinion, the only Cambridge speaker set I've heard of that could possibly so much as sneeze at the Klipsches would be the Megaworks 510D, and that's only because they based them on one of their home theater models. I've heard of Videologic, and how they brought the Sirocco Crossfire to the U.S. I've heard the Sirocco's are just as loud and good as the Promedias with far less wattage in the amplifier. Being an Electronics Tech myself, I could see how that's possible. However, I went with Klipsch because I don't want to pay over half a grand for computer speakers.

Yeah. Sounds like a fried amp. 400 Watts is nothing to sneeze at, and inside a subwoofer case with only port air coming in nonetheless. I still don't know how the Klipsch engineers did it. Suspicious of this, and considering I bought my 4.1s in the "Ugly" Refurb Sale, I've blown an oscillating fan on the sub plate to cool it off. But even without the fan, it never gets too warm, much less hot. I guess when it works correctly, Klipsch has found a way to beat the odds and keep a 400 Watt amp from overheating inside a sub case. My roommate has a 320 Watt boombox with a huge heatsink on the back, and I've had some friends fry 400 Watt truck amps out in the open before due to heat.

LOL. Been there. I get some buzzing and hissing in my MP3s too, but not CDs. I'm seriously considering dumping my MP3 collection and getting all CDs instead. Between these speakers and my Sound Blaster Audigy, errors in my MP3s have nowhere to hide.

I've been a tad concerned about heat issues myself. On the other side of the room from my 400 Watt Promedia 4.1, my roommate has a homebrew 5.1 system powered by a 320 Watt boombox. The 320 Watt boombox has a huge heat sink on the back of it. This further gets confusing because the Logitech Z-560s have a huge heat sink on the back, but Cambridge's Megaworks 500 Watt system doesn't, and unlike the Klipsch, their sub isn't ported, so you can't use port air to cool the amp either. All too confusing, but I blow an oscillating fan on the back plate of my Promedia 4.1 sub and it never even gets warm, much less hot. I guess if your system is out of warranty and you know what you're doing, a heat sink certainly can't hurt.

I bought these a month or so ago when I saw that I could get a Klipsch set for the price of the Logitech Z-560s. Being an Electronics tech myself, I've read the reviews on the Z560s, and am quite suspicious that their 400 Watt system has speakers in it rated notably lower. I didn't want to spend over $200 on a cool set of speakers, and I thought the Z560s would be too much of a risk, so I snagged an "Ugly" set. Far from being ugly, the only "minor cosmetic defect" I've seen is some of the styrofoam from the box stuck to the speaker cases. Fortunately that brushed right off. The only problem I've had is that my front right channel keeps cutting out. I've found the problem to be the plug from the control pod into the subwoofer. So I run the wire up over the top of the sub and -- NO PROBLEMS! My only issue is that my stepmother is going to have a COW when I go home for semester breaks. Not just because of the 4.1 sub being infamous for being savagely loud, but because paired with my Audigy, my computer is louder and sounds better than her big stereo that she bought for a big chunk of change about 15 years ago.

Yeah. These speakers remind me of more high end audio equipment having full-on, standby,and unplugged. I've never seen this anywhere else except in home theater boxes. It's a good idea not to crank the speakers too often, considering you've got a 400 Watt amp inside a subwoofer box. Keep an eye to make sure it doesn't get too hot. I've seen people fry 400 Watt truck amps before simply because they overheated. If the subwoofer plate feels a little too warm, even though according to Klipsch it should never get hot, put a fan near it. I have my oscillating fan blowing on low on the sub at all times. That plate never gets warm now. I think just keeping the amp cool is the biggest thing to worry about, since unlike other speaker sets I've had, this isn't no kiddie amp they're putting in the sub box. 400 Watts is nothing to sneeze at. My computer speakers are more powerful than my roommate's boombox.

I had similar problems with my system, where the volume on the front right would either be really low or cut out completely. I traced the problem to the plug that goes from the control pod to the subwoofer. When I jiggle the wire, it comes back when it's bent upwards a little. I think I might have the control pod replaced under warranty, but have just been ridiculously busy the last few weeks. I'm surprised though. These are the best computer speakers I've ever heard, semi-pro audio quality too. It's a shame a model like this has to succumb to a wire problem I've never seen anywhere else except in cheap headphones.

I usually never trust refurbish ads. However, seeing as this is Klipsch we're talking about, and the advertised refurbished units are coming straight from them, I made an exception just this once. :-)

Hello. I read some of the issues in this board before I bought a set of Refurbished Promedia 4.1s at the Ugly Hi Fi Blowout. Well, they just arrived today, and they work great. :-) I've heard about the problems with amps getting too hot. Well, you DO have a 400 Watt amp inside a subwoofer case, so that's to be expected (I know some people with weak truck systems that run from 400-700 Watts). The air the port pushes is probably the only air that this thing gets. :-) They sound great though. My roommate and I had a speaker war once I set them up and he completely blew a 4-way floor tower(10" woofer, two midranges, tweeter) trying to keep up with my Klipsch system. :-D To counteract any amp heat, I put an oscillating fan under my desk to blow on the amp and the amp plate is actually COLD while powered on. :-D The only problem I'm having is occasionally if I'm not careful, the volume level in the right front speaker takes a dive if it doesn't cut off completely. I found the source to be the preamp DIN (the multi-pronged cable that looks like a MIDI DIN plug) connection on the sub. It seems to be intermittent on that channel (may kick out if the cord is accidentally jiggled or something). Is this a known issue with these systems? Otherwise, my roommate and I can link our systems together when he gets his speaker tower replaced and get up to 720 Watts. :-)