4.1s or 5.1s?

[theNudieMob]

OK, the 4.1s are on sale at circuit city for 180. the 5.1s are for sale at New Egg for 360 including shipping.

Will the 5.1s sound that much better. i suppose that it would only be apparent when watching movies, is it worth the extra money?

[pinipig523]

better? i dont know.

u see, sound is very subjective - whats good to me may be ok to you (or even bad to you).

5.1's sats are warmer sounding than the 4.1s - the 4.1's sats are brighter.

with regards to the sub - the 5.1 sub far outdoes the 4.1's sub... less port turbulence, goes louder, and deeper.

however, there is a BIG however, the 5.1s seem to suffer from manufacturing defects which lead to an unusual number of broken sets.

i chose the 4,1 system - and added a sub to compensate for the lack of bass (in my opinion).

here's my system:

http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/download.asp?mode=download&fileID=27345&sessionID={

[Arron2k]

hey pinipig523 what do u meant by "the pm4.1 speakers are brighter"?

The pm5.1 have better features compared with the pm4.1! and what about the sub? how is that compared with the pm4.1 and pm5.1? interm of quality?

sorry im a very newbie to the forum......

[InnovaZero]

The highs are sharper...resulting in a sort of "Enhanced" detail sound, more in your face...which is good for things like rock or ambent(sp?) surround effects.

[pinipig523]

innova's right - highs are a bit more in your face and not so much laid back.

u also need to keep in mind to let the promedia systems breathe a bit. push the fronts as far away from you as possible and the rears at ear level behind you (either as far as the fronts are away form you or a bit closer).

it is not ideal to keep the sats too close to u because:

1. u lose soundstage

2. the highs come off too bright (especially at higher volumes).

keep this in mind and u will have a killer audio experience.

if u wanna see my system, go to 4.1 forum under "lets see some 4.1 setups" .

[creed]

hey pinipig, there's one question i dun understand regarding your sig...how you connect another sub to your PC's setup.?.where's the connection you connect to.?.mine to explain it in details for me since i am kinda dumb in audio...regards

[pinipig523]

u know how u got outputs going from the soundcard and into the plugs of ur speakers? u know how if u have a 5.1 sound card u have 3 outputs: center/sub, front speaks, rear speaks... and if u have a 4.1 soundcard u have 2 outputs: front/sub, and rear speaks?

well, all i did was take a y-connector and hooked it to the 1st output of the soundcard (so i could hook up the sub and the speaks to one output). also, i bought (from radioshack) a coaxial to 1/8" connector and that basically how i did it... its not hard at all.

email me if u need pics or something.

[MD1032]

I actually love the bright sound of the 4.1's. The highs are considered "harsh" by some, but I LOVE the way they sound, very detailed. I listen to a great deal of classic rock, and the high-hat and cymbals come out very nicely and brightly, the way they should. As for breathing room, my sats are usually only around 3' from my face and I think they sound great that way. If I had to choose I don't really know. The biggest problem is the defects as you'll be replacing your 5.1's a year and a half or sooner (in most cases). Since I love deep bass though, the 5.1 does taunt me. Also, the inverted dust caps are supposed to make distortion a bit lessened. However, I do like the sound of the 4.1's.