ninjit Posted June 25, 2001 Share Posted June 25, 2001 Hi y'all Can anyone tell me whether you can easily hook up a 4-channel sound card to the Promedia 5.1 system? I know that the 5.1 setups have the subwoofer and center channels on a seperate line. Does this mean that bass is not filtered out of the front and rear channels like a 4.1 system does? The reason I ask is that I have a 4 channel SB live, and don't really want to buy a new sound card any time soon, but I do have a DVD decoder and would like to use the 5.1 systme for that, while still getting 4.1 sound when connected to my sound card. I was looking at the Audio Tornado, cause I thought that might solve the problem, but it only has 2 channel stereo analog inputs and not 4 channel surround. So while it might be fine to use as a Dolby Digital Decoder for the DVDs, I'd be crippled with listening to 2-channel computer sound from a 5.1 system! Anyone have any ideas? Also take note: I'm not looking for a high end HT system. I'm a student and these new speakers were going to be my summer splurge, and perfect for my tiny closet of a room. I actually came to the Klipsch site to order a 4.1 system, which is when I saw the flash intro for the 5.1s. ooooooh!!!!! Which brings me to my other point? Do you think its really worth spending the extra $100 bucks for the 5.1 system over the 4.1 one? I figure I'll be keeping these speakers for life, so I can cough up an extra $100 with that in mind, but only if its REALLY worth it. If anyone has any other suggestions for good comptuer speakers, I'm all ears (no pun intended). I've been griping about my pathetic set of Altec Lansing ACS 33s for a while, and have finally decided to starve a little to upgrade. So... I really don't want to get burned with what I buy. Thanks in advance -Jit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qball Posted June 25, 2001 Share Posted June 25, 2001 Here's a repost from a thread at Ars. quote: The Klipsch 4.1's have been on my wishlist for a while, and before the hardware lust sets in and the 5.1's supplant them, can anyone tell me any real benefits I would get from buying the 5.1's as opposed to the 4.1's? I don't have a DVD drive on my computer nor plan to get one anytime soon. I do watch anime and some movies once in a while though, though I game a lot. Is it worth the extra $100? Probably not. If gaming is your primary usage, the 4.1 should be more than adequate. If music is primary it's more iffy, because though we don't have any official specs, it's a near certainty that the subwoofer on the 5.1s will have better bass extention, if you're going for movies (from a DVD source only, rips don't count) the 5.1 is a no brainer. The other thing you have to consider, though minor, is the details of the components and how much that means to you. (i.e. Do you really like the free standing volume control pod? Do you not have any room for a center speaker, etc) All in all however, I'd say that you'll be happier with the 4.1s and the extra $100 in your pocket. quote: As I understand it, there are only a couple of differences between the Klipsh 4.1s and 5.1s. The 5's have an extra 100 watts coming out of the amplifier, a 5th sattelite (true front center channel), and they use dual 8" woofers instead of 6" ones. The 5 sats in the 5.1 setup are all identical electrically, and are identical to the sats in the 4.1 setup. As to the details, the center channel of the 5.1s is a different shape, though the actual drivers are the same. The other difference between the sats in the 4.1 and the 5.1 is that the 5.1 sats use spring clips so that the connection between the amp and the sats is standard speaker wire instead of that odd 1/8" jack on the 4.1s. The difference between the subwoofers on the two sets is pretty straight forward. The 4.1 subwoofer has dual 6.5" drivers driven by a 160W amp, whereas the 5.1 subwoofer has dual 8" drivers driven by a 200W amp. It has bigger drivers, which are traditionally more efficient at producing bass (which means more volume per watt of amplifier power) and also more amplifier power, which means that the subwoofer on the 5.1s will probably actually keep up with the sats when you get the volume knob beyond 2 o'clock. This extra headroom is a nice thing since it leads to a more balanced system, however what makes me more excited is the frequency range. We haven't seen any frequency specs, but you can bet that the 5.1 subwoofer will have a lower bottom, and that's a good thing. The other difference is that the 5.1 system has a free standing control pod as opposed to one that attaches to the bottom of a sat for the 4.1s. When they actually make it out for user critique we will know about any other details (i.e. speaker wire, etc). The original thread is here , for reference. -Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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