Zoltan Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 Hi everyone. I've never bought a refurbished product before and I was a tad reluctant, but I believed all the hype about these speakers and decided to buy them without listening to them. I'm glad I took that chance. I mainly listen to/make music, so a 2.1 would've best suited my needs. But, I wanted the 400W system to make my walls shake. My old system is the Altec Lansing ADA885, 4.1 system. It's only 120W peak, but these are still some of the sweeeeeeetest computer speakers I've ever heard (even comparing them to new $400 systems that are out now). Comparing the 4.1's to the ADA885's as far as power goes is a hands-down win for Klipsch. I need to get stands for these things because having them sit at my desk made my ears bleed. As far as options go, my 5 year-old ADA885's blow the Klipsch away. Wireless remote with bass/treble controls and 5 sound mode options. Digital L.E.D. readout for the control panel, RCA digital coax out. I'm very surprised that Klipsch doesn't offer a remote control, considering how high-end and expensive their speakers are. Overall, I'm happy and hope these last a long time. These along with my M-Audio Revolution (which has a 4.1 ProMedia preset), kick some serious arse. 1 question. Is that Monster Cable XP upgrade really worth it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson_ngo Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 the 4.1 isn't much louder than the 2.1. It'll be a waste if u bought the 4.1 just for extra loudness. Try to use your 4.1 in surround using a surround sound card. It's worth to upgrade the cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoltan Posted May 6, 2004 Author Share Posted May 6, 2004 Well, with my old Altec's it had a "Stereo x2" mode, which reproduced the stereo signal to the rear surrounds, making it essentially 4 stereo speakers. I was so use to that particular type of sound, that I expected the same if not better from the Klipsch. But.....I found out last night that unfortunately, the only way I can get all 4 speakers working with the Klipsch is to use a surround sound mode on my soundcard. The M-Audio Revolution 7.1 card has a SRS Circle Surround II mode, with "Game", "Cinema" and "Mono" options.....but it doesn't perform as well as I thought it would with the surround speakers as far as music listening goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooting_monkey Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 You can download Foobar. It has allot of upmixing dsp effects, along with resampler, convolver, advanced limiter, and on and on. Kind of a steeper learning curve though... http://foobar2000.com/foobar2000_0.8.1_special.exe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoltan Posted May 8, 2004 Author Share Posted May 8, 2004 Foobar looks pretty sweeeeet, but I'll have to spend at least a day when I have free time to mess with it. This could very well be the best audio player for the computer I've ever seen. Now onto a couple problems....... #1 The Subwoofer: Even in "standby" mode the thing is still warm, meaning there's still current being drawn to it. I've read on here that it is NOT a good idea to unplug it? It's no wonder why people have these subs crap out on them all the time, if they're constantly on 24/7. #2 The Headphone Jack: This is just awful. The "main volume" on the control pod doesn't work at all when I have headphones plugged in. I have to use the Windows volume control, which is sh*t. Any solutions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson_ngo Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 ---------------- On 5/8/2004 9:34:11 AM Zoltan wrote: Foobar looks pretty sweeeeet, but I'll have to spend at least a day when I have free time to mess with it. This could very well be the best audio player for the computer I've ever seen. Now onto a couple problems....... #1 The Subwoofer: Even in "standby" mode the thing is still warm, meaning there's still current being drawn to it. I've read on here that it is NOT a good idea to unplug it? It's no wonder why people have these subs crap out on them all the time, if they're constantly on 24/7. #2 The Headphone Jack: This is just awful. The "main volume" on the control pod doesn't work at all when I have headphones plugged in. I have to use the Windows volume control, which is sh*t. Any solutions? ---------------- The amp is going to be warm even if u leave it on stand-by mode, it's normal. The volume knob should adjust the overall volume and headphone volume together. If it does't, i think u have a faulty preamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoltan Posted May 10, 2004 Author Share Posted May 10, 2004 Can a faulty pre-amp lead to major problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 ---------------- On 5/6/2004 1:37:41 AM jackson_ngo wrote: the 4.1 isn't much louder than the 2.1. It'll be a waste if u bought the 4.1 just for extra loudness. Try to use your 4.1 in surround using a surround sound card. It's worth to upgrade the cables. ---------------- my 4.1's are quite a bit louder then my 2.1's and have a lot more bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Mine do too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson_ngo Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 ---------------- On 5/10/2004 11:06:53 AM Zoltan wrote: Can a faulty pre-amp lead to major problems? ---------------- no, u can have the pre-amp replaced at a rather low price. sorry, i've no idea how much the pre-amp cost in your country. If your system is still under warrenty, i'll advice u to sent it back to klipsch for your warrenty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson_ngo Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 bass is never a problem, there are plenty of subwoofers out there. using all 4 speakers of a 4.1 system from a stereo source is going to cause a stereo reflection. rear channels are mainly used for sound effects(eg. in movies and games). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoltan Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 What the.......ok, now the volume control works on the control pod when I have my headphones plugged in. Odd....... And guys, this sub is more than warm when it's on "standby". This just doesn't seem right to me at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinipig523 Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 it should be warm - even on standby. receivers (and amps) are warm even if nothing is playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooting_monkey Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 There is really no standby mode on any of the PM amps. They are constantly amplifying unless the volume is set to 0. Its like they are trying to amplify no signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 hey nice to heard that someone agrees with me that the ada 885 not bad, so i see you also brought a dell thx series with the turtle beach santa cruz card? i brought the ultras and still use the ada885 too by having the ultras on my dd5.1 and sending the ada885 through analog rear. for some reason when sending digital mode in the turtle beach santa cruz card, the rear is still analog? maybe that how quad setting worked for me on the ada885 when i used digital cause i hooked both digital and analog cables on the ada 885. But oh well i can use the 4 subs i have now for max sound. lol to count ultra sub, sws, ada 885 sub, and boston acoustic 7500 on ac3 of the digital out while the ultra on pcm out from my sound card Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoltan Posted May 17, 2004 Author Share Posted May 17, 2004 hooting_monkey, You were exactly right. I muted the windows volume, then turned all knobs down and poof.....the heat is gone. Jay481985, It's a shame that these were never released into the mainstream, because it still has more advanced features than most of these $400+ pc speaker systems today. The ADA885 sound features "Dolby Digital", "Stereo", "Stereo x2" and "Quad" all worked with the Cobalt digital cable I bought. The only thing that didn't work was the "Pro Logic" feature, which sounded best with movies. That was the only downside in using a digital cable hookup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted May 17, 2004 Share Posted May 17, 2004 prologic is analog only and yeah i know too bad no mainstream, they sound great too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juba310 Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 ---------------- On 5/13/2004 9:14:48 AM hooting_monkey wrote: There is really no standby mode on any of the PM amps. They are constantly amplifying unless the volume is set to 0. Its like they are trying to amplify no signal. ---------------- Actually, I believe the 5.1 goes into standby if you turn it off via the controll pod. Its still on... but yet its not, if that makes sense. I might be wrong though, thats just what I've heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 While it is certainly worth it to upgrade the cables, I found that even though the old promedias use a minijack instead of screw terminals, DYI upgrades are still possible. All you need are $5 gold-plated minijack assemblies (screw types are easier, but if you are good with a soldering iron that works very well and the minijacks are cheaper) from RadioShack and a roll of some nice 16 gauge cables... I had some old MonsterXP cables that I used for my old v2.400s, but I used Acoustic Research for my friend's 2.1 upgrade - I couldn't tell the difference, so any high-quality cable will work. It's only a few minutes of work, and you save money and get to pick the length of cable you want. P.S. Be careful not to short, since the inside of the radioshack minijacks is conductive, so you need to make sure contacts inside are covered by electrical tape and don't touch the inside of the jacket. If you short, you won't hurt the speakers since the current will pass without reaching them, but you might overload the amp if the volume is set too high. Just set the volume low and make sure you can hear sound through the speaker when you're finished. If not, disassemble the heads and make sure you none of the conductors are touching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD1032 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 If you're going to hook up phones, don't use the PM4.1's jack! It sucks! Hook it up directly to an output on your soundcard. On my Santa Cruz, I ahve the PM4.1's hooked up to front and rears, and the VersaJack set on headphones so I can hook up my Grados there. The amp being hot is normal, and YES, never unplug them unless it is neccessary. That is the worst thing you can do for the amp! (you can even hear the EEEEEEEE sound of them powering down when you disconnect them) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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