Admiral Koresh Posted January 31, 2001 Share Posted January 31, 2001 Right now I have a set of promedias but i want to upgrade. I know i will get better sound but I'm wondering if with a cheap stereo receiver like technics, will it be louder? For the short-term i was thinking of using the atoms as my front speakers and hook them up to the promedia sub. Probably sound like **** but it'll be a month before i can get the receiver. Any advice or commments from people with comparable speakers who have upgraded from the promedias would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgrahame Posted February 1, 2001 Share Posted February 1, 2001 4 Atoms hooked up to just about any reciever with a "true" 50 watts RMS or more should be plenty loud enough and im sure it would be at least as loud as the Promedias and more likely quite a bit louder. Just have to be carefull of the specs on some cheap amps as they are not always very truthfull when they state power ratings. No offence to the Promedia owners but either the Promedia speakers are very inefficiant or the specs on the amp are slightly over-rated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan F Posted February 1, 2001 Share Posted February 1, 2001 Actually, the amplifier is 400 Watts. And the speakers are above average efficiency for their size and type. Let me know if I can provide any additional clarification on this...it seems to be a major misunderstanding on some BB sites. Of course, it is possible to get louder than the ProMedia system, particularly if using larger, i.e., bookshelf speakers. However I don't believe Klipsch has received many complaints saying the speakers are not loud enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman155 Posted February 1, 2001 Share Posted February 1, 2001 It just seems that with 60 watts and decent (from what you said, I'm presuming) sensitivity, the pros should be louder then similar systems with like 50 watts total and 10 watt sats, but in most cases, the difference is only a few dB. Of course, the difference between 10 and 60 watts isn't that great (6 - 8 dB maybe), but can you shed some light on this Dan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Distec Posted February 1, 2001 Share Posted February 1, 2001 Don't forget, it's not just pure db you want to look for, its also the quality of sound that plays a factor. For example, BOSE has products that can play extremely loud on very small drivers, however they sound like crap(and are fairly expensive). Speakers are not like computer parts; you don't buy them based on specs. You should buy them based on how they sound to you, and how much you are willing to pay for them. You should always listen to speakers before buying them, or at least have an option to return if you don't like them if you can't. On a side note, most speakers will play near reference level without distorting, assuming they are powered properly. IMO, four paradigm atoms will sound much better then the promedias musically, although you will still need to add a sub if you want some bass. Of course, some people prefer other speakers companies such NHT, PSB, HTD, Energy, etc, which also produce similiar speakers, and also have slighty different acoustics. Norh is also getting some good reviews with their unconventional speaker designs. However, they are a mail-order only company, so you wouldn't be able to listen to them before buying. But, like the promedias, you can return them within a certain amount of time if you don't like them. Just remember that speakers are very subjective, and you shouldn't buy them based solely on reviews/specs. What sound good to someone else may not sound god to you. Some people prefer the klipsch sound, while others hate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Distec Posted February 1, 2001 Share Posted February 1, 2001 Also, do NOT hook up the atoms to the promedias. The amp was specifically designed for the pros, and its possible that you can harm the atoms. Your best bet would be to pick up a cheap/used 4/5 channel amp and not play them too loudly(you'll know when you don't have enough power; they'll start clipping), and then buy a more expensive one later that will meet the proper power requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgrahame Posted February 1, 2001 Share Posted February 1, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Dan F: Actually, the amplifier is 400 Watts. And the speakers are above average efficiency for their size and type. Let me know if I can provide any additional clarification on this...it seems to be a major misunderstanding on some BB sites. Of course, it is possible to get louder than the ProMedia system, particularly if using larger, i.e., bookshelf speakers. However I don't believe Klipsch has received many complaints saying the speakers are not loud enough. Sorry Dan F, I didn't mean to imply that the Promedia amp was not actually a true 400 watts. Just that with 4 Paradigm Atoms and a half decent 50 watts RMS per channel amp you should be getting pretty much the same amount of volume as the Promedias. And that when buying recievers you need to be carefull of some of the cheap brands as they will quite often advertise something like 100 watts per channel when in fact it is closer to a true 30 watts RMS per channel. I have no idea why the Promedias dont seem as loud as the 400 watts would seem to imply but it does seem odd to me that speakers like the Crossfires with only 100 watts RMS total can even come close to being as loud as the Promedias with four times the total power. :/ My home stereo is only 70 watts RMS per channel with relatively inefficiant bookshelf size speakers and is quite bit louder then my Crossfires from the same distance away of about 10 ft. Dont get me wrong here, im most certainly not here to bash the Promedias. I have no doubt in my mind they are the best value 4.1 multimedia speakers available (at least in the USA anyway). I actually would have bought them had they been available here in Australia but since they were not and still are not, I went for the more expensive Crossfires that had been available here for over 12 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Btrigg Posted February 1, 2001 Share Posted February 1, 2001 I don't know if you know this but if you double the power of a speaker, you usually only get 3 db increase. So if the crossfires had exactly the same sensitivity as the pros, the pros would only be 6 db louder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted February 1, 2001 Share Posted February 1, 2001 exactly. besides, it's one thing to go loud, and it's another to go loud with low THD (total harmonic distortion). oh, and Klipsch has never been known for their low efficiency speakers, on the contrary... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movie Freak Posted February 4, 2001 Share Posted February 4, 2001 Exactly, I'd rather have loud (very loud) and clean rather than loud (very cheap) and distorted. I started out with Altec's, they weren't bad, but boy, they sure made me appreciate the power of the pro's! ------------------ Movies take us to a place we would like to be and away from a place we would like to forget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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