Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Speaker Set - $124.99 @ BB

TechLarry

TechLarry

RIP [H] Brother - June 1, 2022
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They go on sale for $99 some times, but this sale is in the middle of that and their regular $150 cost.

I still think they are the best sub $150 computer speakers money can buy.
 
(in b4 thread singing their praises randomly interspersed with a naysayer)

I have had a pair for about 7 years now. Can't agree more with the OP. A very solid set of speakers. They are somewhat bass-heavy, so users in an apartment that want to be kind to neighbors should take that into account. The bass can be turned down, of course, but just a note.
 
Agreed with everyone else, I did get these for $100 a few years ago for my wife and in the same office, they sometimes sound louder than my mini AV set-up. For $100 and ease of set-up and use, I think you'd be hard pressed to find better. Last time this was linked there were some links for bookshelf speakers that were much larger/bulkier, just depends what you are looking for really.
 
I recommended these to my dad when they were on sale a couple years ago. He absolutely loves them and has sung their praises over and over. There is not many (if any) 2.1 packages that can compete with the Pro Media's at this price point.
 
Trimlock said:
Too bad they don't make THX 5.1's anymore, those were amazing! Before I bought mine I used the 2.1 set as well.
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I had a set of the ProMedia 5.1 Ultra's. Frickin' awesome. The amp did go after about 6 years. Klipsh could bring these back, fix that one issue, and sell them all damn day for $500 a set. NOTHING sounded better.

The big difference between Klipsh and the likes of Logitech, Creative, etc.. is that Klipsh's actually sound great playing music. One of the main reasons is they have the Crossover's set correctly.

Unlike Logitech that hard wires them at 125hz to make games boomy, but fucks up music horribly.
 
No. Speaker wire into the sub but its a 1/8 mini jack style into the satellite speakers
 
NickJames said:
How are they wired? Is it standard crimp terminals?
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If there is a downside, this is it. If you want to extend the speakers out beyond 5 feet or so each way, you will have to splice.

But how hard is that. It's like item #2 on the man-card qualification sheet.

:)
 
I'd always heard those Klipsch 2.1s were pretty nice but have never owned them.

I still use a set of Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers that came with a Dell computer from the early 90s on the HTPC in the bedroom.

They still sound good and have been bulletproof for over 20 years, they outlived the computer in use by a long shot.


Sorry, wasn't intending to derail anything.
 
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I hooked these up to my TV in place of a soundbar; just need to change the volume to modify the output signal strength. I love them!
 
MongGrel said:
I'd always heard those Klipsch 2.1s were pretty nice but have never owned them.

I still use a set of Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers that came with a Dell computer from the early 90s on the HTPC in the bedroom.

They still sound good and have been bulletproof for over 20 years, they outlived the computer in use by a long shot.

Just grabbed a random pick someone had of a set of the old things.

iGJiunF.jpg


They are very heavy, dense magnets in them I'm sure.

They are a steps above the ones they seem to sell these days in general.
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Our office threw out about 20 of these a few months ago brand new in box lol. They were sitting in our storage room for 20 years before someone came across a box of them. I think I stole a few new in box, I should give them a go.
 
NickJames said:
Our office threw out about 20 of these a few months ago brand new in box lol. They were sitting in our storage room for 20 years before someone came across a box of them. I think I stole a few new in box, I should give them a go.
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Heh, seriously ?

Give em a shot if they are the same ones, you probably would be pretty surprised how good they sound if they are the same ones.

I would have offered to take em off their hands for free :)
 
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TechLarry said:
The big difference between Klipsh and the likes of Logitech, Creative, etc.. is that Klipsh's actually sound great playing music.
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I think the tweets have a lot to do w/that. I heard clear highs coming through for the first time on pc audio when I switched to the Klipsch 2.1. I'd been running a Logitech 5.1 system prior to that.

I also like that Klipsch uses metal for their speaker stands. I had 2 legs break on my prior Logitech set, and each time I had to purchase another satellite b/c I was never able to find just the leg.

If I needed another set I'd purchase for sure.
 
Another fan reporting in. My only complaint was the volume knob. It was pretty fragile. Had 2 of them fail on me in less than 3 years. The sound was great, though.

Sadly, the Promedias were a gateway drug into the pursuit of high end computer audio. I've spent way too much $$ over the years. Even now, I'm looking to upgrade my speakers... again. :banghead:
 
MongGrel said:
Heh, seriously ?

Give em a shot if they are the same ones, you probably would be pretty surprised how good they sound if they are the same ones.

I would have offered to take em off their hands for free :)
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I'll see if we have any left. Our office would issue them to every new employee, by the time I started working they had already moved onto some crappy logitech ones and now we have even worse HP USB powered ones that completely suck! Also found a room filled with old mechanical style keyboards from Dell and IBM, sadly only 1 model M and it was so destroyed it wasn't worth saving.
 
I've owned about 2 or 3 sets of these here and there, the 5.1's, and the ultra 5.1's. I recently had these in my guest bedroom but replaced them with my old powered monitor setup. Additionally, I've owned a lot of different computer speakers (e.g. Logitech z680, logitech z5500, corsair sp2500, cambridge dt2500, cambridge dt3500, etc.) and having nearfield monitors/bookshelves are way better.

For those of you that can afford a little more and have the desk space, I would suggest for you to look at bookshelves or powered near-field monitors for better sound. Ever since I left "computer speakers" like 5 years ago and went into "real" audio for personal use, the sound difference is so big and I'll always suggest for others to do the same.

If you get something like the swan d1080s for ~180, or the presonus ceres 3.5 or 4.5's when they go on sale for $90-130, they are a significant step up imo sound quality wise to the klipsch. If you really have the money and can afford the audioengine, adam, emotiva, etc. I would go that direction. I'm currently on the emotiva airmotiv 5's for reference.

A warning though, once you start getting into audio upgrades....it's just as steep and addicting as computer upgrades.
 
Can you believe that the employee discount price on these when I worked there ten years ago was like $70? I should have bought a second set while I was there, though my original set is still going strong.
 
These are a decent set of speakers. But, I'm just shocked the legs they have had. I remember getting these back in the day when they first hit the computer market back in 2000. They sounded great but, eventually the amp went south on my unit. Ended up using the speakers with a replacement amp for a while.
 
Another old set I wish was still made was the Monsoon MM700 Planar Speakers. I still have a set, and they worked great up until about 3 years ago when they developed "Ribbon Rot" and the midrange simply stopped being reproduced :(
 
I've never owned or heard the Monsoon speakers IRL myself, have heard various things about them over time.

Still have enough massive old things hooked up on the main rig on a 7.2 AVR as the main HTPC I don't worry about things much.
 
TechLarry said:
Another old set I wish was still made was the Monsoon MM700 Planar Speakers. I still have a set, and they worked great up until about 3 years ago when they developed "Ribbon Rot" and the midrange simply stopped being reproduced :(
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I had the Monsoon MM2000s, and only got rid of them when I started having issues with the sub. I now have these Klipsch speakers, and am more than happy with them.
 
I would take an M-Audio AV40 bookshelf setup over these any day. Unless you love inflated basslines (wtf is the point of having a "subwoofer" dial when you can barely move it without draining out a lot of clarity?) I don't know... maybe I should get to EQ'n a bit more. These definitely have over-exaggerated lows and the high frequencies are a little too sharp and bright out of the box. I can see the appeal for people who don't care for their frequency responses, but definitely feel they're overhyped unless you're just looking for something loud and boomy.

Edit: Why the f*** did they decide to not utilize an interchangeable aux cable for the "control pod"?? Forgot to mention that a couple weeks in to using these speakers the cable went full-on faulty on me. Every now and then I have to adjust the wire to prevent feedback from stacking when the speakers are idling. Definitely one of my biggest gripes about any audio equipment... at least give us the option to replace the cable without having to ruin our warranty by soldering it ourselves. Having to buy a replacement control pod due to a faulty aux is just a load of crap in my opinion.
 
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discobiscuits said:
I would take an M-Audio AV40 bookshelf setup over these any day. Unless you love inflated basslines (wtf is the point of having a "subwoofer" dial when you can barely move it without draining out a lot of clarity?) I don't know... maybe I should get to EQ'n a bit more. These definitely have over-exaggerated lows and the high frequencies are a little too sharp and bright out of the box. I can see the appeal for people who don't care for their frequency responses, but definitely feel they're overhyped unless you're just looking for something loud and boomy.
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I replaced M-Audio AV40 speakers with the Klipsch. I like the Klipsch a lot more. The AV40 speakers lasted only a little over a year before they starting humming.
 
There's a guy.....whom you can find on ebay and I will link to, who fixes the Klipsch Promedia amps and modifies them to what they SHOULD have been.

Cost for a full (the works) refurb on my 5.1 ultra was $140. All MOSFETs are now on sockets, Caps/Resistors replaced with mil spec or uprated as needed. Internal fan was also added. The fan runs at 40db and sits on the amp internally and is powered by the mains, you can't hear it externally. Output FET tempurature drops from 180 degress to 112 in a 78 degree environment. Expected design life after changes is 7-10 years. Acoustic improvements over factory are N/A.

Basically Klipsch designed the promedia series to thermally fail in 3-4 years average use.

Contact him via e-bay if you want/need his services, he'll either create a e-bay listing for what you're looking for, or you can negotiate offline. Klipsch 2.1 Amplifier Subwoofer Upgraded ProMedia THX $15 Refnd Speaker Warranty
 
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discobiscuits said:
I would take an M-Audio AV40 bookshelf setup over these any day. Unless you love inflated basslines (wtf is the point of having a "subwoofer" dial when you can barely move it without draining out a lot of clarity?) I don't know... maybe I should get to EQ'n a bit more. These definitely have over-exaggerated lows and the high frequencies are a little too sharp and bright out of the box. I can see the appeal for people who don't care for their frequency responses, but definitely feel they're overhyped unless you're just looking for something loud and boomy.

Edit: Why the f*** did they decide to not utilize an interchangeable aux cable for the "control pod"?? Forgot to mention that a couple weeks in to using these speakers the cable went full-on faulty on me. Every now and then I have to adjust the wire to prevent feedback from stacking when the speakers are idling. Definitely one of my biggest gripes about any audio equipment... at least give us the option to replace the cable without having to ruin our warranty by soldering it ourselves. Having to buy a replacement control pod due to a faulty aux is just a load of crap in my opinion.
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A couple of comments: I use an EQ with a calibrated mic. The promedia setup is designed for near field use. The Promedia 2.1 doesn't do over 103db 37-20k. The Promedia 4.1 adds a second 6" driver in the same cube to get you to 105db and down to 35. The Promedia 5.1 can do 109db 32-20k which is significantly better, but it cost more $$$.
 
braamer said:
I had the Monsoon MM2000s, and only got rid of them when I started having issues with the sub. I now have these Klipsch speakers, and am more than happy with them.
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The MM700's were the only real good one's.
 
discobiscuits said:
I would take an M-Audio AV40 bookshelf setup over these any day. Unless you love inflated basslines (wtf is the point of having a "subwoofer" dial when you can barely move it without draining out a lot of clarity?) I don't know... maybe I should get to EQ'n a bit more. These definitely have over-exaggerated lows and the high frequencies are a little too sharp and bright out of the box. I can see the appeal for people who don't care for their frequency responses, but definitely feel they're overhyped unless you're just looking for something loud and boomy.

Edit: Why the f*** did they decide to not utilize an interchangeable aux cable for the "control pod"?? Forgot to mention that a couple weeks in to using these speakers the cable went full-on faulty on me. Every now and then I have to adjust the wire to prevent feedback from stacking when the speakers are idling. Definitely one of my biggest gripes about any audio equipment... at least give us the option to replace the cable without having to ruin our warranty by soldering it ourselves. Having to buy a replacement control pod due to a faulty aux is just a load of crap in my opinion.
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The set in my bedroom have been on 24/7 for 4+ years with no issues. Until recently they were connected to an iPad mini. Now the are connected an Amazon Echo Dot. Quite the handy little setup.
 
I am a proud owner of these speakers and they are amazing. One thing that occurs on mine is if I physically turn the knob to raise the volume on the speaker any higher than 50%, I start getting a hissing sound. I thought perhaps it was EMI but moving them away from the monitor or computer did not help. If I keep it at 50% or lower, it's perfectly fine and still loud as heck. Perhaps I have a faulty set. Anyone else run into this?
 
These speakers are, by far, the best bang-for-buck for a 2.1 setup at MSRP, and the value only increases when they are on sale (like this). Pity they had to crap up so badly with their KG-200/300 gaming headset line. I picked up a KG-200 to play with for $20 at Newegg 2 months ago and it was quite bad. Super-aural fit (bad for my big head), confusing wire setup (ended up having to use the USB connector separately from the provided jacks), combined with a ridiculous amount of hiss (required that the USB be linked up with a cellphone recharging unit simply to reduce the amount of hiss -- even then, it was sometimes present). Even more amazing is that the KG-200 was retailing for $130 just 1.5 years ago. It's a real travesty -- recently, I picked up a used Sound Blaster Tactic3D Rage 2.0 gaming headset to play with, also at $20, and that headset was a LOT better (nowhere near my Audio-Technica's for clarity, but, still, a lot of fun to play with).

In other words, I heartily recommend Klipsch for a 2.1 setup, and also heartily do NOT recommend Klipsch for any sort of gaming headset whatsoever. They royally screwed up, and have to really come out with a VERY competitive (both in price and performance) gaming headset to grab my attention.
 
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JohnC0817 said:
I am a proud owner of these speakers and they are amazing. One thing that occurs on mine is if I physically turn the knob to raise the volume on the speaker any higher than 50%, I start getting a hissing sound. I thought perhaps it was EMI but moving them away from the monitor or computer did not help. If I keep it at 50% or lower, it's perfectly fine and still loud as heck. Perhaps I have a faulty set. Anyone else run into this?
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Sounds like you need to raise the source level a bit. Mine are very loud and no where near 1/2 volume on the pod.
 
JohnC0817 said:
I am a proud owner of these speakers and they are amazing. One thing that occurs on mine is if I physically turn the knob to raise the volume on the speaker any higher than 50%, I start getting a hissing sound. I thought perhaps it was EMI but moving them away from the monitor or computer did not help. If I keep it at 50% or lower, it's perfectly fine and still loud as heck. Perhaps I have a faulty set. Anyone else run into this?
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One of the possible failure modes for the promedia set is low amplification of actual sound...but the finals are amplifiing noise because the inputs are low....all of this occurs inside the amp. My suggestion is plug-in a pair of headphones directly into the sound card's output. If you hear it there, it's probably coming from the sound card/onboard audio. If you don't here it, try plugging it into the headphone outputs on the Klipsch pod. If you hear the problem there...its probably the Klipsch AMP. See my previous post about getting THAT issue and others like it fixed.
 
As I said previously, getting bookshelves/nearfield monitors will produce better sound. Having 5"+ cones with ribbon tweeters will sound significantly clearer and better than these Klipsch. Comparatively, I've owned and recommend the Swan D1080, Adam A5X's, Audioengine A5+'s, Rokit R5, and my current Emotiva Airmotiv 5's and they are all hands down better than any "computer speaker". I've played around with the AV40s, Mackies, Presonus, etc through purchases for friends and family members.
If you want to feel the bass beyond the bookshelves, you can easily pair your bookshelves with another subwoofer.
I know what I'm suggesting cost significantly more than the klipsch, but I believe they all warrant the additional expense.

Personal background: I regret selling my Adam A5x's but reapplied their cost to temporarily add the Sennheiser HD800 to my headphone setup - I then split that cost into hifiman he500s and the new fostex thx00. My home theater setup (KEF 2xQ900, Q600c, 2xQ300 & Outlaw Audio Ultra 12 Subwoofer). Told ya' audio was a slippery slope....
 
spressa112 said:
As I said previously, getting bookshelves/nearfield monitors will produce better sound. Having 5"+ cones with ribbon tweeters will sound significantly clearer and better than these Klipsch. Comparatively, I've owned and recommend the Swan D1080, Adam A5X's, Audioengine A5+'s, Rokit R5, and my current Emotiva Airmotiv 5's and they are all hands down better than any "computer speaker". I've played around with the AV40s, Mackies, Presonus, etc through purchases for friends and family members.
If you want to feel the bass beyond the bookshelves, you can easily pair your bookshelves with another subwoofer.
I know what I'm suggesting cost significantly more than the klipsch, but I believe they all warrant the additional expense.

Personal background: I regret selling my Adam A5x's but reapplied their cost to temporarily add the Sennheiser HD800 to my headphone setup - I then split that cost into hifiman he500s and the new fostex thx00. My home theater setup (KEF 2xQ900, Q600c, 2xQ300 & Outlaw Audio Ultra 12 Subwoofer). Told ya' audio was a slippery slope....
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This is all understood but man, you are talking about a ENTIRELY different class of speakers.

Show me another set for $125 that are any where near the Klipsh's.
 
TechLarry said:
This is all understood but man, you are talking about a ENTIRELY different class of speakers.

Show me another set for $125 that are any where near the Klipsh's.
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"anywhere near" is extremely subjective. To my ears, a lot of 2.0 studio monitors best the Klipsch speakers easily, but don't have a subwoofer in-play to shake the room a bit... so if that's what you're referencing when you ask to find a setup at the ProMedia's level, then I guess you're correct. These are louder and will shake a room more effectively than most speakers around it's price range.
 
Mackintire said:
One of the possible failure modes for the promedia set is low amplification of actual sound...but the finals are amplifiing noise because the inputs are low....all of this occurs inside the amp. My suggestion is plug-in a pair of headphones directly into the sound card's output. If you hear it there, it's probably coming from the sound card/onboard audio. If you don't here it, try plugging it into the headphone outputs on the Klipsch pod. If you hear the problem there...its probably the Klipsch AMP. See my previous post about getting THAT issue and others like it fixed.
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Thanks. I'll definitely try that when I am back home. Also of note, I owned the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 THX way back in the day. They also had that hissing issue and again, I limited the knob to about halfway. Perhaps I'm just real "lucky" with Klipsch speakers. I'll report on my findings.
 
discobiscuits said:
"anywhere near" is extremely subjective. To my ears, a lot of 2.0 studio monitors best the Klipsch speakers easily, but don't have a subwoofer in-play to shake the room a bit... so if that's what you're referencing when you ask to find a setup at the ProMedia's level, then I guess you're correct. These are louder and will shake a room more effectively than most speakers around it's price range.
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There are tons of powered studio monitors that might be better at 2.0, but yeah it's not the same as a cheap 2.1 sub setup.

Some 2.0's might even be in that price range, but I doubt the bass would be well represented.



The whole house should be vibrating as far as I'm concerned sometimes.

:p

D6mb9Kn.jpg


Some of my old mongrel long ago modified JVC's even.

I blew out the tweeters and midranges on the JVC's in the mid 80's and replaced them with a few higher end Radio Shack speakers, they actually still sound good and have been bombing along well since then.

RIP, Radio Shack.

My audio systems are kinda a result of 40 years of pissing around, somewhat :)
 
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