Tech: Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Speakers

While many gamers have gone to 5.1 and 7.1 PC speaker systems to fit their needs, I've never been able to justify the considerable space problems inherent in such set-ups. Half measures like putting all the speakers up front seem to defeat the purpose of surround sound entirely. No, I still use good old 2.1 speakers.

The Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 model has been out for about six years now, but it's still going strong. I bought this set about four months ago at the start of the semester, and it's been serving well. The speakers require a significant burn-in time to reach their full potential - out of the box, the mids felt kind of stiff and the bass was lackadaisical. Play them for a couple dozen hours, though, and everything just sort of comes together.

The satellites are the main attraction. At 50-odd watts per channel, there's plenty of power. It seems like the system gives most duties to these sats, only reserving the lowest stuff for the subwoofer. Listening to "Mona Lisa Overdrive" from the "Matrix Reloaded" soundtrack, for example, the sub puts out the throbbing background hum perfectly while the sats do a great job with the strings and brass that the Matrix series is known for.

There are some annoyances, however. There's no power button on the satellites, which just plain doesn't make any sense. The unit is highly directional - off-axis performance is not great at all. That is, if you sit/stand right in front of the speakers, you get foot-shaking bass and clear highs, but if you step three feet to the right, the sound quality drops noticeably. This is acceptable given that these are supposed to be computer speakers, but it's something to note nonetheless.