Klipsch Speaker Replacements

[Silverdogz]

Hello,

 

I currently have a set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THXs that have been nothing but trouble. The left channel works about 60% of the time and now the volume knob does nothing, except maybe occasionally bring the subwoofer online. I'm honestly extremely dissapointed with them, and am now looking for a replacement system. What would be a good 2.1 system that's still on the market?

[johnt]

Yeah I realized modern Klipsch speakers suck a lot. You have to spend such big money to get something quality from them that you basically should look for another brand. With that rant out of the way...

 

Budget?

[Silverdogz]

11 minutes ago, johnt said:

Yeah I realized modern Klipsch speakers suck a lot. You have to spend such big money to get something quality from them that you basically should look for another brand. With that rant out of the way...

 

Budget?

I think up to 200 USD is about as much as I want to drop on speakers. 150 USD would be the ideal spot though.

[johnt]

1 hour ago, Silverdogz said:

I think up to 200 USD is about as much as I want to drop on speakers. 150 USD would be the ideal spot though.

The Mackie CR3.5 is probably a good place to start for that budget. I've never heard the Mackie's before but they are highly recommended among many people.

 

The PreSonus Eris 4.5 are also pretty good.

 

It's too bad you didn't post like a month ago. You totally missed the best deals for BF. I scored the Audioengine A1 MR for $99 and they are very good. It's sold out now on Amazon but it might come back. I've been recommending them to everybody who has asked for a speaker recommendation on here.

 

You can forget about a subwoofer at that budget. I would add a subwoofer later. These types of speakers I recommended are tuned very differently than the Klipsch you have. They might appear to be similar in size, but these are ported and they extend a lot lower in the frequency range. So they put out a lot more bass than you expect from something this small. You may not need a subwoofer after you hear them.

[Silverdogz]

1 hour ago, johnt said:

The Mackie CR3.5 is probably a good place to start for that budget. I've never heard the Mackie's before but they are highly recommended among many people.

 

The PreSonus Eris 4.5 are also pretty good.

 

It's too bad you didn't post like a month ago. You totally missed the best deals for BF. I scored the Audioengine A1 MR for $99 and they are very good. It's sold out now on Amazon but it might come back. I've been recommending them to everybody who has asked for a speaker recommendation on here.

 

You can forget about a subwoofer at that budget. I would add a subwoofer later. These types of speakers I recommended are tuned very differently than the Klipsch you have. They might appear to be similar in size, but these are ported and they extend a lot lower in the frequency range. So they put out a lot more bass than you expect from something this small. You may not need a subwoofer after you hear them.

Thanks for the recommendations! I always figure I can add a sub later if need be. Right now having stereo capbaility will be an upgrade over these.

--

EDIT:

B&H had a sale on a set of Mackie CR4-X, so those are on their way.

[saintlouisbagels]

3 hours ago, Silverdogz said:

Thanks for the recommendations! I always figure I can add a sub later if need be. Right now having stereo capbaility will be an upgrade over these.

--

EDIT:

B&H had a sale on a set of Mackie CR4-X, so those are on their way.

FYI the the CR4-X don't have a sub-out (pre-out) so if you buy a subwoofer in the future, you also need to purchase an interface with pre-out to control the subwoofer volume in line with the speaker volume.

 

I'd probably get something like the Schiit SYS since it's just a passive volume control. You would only use 1 input and 1 output.
https://www.schiit.com/products/sys?srsltid=AfmBOopiBAt3Hu1mawvtqKgOVRU6bDqswGNpuHjUYS1bQrO9QYdOcQCh
and then I'd get RCA y-cables so that split the signal between the Mackie speakers and a hypothetical subwoofer

[Silverdogz]

2 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

FYI the the CR4-X don't have a sub-out (pre-out) so if you buy a subwoofer in the future, you also need to purchase an interface with pre-out to control the subwoofer volume in line with the speaker volume.

 

I'd probably get something like the Schiit SYS since it's just a passive volume control. You would only use 1 input and 1 output.
https://www.schiit.com/products/sys?srsltid=AfmBOopiBAt3Hu1mawvtqKgOVRU6bDqswGNpuHjUYS1bQrO9QYdOcQCh
and then I'd get RCA y-cables so that split the signal between the Mackie speakers and a hypothetical subwoofer

Yeah, I saw that but the price was too good to pass up. That said, is there a reason that you can't just use the black/orange ports on the onboard audio connections? My onboard audio is clear, so I don't really see the need for a DAC.

 

 

Also, this entire thing has me wondering why LTT has never put out a decent video on PC speaker options. The most recent thing I saw was quite old or a techquickie episode.

[johnt]

1 hour ago, Silverdogz said:

Yeah, I saw that but the price was too good to pass up. That said, is there a reason that you can't just use the black/orange ports on the onboard audio connections? My onboard audio is clear, so I don't really see the need for a DAC.

 

 

Also, this entire thing has me wondering why LTT has never put out a decent video on PC speaker options. The most recent thing I saw was quite old or a techquickie episode.

Nice! How much were you able to get them for? Just curious. I wouldn’t worry about the output. I would just get two splitters and can it a day. 
 

Using the on board outputs makes things complicated. The sound card will actually make the subwoofer channel a separate channel, typically called the LFE channel. Most sources do not carry an LFE signal. You should be able to redirect the bass from the left and right speakers using the cross over frequency, but in my experience it doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to. Splitting the left and right signals is a more reliable option.

[saintlouisbagels]

1 hour ago, Silverdogz said:

That said, is there a reason that you can't just use the black/orange ports on the onboard audio connections? My onboard audio is clear, so I don't really see the need for a DAC.

Oh duh, I completely ignored how you were connecting the Mackie to your PC.
What @johnt said is correct - you would just split the signal from the motherboard Line Out and feed the y-cables to the Mackies and the hypothetical subwoofer. No need for that Schiit SYS I mentioned (which isn't a DAC btw).

 

He is also correct about LFE. It is a specific audio channel meant for sound engineers to feed audio to the subwoofer in a home theater setup - it is the .1 in a 5.1/7.1/9.1 setup. Due to this if you listen to any media without LFE (e.g. listening to music) then the subwoofer will actually do nothing because it's not being given anything. This is in contrast to feeding the subwoofer the same signal as the stereo output - it will play in tandem with your speakers.

[johnt]

3 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

it is the .1 in a 5.1/7.1/9.1 setup

Correct, and 2.1 as well. It doesn't just mean "a speaker system with two speakers and a subwoofer," as much as the stickers on the speaker box lead people to believe. It is actually three separate audio channels according to audio drivers. Which leads to, as you say, the subwoofer will actually do nothing lol from first hand experience!!

[Silverdogz]

10 hours ago, johnt said:

Nice! How much were you able to get them for? Just curious. I wouldn’t worry about the output. I would just get two splitters and can it a day. 
 

Using the on board outputs makes things complicated. The sound card will actually make the subwoofer channel a separate channel, typically called the LFE channel. Most sources do not carry an LFE signal. You should be able to redirect the bass from the left and right speakers using the cross over frequency, but in my experience it doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to. Splitting the left and right signals is a more reliable option.

I must have grabbed the last set as they were $90, and seem to be unavailable on the site now. The splitter sounds like a fine idea if these don't have enough bass to start with.

[johnt]

38 minutes ago, Silverdogz said:

I must have grabbed the last set as they were $90, and seem to be unavailable on the site now. The splitter sounds like a fine idea if these don't have enough bass to start with.

Great price! Enjoy them

[Silverdogz]

I figured I would update this topic as the units I bought ended up having a muting issue, they would mute if the audio input dropped low enough. Very irritating issue! Luckily Mackie support ended up sending me a new set of the CR 4.5s to replace them. With the experience I had, I would buy another set of Mackie speakers just because of their good customer support.