Mac Forum / General / Hardware / March 2008

All -

About a week ago, I posted the first message in which became a very long
thread on options for a new "computer speaker" system for my Macintosh.
(I'm enclosing the term in quotes because I was lectured by many from an
audio perspective that all such systems are trash and that I was doomed
if I limited my search to so-called "computer" monitors.)  This my final
review of the system I ultimately chose, the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1.

My initial tendency had been to avoid "computer" systems.  I looked very
closely at a number of what might be considered "hi-fi" solutions.  I've
been an unrepentant audiophile for a number of years, and I know what a
good speaker sounds like.  My downstairs system includes a pair of Spica
TC50s and the associated powered subwoofer driven by a sweet Nakamichi,
and there is a pair of Vandersteen 2Cs in the basement.  I wanted to get
reasonably high fidelity from the computer system since I have carefully
encoded all of the music I've loaded into iTunes as AAC @ 128kbps/44,100
kHz, not entirely lossless but much better than your standard-issue MP3
files.

Thus, I looked first at such speakers as the M-Audio Studiophile AV-40s
and the AudioEngine 2s.  However, it quickly became apparent that I just
didn't have the real estate available for a fairly large two-way system,
so I began to look at three-piece "computer" systems, most specifically
the best available from Altec-Lansing, Klipsch, and Logitech.  (I also
considered replacing the extant [but moribund] Cambridge SoundWorks 2.1
system which had long served me well with an updated version.)  I waded
through review after review until deciding that since the results were
largely inconclusive and I liked the basic design of the Klipsch system
best, I would give them a try.  This decision was bolstered by the fact
that I could get them from Amazon for a mere $110 (vs. $179 list), so I
pushed the "place my order" button and waited.

Despite Amazon's advice that it would take at least a week for them to
deliver my new toys, they arrived on my doorstep two days later, and I
have been happily tweaking ever since.  I was not initially impressed.
The subwoofer was very boomy (even before I placed it where I intended
it to live permanently) and the satellites were very strident and "for-
ward" with a shrill top end.  I figured that perhaps I'd made a mistake
and might be returning them, but decided to play with them for a while
and see whether I could live with them.  I'm glad I did.

I had been very stubborn about retaining the flat EQ setting in iTunes.
I'd set all of my music to play back flat but with a +6dB boost to the
preamp gain (since the Cambridge system wasn't terribly efficient), and
since the Klipsch system seemed to be much more efficient, I reprofiled
everything to Flat/0dB, and began experimenting with speaker placement
using a variety of different genres.

I quickly learned that the satellites were capable of very good detail
and imaging, but wanted to be as far apart and as far from the listener
as possible, so I rearranged my desk to place them at the extreme back
corners (approximately 55" center-to-center and 33" from my position),
and then adjusted their angle to maximize the soundstage imaging.

The Klipsch manual recommends that the optimal subwoofer volume setting
for music is 10:00 (and even provides a mark on the pot), so I set that
as a fixed parameter and then experimented with placement.  I began with
a fully left-cornered position with the driver firing straight sideways
and the port straight ahead, and ultimately moved it about 7" from both
back and left walls.  The former boominess was gone and there wasn't any
of that annoying "localization" of the bass frequencies.

OK, I thought, maybe this is going to be okay.  But the more I listened,
the less I liked it.  Something about the overall profile was wrong, and
I also learned that even at their highest volume setting, there was less
oomph than I'd hoped for.  I could do one of two things: Send them back
or continue to tweak.  The first thing I decided to do was to boost the
iTunes preamp gain setting.  I determined that at full gain (+12dB) and
full output on the computer's settings, the Klipsch system would distort
at its full volume setting.  Not wishing to take chances with clipping,
I began to scale back the iTunes preamp setting and discovered that +11
worked just fine, so I reprofiled all of my source material to Flat/+11.
(This takes a *long* time with over 21,000 selections!)

Listening further, the system just sounded "flat" to me: Lifeless and a
bit dead.  The only parameter left was iTunes' EQ profile and the purist
in me didn't want to alter it.  (I've always been one to switch the tone
controls off whenever possible.)  But the system was in place and there
were options available, so I thought I'd fool around and see what might
be done.  Although I've always distained the "loudness" button on every
amp I've ever owned, I discovered that the "Loudness +11db" settings in
iTunes sounded pretty darn good.  (Makes sense when you think about it.)
So once again, I reprofiled everything to those parameters, and despite
my reservations, I am happy.

Silk purse from a sow's ear?  Perhaps, but I'll tell you this: The more
challenging the source material, the more impressive these speakers are.
They excel with "classical" music, especially very dynamic pieces.  They
are somewhat less impressive with rock, country, blues, jazz, CCM, etc.
I can live with that since most of that stuff was engineered with an ear
towards least-common-denominator playback systems.  If I can be as happy
as I am while Bela Bartok's "Cantata Profana for Tenor, Baritone, Double
Chorus, and Orchestra, Sz 94 (The Nine Splendid Stags)" is playing on my
Mac though these dinky little plastic "boom and tizz" speakers, I'll be
just fine!

Cheers!

Mudge

(All follow-ups have been directed to comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc.)