Klipsh ProMedia 2.1 - Good Buy in 2022?

[pio]

So, these speakers really don't "need" a review as they've been out in the public for what a decade now?  I bought a set years ago, and honestly I didn't like them, but I found a set locally at a thrift store and I just couldn't help myself.  They do still sell brand new on Amazon for $129.99, but are they worth it?  Let's see.......  But here's what I scored at a thrift store (I did post it elsewhere on the forum, but I figured it'd be fun to review these).

 

 

Keep in mind, I do live in an apartment, so I can't exactly blast them up super loud.  But I have given them a proper listen.  Here's where I have them installed at currently.  You can see next to them my "small" Micca MB42's.

 

 

I have these paired with my Ryzen 3600, 5700XT build.  Just using generic B450 onboard audio.  How do I like them you might ask?  Honestly, I wouldn't have paid $130 for these, as there's MUCH better options you can still score brand new using a small T amp and actual bookshelf speakers.  But if you can find them second hand for cheaper, they're worth considering.  Let me explain.....

 

The woofers on these "THX" speakers are only 3".  The tweeter is a 1".  For reference, my Micca's are 4" woofer and 3/4" tweeter (see picture below).  Not saying that size matters, but there's a reason I bring this up.  The treble is overbearing on these Klipsh speakers (surprise surprise).  The midrange sounds fine, if a little underwhelming due to the tweeter.  The mid-bass is non existant at all, period.  They seem to drop off VERY sharply at around 150Hz and below, and the subwoofer doesn't seem to pick up until 80-90Hz or so.  I'm not saying that they sound BAD by any means.  No, not at all actually its quite the opposite.  If you enjoy bright sounding speakers (which I do), these actually aren't too terribly bad.  I do have to admit, I don't like the lack of mid-bass on these, that's certainly a downside.  The tweeters are quite crisp sounding, and even though they're a little overbearing they're very pleasant on the ears.

 

 

Now, this is the part that EVERYBODY seems to rave about with these....the subwoofer.  The subwoofer on these comes in at a decent 6.5", and the enclosure is really quite large for a 6.5".  This is a good thing, as a larger enclosure will typically mean a lower tuning frequency.  It's side firing and ported, probably near 40Hz or so.  My apologies, due to apartment living and respect for my neighbors, I refused to do a sine sweep.  It's not quite big enough to hit the LOW lows that I personally love out of a subwoofer, however its tuned low enough that it rumbles very nicely.  It actually IS tuned lower than my Pioneer 6.5" subwoofer I have as my main subwoofer, and you can hear that very plainly listening to both side by side.  For record, my Pioneer sub is tuned at 45Hz.  The bass knob on the satellite speakers, honestly is not tuned "correctly" in my opinion.  Absolutely ALL the way down on the bass knob really is the sweet spot on these.  You get enough bass that you can hear it, and feel it at high volume...but not so much that its overkill and boomy.  I tried turning the bass knob up, and even at halfway it was severely overkill and even at low volumes, the subwoofer started distorting.  Seriously, ProMedia owners, make sure you're careful with that bass knob.  It really doesn't help turning it up too far.  All the way down, upwards of MAYBE 1/8 of the way up on the volume knob would be about as high as I'd go for comfortable listening with as accurate of bass as this system can manage.  The subwoofer, in my opinion, is VERY underwhelming considering all the rave reviews everybody else gives it.  Seriously its not a good sub.....but if you keep the bass knob in check, it sounds fine.....almost good even.  It is pretty "powerful" as well I'd say.  My Pioneer soundbar subwoofer is more powerful and that much is apparent to me, but the lower tuning on the Klipsh absolutely does make it stand out and seem louder than it really is.

 

 

So what are my overall thoughts on these?  I bought a set of them years ago for MSRP, and I returned them immediately due to how bright the tweeters were and how horrible the subwoofer was (based off reviews of the system).  This set, I got stupid cheap second hand....and honestly I couldn't be happier with them, even though I complained a little in my review here.  If you can find these speakers for half off MSRP, buy them.  Seriously.  I wouldn't even hesitate.  If you want a simple, all in one PC speaker setup with 3.5mm plug in to use on your PC or your TV or something, they might even be worth considering with their ease of use.  If you're not wanting to piece together something yourself, and just plug it in, they're really not bad at all even for MSRP (keeping the bass knob down).  If you're wanting something accurate sounding, look elsewhere as these are far from it.  Overall, they're pleasing on the ear with the bass knob adjustments, and honestly it was a few dollars well spent to me.  I still wouldn't suggest them at MSRP, but really....if you fit the criteria I mentioned a few sentences ago, by all means, be my guest and buy a set.  You really could do a lot worse, but you could do a lot better as far as accuracy goes.  Boomy / bright really does fit nicely with a lot of music styles and video games....so the choice is yours.

 

Hope ya'll enjoyed reading my rave / rant here.  Happy listening everyone!

Edited July 10, 2022 by pioneerisloud

[bwalker36]

I just bought my pair a few months ago for like 90, They were on sale.  I don't really think your going to get better in a similar package for the price honestly.  I'm no audiophile but I do appreciate good clean audio.  My one complaint is I think the base sucks, but I don't listen to a ton of heavy base music and even the hiphop I listen to sounds great.  

[Storm-Chaser]

@pioneerisloud

 

Interesting product and good review. Sounds like for that price you can't go wrong. 

 

I know this is unrelated but you should keep your eyes out for one of these as well.

 

Just came across this today. It's only rated at 300W but in reality, it's more like 460w.

 

 

[pio]

8 hours ago, bwalker36 said:

I just bought my pair a few months ago for like 90, They were on sale.  I don't really think your going to get better in a similar package for the price honestly.  I'm no audiophile but I do appreciate good clean audio.  My one complaint is I think the base sucks, but I don't listen to a ton of heavy base music and even the hiphop I listen to sounds great.  

 

Under $100, you scored in my opinion.  The bass is very lacking on them as I mentioned.....turn the bass knob down some and it cleans it up.  It won't have as much bass obviously, but it does sound a lot better with it turned down.   If you're looking for a full package, with a subwoofer for the lower bass notes, you really can't beat these at that price.  A "proper" subwoofer starts at like $70 ish just for a sub alone when building your own setup.....so yeah, for the price they're great.

 

3 hours ago, Storm-Chaser said:

@pioneerisloud

 

Interesting product and good review. Sounds like for that price you can't go wrong. 

 

I know this is unrelated but you should keep your eyes out for one of these as well.

 

Just came across this today. It's only rated at 300W but in reality, it's more like 460w.

 

 

 

If you found one of those, consider me jealous.  That may, or may not be part of where my screenname came from, and my old set (may they RIP) of Pioneer CS-405 12" tower speakers I had paired with it.  Was my dad's setup at the time, when I started getting online with AOL and NetZero.  

[bwalker36]

14 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

 

Under $100, you scored in my opinion.  The bass is very lacking on them as I mentioned.....turn the bass knob down some and it cleans it up.  It won't have as much bass obviously, but it does sound a lot better with it turned down.   If you're looking for a full package, with a subwoofer for the lower bass notes, you really can't beat these at that price.  A "proper" subwoofer starts at like $70 ish just for a sub alone when building your own setup.....so yeah, for the price they're great.

 

 

If you found one of those, consider me jealous.  That may, or may not be part of where my screenname came from, and my old set (may they RIP) of Pioneer CS-405 12" tower speakers I had paired with it.  Was my dad's setup at the time, when I started getting online with AOL and NetZero.  

 

I think you actually steered me towards them on OCN lol.  

[pio]

8 hours ago, bwalker36 said:

 

I think you actually steered me towards them on OCN lol.  

Doesn't surprise me.  I'm pretty sure I had bought my last set while I was on OCN.  I've gone through so many sets of speakers over the years its kind of ridiculous lol.

[UltraMega]

How much did you spend on them from the thrift store?

 

These have been around for about two decades. I had a set when I was a teenager. Speaker tech doesn't change much and Klipsch got it right the first time within the price range. Not going to impress at very high volumes, but at anything low enough to keep the sub from distorting they are very solid. Having a separate knob for the sub is really useful for speakers like these. 

 

I have some $25 logitech speakers that came with a sub that I use for my spare PC and they are surprisingly good for the price, but the main issue is there is no way to adjust the sub and it's actually too loud as is. 

[pio]

20 minutes ago, UltraMega said:

How much did you spend on them from the thrift store?

 

These have been around for about two decades. I had a set when I was a teenager. Speaker tech doesn't change much and Klipsch got it right the first time within the price range. Not going to impress at very high volumes, but at anything low enough to keep the sub from distorting they are very solid. Having a separate knob for the sub is really useful for speakers like these. 

 

I have some $25 logitech speakers that came with a sub that I use for my spare PC and they are surprisingly good for the price, but the main issue is there is no way to adjust the sub and it's actually too loud as is. 

I paid $28 for them at the thrift store. 

 

As I said, at their price point and feature set, they're an okay buy at msrp. You can do much much better spending just a few more dollars, but it'd be a build it yourself kind of deal. If one can find them under $100 they're a really good bargain.

 

Logitech sets are plagued with similar issues except amplified due to the design. The crossover on both the satellites and the sub is way too high on logitechs. They also have huge missing areas of the frequency response. And as you mentioned, logitechs usually have an incredibly boomy sub. Bass sells, even if it sounds bad. 

 

To be fair, there really isn't ANY dedicated "pc speakers" that would be suitable for critical listening. The promedia set comes in pretty close, but there's still a lot of dips in the response that wouldn't be there in a better diy set. But.... It's better than the majority. 

 

I just wanted to write the "review" up because we need more user submitted reviews.

[UltraMega]

35 minutes ago, pioneerisloud said:

I paid $28 for them at the thrift store. 

 

As I said, at their price point and feature set, they're an okay buy at msrp. You can do much much better spending just a few more dollars, but it'd be a build it yourself kind of deal. If one can find them under $100 they're a really good bargain.

 

Logitech sets are plagued with similar issues except amplified due to the design. The crossover on both the satellites and the sub is way too high on logitechs. They also have huge missing areas of the frequency response. And as you mentioned, logitechs usually have an incredibly boomy sub. Bass sells, even if it sounds bad. 

 

To be fair, there really isn't ANY dedicated "pc speakers" that would be suitable for critical listening. The promedia set comes in pretty close, but there's still a lot of dips in the response that wouldn't be there in a better diy set. But.... It's better than the majority. 

 

I just wanted to write the "review" up because we need more user submitted reviews.

For $28 that's a steal, even used. 

[pio]

4 hours ago, UltraMega said:

For $28 that's a steal, even used. 

Absolutely!  I've been having a lot of fun at that thrift store.  

 

I honestly would've paid upwards of $75 for these Klipsh speakers had they asked that of them.  The Polk AMR70's I just repaired ($12 find at the same store), I'd have paid upwards of $30-40 for otherwise.....and they're exactly the kinds of setups I was looking for anyway.  

[pio]

Update on the review a little bit, regarding the crossover system:

 

My neighbors were out of the house for a little bit today, so I went ahead and took the liberty of doing a sine sweep.  The results were interesting, but about what I expected really to be honest.  The subwoofer drops off SHARPLY at 40Hz and below.  The subwoofer seems to go from 40Hz-90Hz or so roughly.  It's certainly tuned a little high for my liking as once you get above 80Hz you can tell WHERE the sub is at in the room.  The satellite speakers start kicking in very strongly at 130Hz and up.  So yeah, there's a gap between 90-130Hz.  I noticed if I adjusted the bass knob up higher, the sub was still putting out sound at 150Hz even, so it seems the crossover system is probably around the 120Hz-130Hz range, somewhere in the there.  Overall though, as mentioned originally, they're more than acceptable enough for gaming and listening to music (assuming you like bright sounding speakers).  Definitely NOT critical listening speakers by any means, but yeah....I'm pretty happy with those results.

Edited July 13, 2022 by pioneerisloud

[MacGyverSG1]

I still have my Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400.  I also bought a ProMedia 2.1 set when it first came out.  Both are over 20 years old.

 

The v.2-400 has dual 6.5" subwoofers.  The bass is much better than the 2.1.  The build quality is really good for both (old stock).

 

From what I have read recently about the ProMedia 2.1 is that the quality has gone down hill dramatically.  The electronics in the sub fail at a high rate.  It's too bad.

 

My ProMedia v.2-400 is still going strong almost 23 years later and I still use them all the time (the 2.1 also).

 

I loved playing UT and Quake II with those speakers.  The good old days.

[UltraMega]

I bought a used set of the Klipsch pro media 2.1 heritage speakers, which seem mostly the same but have a bigger subwoofer, for a really good price on ebay. She LOVES them. 

[MacGyverSG1]

On 15/02/2023 at 02:45, UltraMega said:

I bought a used set of the Klipsch pro media 2.1 heritage speakers, which seem mostly the same but have a bigger subwoofer, for a really good price on ebay. She LOVES them. 

Aren't those ProMedia Heritage 2.1 speakers fairly new?  They look like a smaller version of the Klipsch The Fives, plus a subwoofer.

 

They look pretty good.  An 8" subwoofer should be good for a PC.  For $350, not a bad deal if they are reliable.

[UltraMega]

2 hours ago, MacGyverSG1 said:

Aren't those ProMedia Heritage 2.1 speakers fairly new?  They look like a smaller version of the Klipsch The Fives, plus a subwoofer.

 

They look pretty good.  An 8" subwoofer should be good for a PC.  For $350, not a bad deal if they are reliable.

They're definitely a lot newer than the standard pro media 2.1 kit. I think at $350 it would be pushing it. Got my set for $165.