Speaker Satisfaction

Here’s a quick product suggestion for your holiday shopping. I finally got the opportunity over the past week to hook up and begin using a set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 computer speakers that’d long been languishing in my to-review pile. They are sonically outstanding, in comparison to past 2.1 channel (left and right satellites, plus powered subwoofer) sets that I’ve auditioned in the past from companies like Creative Labs, Harmon/Kardon, and Logitech. They’re aesthetically attractive, to boot, with detachable grills on the satellites if you prefer that look.  And I appreciate the little feature touches, such as separate main and subwoofer volume controls, along with headphone output and line input jacks, built into one of the satellites…though I do wish the power switch was more easily accessible (it’s on the back of the subwoofer, necessitating a crawl under my desk each time I want to turn the system on or off).

Klipsch’s ProMedia 2.1 exemplifies the positive return on investment of paying a bit more than you would for some other 2.1 speaker set. And nowadays, the ‘bit more’ truly is a ‘bit’. Klipsch actually introduced the system in October of 2000, and while its original MSRP was $179.99, a quick scan of Google Products for well-known, reputable retailers shows it available new for $119.95 (at B&H) and above. Klipsch also offers factory refurbished units for $89.99. Sounds good to me (pun intended)! Some of you may have seen the recent ‘lukewarm’ ProMedia 2.1 review in the December issue of The Absolute Sound. Keep in mind as you read it that Klipsch’s speaker set was the least expensive candidate evaluated…and that the most expensive set cost $1595! While I advocate spending ‘a bit more’, that’s much more than ‘a bit more’! And anyway, I’d gently suggest, reviewer Alan Taffel’s methodology wasn’t statistically sound, given that he admitted that he ‘relied on a limited set of source material’…translation: four tracks, with two of them content-identical aside from per-sample size/rate differences.

Followup (12/2/08): On sale this week for $99.99 at Best Buy.