This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
The Promedia 2.1 is the best speaker that I've ever spent money on ($100 at Best Buy). It sounds great, even though I can't compare with other higher end speakers. I live in a dorm room and I've mostly had it connected to my TV although I play music from my iPhone from time to time. I also haven't cranked it up all the way yet since I didn't want any noise complaints. The most I've done is turn both the speaker and sub to 50%.
Music sounded great. TV shows sounded great. There was one thing I noticed when watching movies on my PS3. For example, I watched both The Dark Knight (Blu-ray) and Inception (Blu-ray). The music and soundtrack were excellent. However, when there was dialogue during soundtrack-heavy scenes, the dialogue was kind of drowned out. I tried playing around with the speaker volume and sub level but didn't find a good balance. I may need to play with it some more.
The speakers and subwoofer seem to be built well. There is no power switch, not on the speaker and not on the sub. Apparently, Klipsch did not intend for these to be turned off. I am not really bothered by this. However, using the Belkin Conserve Insight Energy Use Monitor, I found these to idle at 9 Watts... which isn't really negligible, especially if it's left powered on 24/7 365.
What's great about it: Great sound, good build quality
What's not so great: No power switch, ~9W Idle, Need to play around with the settings for movies