3DsoundSurge Reviews: Altec Lansing ATP3


	Mark Muschett puts Klipsch's ProMedia 2.1 to the test

Please support 3DsoundSurge by visiting our sponsors

reviews.gif (6840 bytes)

Klipsch ProMedia 2.1

Mark Muschett - Last updated April 20, 2001

Performance (Continued):

Games

In games the differences between the audio reproduction of the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 and less expensive system are less significant but it's still a clear difference in favor of the ProMedia 2.1. That difference itself differs quite a bit between different gaming genres because of the type of sound effects that are most frequently used. The most extreme case is deathmatch gaming like Quake3 and Unreal Tournament where the mostly bass-heavy weapon sound effects completely dominate. You also have the optional soundtrack and some ambient sound effects but the action is intensive enough that most of the time it will be overshadowed by the weapon sound effects. It’s obvious that the bass response and how well it blends with the midrange will be the most significant aspect of the system. In the case of the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1, the bass response is great and blends well with the strong midrange frequencies just as noted for music. This gives a realistic feel of the weapon sound effects that are as good as I have heard from other similarly priced systems and better than less expensive systems.

However, tight, quality bass is not as important in games as it is in music. Gamers tend to lean more towards how loud the bass can go rather than how tight it is. The ProMedia can deliver strong exaggerated bass effects in the range of 8 dB above neutral (measure at 100 Hz but fairly even across the full subwoofer range). Deep low frequency response also does not seem to be as important in games as in music but I still found the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's good bass response down to 41 Hz (even lower if the sub is exaggerated as many do for gaming) to be beneficial.

The quality difference is even more clear with weapon effects that includes a mix of bass, high-end and especially midrange in the effect. By realistic I mean movie theater realistic rather than real-life realism since that’s not what the game sound designer typically aims for (real life is generally much less dramatic!). It's also important to realize that even if you think accuracy may not be as important in games as in music, a system like the ProMedia 2.1 that offers more accurate sound reproduction simply sounds better even when you play just random noise. It's just not anywhere near as significant an improvement as with music.

In games with less intensive action, such as single player mode in Unreal and Half-Life, or Thief and System Shock 2, the realism of the ambient sound effects that the ProMedia 2.1 offers will as good an immersive feeling as any other 2.1 systems in its range. It will of course offer better quality than lesser-priced systems. The sound quality also shines in the improved reproduction of the soundtracks. This will be more important in the less intensive single playing mode than in death match gaming.

For RPG and adventure games where the bass effects are less significant while the midrange and high-end becomes more significant the improvements in sound quality will even more depend on the satellites. Again, the improvement you will notice will depend on the quality of the ambient sound effects and music soundtracks both those are generally getting better and better and in general already allow you to appreciate the quality the ProMedia 2.1 has to offer.

Racing games are a slightly different story since you have more a mix of low-end frequencies and lower midrange frequencies than what you get for explosions. The ProMedia 2.1 does a great job of reproducing the engine in games like Nascar3. The only 2.1 system that I have heard that I think does a better job with these types of engine effects is the HMP-4100, mostly because there is some additional engine detail handled by the satellites. Regardless, the great job that the ProMedia 2.1 does with blending the midrange and low frequencies will also come through in these games.

The system also offers excellent stereo imaging which is also important for good reproduction of 3D sound over 2-speakers. Although there is nothing earth shattering about the difference compared to other speakers in that aspect, the good clarity does help and at least in theory, so should the ProMedia 2.1 satellites good low frequency response even though the satellites low end range is not that easy to localize.

No 2-speaker system is anywhere close to as good as a 4-speaker system when it comes to rear positioning. However, if that is your focus and you can only go to a 2.1 system we found the Monsoon MM-1000 to be the one system that stands above the crowd in really deliver an appreciable improvement over other quality 2.1 systems for 3D audio reproduction. Otherwise you should really be considering a 4.1 system.

It's worth noting that headphones also give very good positional sound effects and offer the only really effective method when it comes to positioning sound effects above or below you. The Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 system is not only one of the very few 2.1 systems with a headphone output, it also delivers it with very good quality, high gain (up to 25 dB of amplification) and great convenience, with the headphone output conveniently located on the control module. This output delivers a nice volume boost, even when using high impedance headphones like my Sennheiser HD525.

Another nice feature is the auxiliary input, which allows you to connect the ProMedia 2.1 to your CD player instead of listening to the CD tracks the game forces on you. Another advantage of this is that your stand-alone CD player most likely offers better quality than your PC CD or DVD Drive.

In short as far as gaming as the primary use is concerned the ProMedia 2.1 is only for those who don't have room for a 4.1 system but if you fall into that category it will deliver excellent 2.1 gaming.

There is one other usage that we will mention briefly here and that is what Klipsch is promoting as a 4.2 system. It consists of 2 ProMedia 2.1 systems offered at a discounted price of $300 for a limited time, which is the same pricing as the 4.1 system. That pricing, regardless of how it compares in performance to the 4.1 system makes the ProMedia 4.2 interesting for anyone that may want to use the 2 systems separately sometimes (that is move it to another computer, TV etc). A supposed advantage is the second subwoofer in the rear of the room which compensated for the somewhat high crossover all small speaker systems have to use for effective bass performance but the ProMedia systems are already above average multimedia performers in this respect. For that reason I expect that the benefit of the 4.2 over the 4.1 when it comes to placement of lower frequencies will be minor, if at all noticeable.

We have not tried this setup yet and I am at this point not convinced that the inconvenience of setting up two systems instead of going for a good 4.1 setup such as Klipsch's own ProMedia 4.1 or VideoLogic's Sirocco Crossfire is worth the hassle on a pure performance basis. In my view, the best way to address subwoofer localization is with a system with a large enough midrange/bass driver in the satellite to shift the crossover point low enough to not send any marginally "positionalable" frequencies to the subwoofer. In other words, a strong crossover from the subwoofer at 100 Hz or less would do the trick. However, I have been surprised before and we don’t know what the actual impact of dual subwoofers will be. Later this spring we will be offering our hands on impressions of this 4.2 setup and how it compares to the Klipsch 4.1 system so stay tuned…There’s also more to going with this 4.2 setup than a pure performance benefit. As noted above, it does allow you to use them separate systems when desired and that’s a clear benefit to anyone who might need both a 4.1 and 2.1 system but does not plan to use both in that mode at the same time. For people with those needs going with the two 2.1 systems can save quite a bit of money over buying a 4.1 plus a 2.1 system.

Back to the quality and music tests

On to the DVD tests and summary