Roj
05-17-2004, 04:14 PM
First of all, for those who don't know, I'm not a big fan of the current crop of PC multimedia speakers. After the glory days of VideoLogic and given the waning presence of Monsoon (you can still get the PM-14s at Radio Shack, of all places), that pretty much did it for me. I'm completely underwhelmed by Klipsch and think of them as the overpriced con job of the market. I find Altec-Lansing's top end to be overpriced for what it delivers - but at least they had the decency not to emulate the Klipsch uberhype. I'm no fan of Logitech's "boom, bust and mushiness" mindset and find Creative Labs products to be almost as big a ripoff as Klipsch (c'mon, a 7.1 multimedia system? Get Real!!).
Why am I so hard on so-called high-end multimedia speakers, you ask? Because I can go out and buy a decent HTiB from Polk, Energy, Athena or Dahlquist, for heaven's sake. It will cost me a bit more but will produce a *massive* increase in audio quality and immersive experience.
All that being said, there are a couple of "multimedia" systems that have been recently tabled that do tweak my interest. The first is from a Canadian company and uses drivers from a home speaker lineup (Athena):
http://www.spherexinc.com/products.php
...and the second (well, they're actually a two-parter as you'll see) is from M-Audio, makers of what is generally acknowledged to be the most musically accurate consumer card on the market today, the Revolution 7.1:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=b57869499ad3dcf48bf242aaa58dca2b
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=b094ded277bb288a6ef4bc59385b2e78
Note carefully - these ain't for everyone. The M-Audio in particular is a little pricey, but when you look at what it delivers (studio monitors)...
Why am I so hard on so-called high-end multimedia speakers, you ask? Because I can go out and buy a decent HTiB from Polk, Energy, Athena or Dahlquist, for heaven's sake. It will cost me a bit more but will produce a *massive* increase in audio quality and immersive experience.
All that being said, there are a couple of "multimedia" systems that have been recently tabled that do tweak my interest. The first is from a Canadian company and uses drivers from a home speaker lineup (Athena):
http://www.spherexinc.com/products.php
...and the second (well, they're actually a two-parter as you'll see) is from M-Audio, makers of what is generally acknowledged to be the most musically accurate consumer card on the market today, the Revolution 7.1:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=b57869499ad3dcf48bf242aaa58dca2b
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=b094ded277bb288a6ef4bc59385b2e78
Note carefully - these ain't for everyone. The M-Audio in particular is a little pricey, but when you look at what it delivers (studio monitors)...