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Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Review

Klipsch has been at the forefront of the surround sound speaker market for several years now, releasing a handful of different ProMedia speaker sets that have always exceeded the competition in sound quality, features, and, usually, price. But for those gamers who can afford to add a Klipsch ProMedia system to their gaming rig, there really is no better alternative. How do we know? Well, we recently had the opportunity to try out the ProMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers, and have found ourselves loading games we wouldn't normally play just to hear how good the sound is.

The ProMedia Ultra 5.1 set comes with five speakers (two main, two rear, and one center), as well as a subwoofer. Although the subwoofer continues to use two 8-inch drivers on the sides of the enclosure, it has been increased in size by 20% over the original ProMedia 5.1 set, and now has a slotted port to increase its bass-pounding efficiency and to lower distortion. We actually replaced a set of ProMedia 2.1 speakers with this new Ultra set, which made us realize just how much larger this subwoofer is from Klipsch's previous products and how much better the speakers look overall. As you can see in the pictures to the right, the Ultra speakers are now composed of a silver cone, with two small legs to keep them upright. The center speaker uses the same color scheme and also contains a small metal bar that can be adjusted in order to face the speaker at whatever angle you want to project the sound. Although gaming hardware probably shouldn't be judged by its cosmetic look, we can't help but praise the Ultra 5.1's for their overall attractiveness.

Once we had everything hooked up (which is a piece of cake, by the way), we gave the speakers a good run by loading up a few choice games: Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Star Wars Galaxies. All of these games support environmental audio in some capacity, so we felt they were good choices. With the volume cranked to about 75% and the bass turned up a notch, Call of Duty literally shook the entire office. Gunfire could be heard from all directions through the satellite speakers and the sound of falling bombs resonating from the subwoofer could actually be felt in your chest. The sound effects and music from World of Warcraft didn't make us feel like we were in a war, but it did provide an excellent sense of immersion while wandering Azeroth. And since Star Wars Galaxies uses all of LucasArts' original movie effects, the surround sound is truly amazing when you're locked in a rifle battle on the sands of Tatooine.

Since most people will be using the Ultra 5.1 speakers for more than just games, we also threw in a copy of Return of the King and fired up a handful of MP3s from different musical categories. With the speakers still at about 75% and the bass turned up, the battle scenes in Return of the King sounded fantastic without the slightest bit of distortion. Any music we threw at the speakers sounded great too, with the subwoofer being the greatest contributor to the excellent sound. The subwoofer is by far the best we've seen in a speaker system, and puts the Ultra system in a class all by itself.

Unfortunately, the speakers do not come with a remote control, which means placing them into a home theater system may cause a bit of inconvenience. However, the control module gives you a great amount of freedom when the speakers are within arm's reach. In addition to being able to control the overall speaker volume from the module, you're also able to change the volume level of each channel (center, rear, subwoofer, etc). The volume level of the component you're increasing or decreasing appears on a digital LED readout at the front of the control module, making it very easy to find the exact level you're looking for. Of course, the control module also features a headphone jack for late-night gaming and a stereo input for virtually any other additional audio device you'd like to hook up. Switching to headphone mode simply requires pressing the volume button in a quick fashion, while powering the speakers off altogether requires you to hold the volume button in for a few seconds.

The Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers make for some of the finest gaming speakers on the market, and are perfect for watching movies and listening to music. They might be a bit higher in price than some gamers want to spend, but they really are some of the best speakers money can buy. If you're not using a set of Klipsch speakers and a have a few hundred dollars to spend, then we can't recommend these enough.