Klipsch is known by audiophiles the world over for its timeless classics like the Klipsch Horn,LaScalla and Cornwall speakers.Founder and audio maverick Paul W. Klipsch goals were life like sound reproduction,his designs being near full range,horn loaded and capable of large scale music reproduction at live sound pressure levels.Klipsch is one of the very few companies that adapted to changing times with new products so well,this brings me to the ProMedia speaker line. Klipsch's first entry in the world of PC audio was the original ProMedia V2-400 later renamed the ProMedia 4.1 after a few changes.As most reader know this very ProMedia was a true revolution in the affordable PC speaker segment,or should I say within the reach of most PC buyers.From then on Klipsch released a 2.1 version and after the famous 5.1.Now Klipsch has released the vastly improved Ultra 5.1,the latest and greatest Promedia.

I know you all want to know how great they sound,just a minute lets inspect the product first.The box is quite large and weighs close to 50lbs,the inside is well laid out and packaging is good.My box was beaten up but the contents in perfect condition.The control pod is very easy to use and uses the very common PS/2 sized conector,a more solid DB9 would be preferred.taking out the sats I noticed the ingenious and yet simple adjustable rear foot.This enables you to point the center down or up depending on the center location.The sats are slightly modified ProMedia sats,nothing major to report.

The subwoofer is a beast at over 33lbs its a real monster by multimedia standards.It dominates next to any competing sub.The dual 8" woofers are ported on the back using a slightly flared slot port. Amp plate wise its standard Klipsch fare,clip conectors and new to the GMX and Ultra 5.1 is what Klipsch calls the SWS link.

First thing I wanted to do after unpacking the Ultra 5.1 is remove all screws holding the amp plate and look inside,a few minutes later I was greated by two robust 8" woofers.The amp section is quite large,and as all BASH amps quite complex.The Ultra 5.1 subwoofer comes with very large rubber pads.All in all the it should be a great sounding system from the inspection so far and parts used.

During break in I used various streamed music from the net,played at medium volume(90-95dB).Mostly electronica and some jazz,no serious auditioning was made,I wanted to hear the system at its best after the break in.I moved the sub to the same position my Altec MX5021 subwoofer was located,this spot yelds even bass across the room and does not add too much room acoustics to the equation.All PC systems tested have sub/bass modules placed in this very spot for tests,to give equal chance to all.ProMedia sats were placed on each side of the monitor 26" apart,24" from listening position angled as always.The center was placed on top of the monitor angles down on the listening position.Rear sats were 2 meters away,50" apart on the stands reserved for my sourround speakers. First impression was very positive,clean midrange and quite detailed top end.Compared to my prevous ProMedia I can say the midrange is slightly improved,more presence.The lower octaves where clearly where most of the money went,bass was not only deep but defined and the very best I have ever heard from sub/sat systems under $400US.Clearly I have to wonder how come Klipsch has not applied a similar opposed dual driver design to their larger subs.This system is capable of serious output,I measured over 114dB and the system was capable of more!Very impressive considering most systems in the same price range would fail when pushed this far.Again I was drawn in by the real bass prowess and definition of this multimedia sub.And finally the supplied speaker cables as well as the three 1/8" stereo cables are long,not limited to 6 feet like the competition.

For the various tests I used my usual collection of CD's and DVD's.From the DVD stand LOTR the first and second Extended Edition DVD's,an all out assault at times on any audio system.TitanAE for its clean and explosive soundtrack,good sourround too.Gladiator,a classic with great sound and a riveting beginning.Saving Private Ryan cannot be left on the side either,its action packed start lays the foundation for the whole movie a must hear on the Ultras. Music wise here my classic tests,Stereophile Test CD 2(frequency response and piano reproduction),Mighty Sam McClain Give it up to Love(all in all musicality,how natural the system is from top to bottom),Terry Evans Come to the River(as with the previous recording,quality test for the Ultras).Sheffield Drive CD speaker neutrality and wide dynamic range as well as proper sound staging and capacity to define individual performers in a recording(Power of Seven).Plus this time around Herbie Hancock Dis is da Drum plenty of deep bass dive to test good subs.Stevie Ray Vaughan,The Cranberries thrown in plus Cirque du Soleil ALEGRIA.

Before I go any further let me say this,the new Ultra 5.1 subwoofer is by far the most efortless and capable sub of all the multimedia systems I tested.Its deep bass and punch are not touched by any competing sub,the Z560/680 sub has an upper bump making people thing they are listeing to a more punchy sub,not the case.

Started with LOTR second part the Two Towers,the sound quality of the sats is very good and ranks at the same level as the Altec MX5021 sats,clean and detailed.I was surprised how well the sats handle the intense action in Two Towers.The battles were well renderred only minor compression could be noticed if you compared the Ultra 5.1 with my RF7/RC7/RSW speakers.Again most will not even notice what is missing unless they compare with a large HT setup,for a compact MM speaker system its very good performance.The subwoofer handled quite well the Two Towers explosive bass,no signs of stress.Next came Titan AE,I decded to make a quick test here,I went for the opening chapter and the ending where the Titan starts the formation of a planet.Serious performance, the subwoofer was the star player,sustained very high output at listening position,I noticed during all tests the subwoofer opposite woofers are a big plus over competing subs,the cabinet did not vibrate like single woofer designs.I decided to pop in Blackhawk Down,the many intense battles and choppers flying made the system work,voices are well reproduced and I think this time Klipsch dialed in the sat/sub balance to near perfection(all my tests were done with sub at 00 on the pod).No need to change bass when you switch from movies to gaming and then to music.

Next was Gladiator and various battle scenes,the intensity is well comunicated all around,the sats do a very credible job on voices and remain quite neutral, the upper range is even polite.Many competing sats have a more pronounced upper range,Klipsch did a great job with the Ultra.Clear and non fatiguing are two strong observations in favor of the Ultra 5.1 sats,no credible reviewer should complain Klipsch makes agressive horn multimedia speakers with these.Saving Private Ryan is another good test to see how well the speakers fare under heavy demands on all channels,the beach landing was a mayhem and bullets flying and hitting around the battlefield.Best rendition of all the movies whatched by a multimedia speaker set,the Ultra 5.1 takes the crown as far as the HT side of its performance.

Being a 5.1 system I had to test and let Call of Duty call for true 5.1 action,on the Audigy 2 ZS this game is the definitive test for any good sourround PC speakers.First impression was these speakers are made for Call of Duty.Crossing the river to get to the shore the action started,and after running to the closest hiding place the action intensity was as high as it could get.Explosions,shells falling and heavy machinegun fire all made me run for my life,and when the Russians call for a barrage to supress the machine gun posts you can hear the Katyusha rockets flying over your head.The impacts that follow make the sub work like no other game before.Quite a show and anyone who has the Ultra 5.1 with the Audigy 2 ZS must try Call of Duty just to hear how far sound has progressed in gaming.For action games with true sourround support the Ultra 5.1 is a real contender for best gaming speakers.

We now know the Ultra 5.1 are very dynamic and have a serious subwoofer,how do they perform with various music,this should define the Ultras as great MM speakers.My first tests were Led Zeppelin Heartbreaker and Whole lotta love,classics I like to listen any time I test new speakers.The recording is raw but not agressive and will not make you buy earplugs like the early Metallica albums.Classic Led Zep sounded just great,even with the recording limitations.Not one time was the system sound agressive! Time for a more demanding test,Alegria.The CD contains two pieces I use to test full range systems and check for faults,track 6 (Taruka) and track 10 (Ibis).On track six the slow start of various instruments slowly builds up adding voice along the way to end with great energy to the sound violin and side drum/drums.A slight loss in dynamics was audible here at high output.Now on Ibis the Ultras started in grand fashion,good sense of space and Klipsch clarity.Best musical performance of all the MM speakers tested,besting the MegaWorks 510D at matched volume!Again some slight audible dynamic loss.Imaging and soundstage were good for this calss of speakers,just on par wth Cambridge MC50 sats my previous favorite MM speaker sats.However the Ultra 5.1 sats do not sound harsh like the 510D at high volumes.

Time for some Herbie Hancock,lets start with Call it ' 95.A bass driven tune with very heavy and pounding bass,most multimedia subs start to show clear stress here.Not the ProMedia 5.1 Ultra,deep deep bass with plenty of power and no audible loss of output! lets hit Dis Is Da Drum now,powerful bass line all around you have to hear it on a system like this,fun listen and if your walls are thin watch out for the cops.Perfect to showcase the strong points of the new and vastly improved sub.Now THE track of this album,MOJUBA,this track is loaded with a very very deep bass goes under 30Hz and all MM systems to date FAILED poorly.So how does the 5.1Ultra sub deal with this deep and powerful bass test,quite well.The cabinet remained motionless at ALL times! Very impressive,the port started to breathe during this track,to be perfectly honnest you get a good hint what deep bass is.Compared to a smaller but far more capable Sunfire Mark II the very deep bass was subdued,the Mark II dealt a classic back bone whoopin here.Still this is by far the ebst multimedia sub performance to date.last piece I used is Butterfly,smooth and deep the Ultra here did a near perfect job.Never during testing ws the sub loose,boomy or sound strained,remerkable multimedia sub performance.May I say again this sub is serious,no multimedia joke.

Now moving to another genre and focusing my attention on the sat performance,using Mighty Sam McClain Give it up to Love and Terry Evans Come to the River.Mighty Sam's voice is right here very well reproduced by the sats,only problem spot is the drums whenpushing the system hard.Other than the slight upper bass coloration the presentation is quite natural,to my surprise the Ultra 5.1 always mainained its composure.Never sounded hard and irritating.Same story with terry Evans,I found myself enjoying the music the problems are minor and I would have to be unfair to describe them as all speakers unless priced tenfold are more or less plagued by them.For example drums at high volume sound compressed and the speakers do not disapear like upscale Wilson WATT/PUPPY dos so well.Midrange is not natural and sounds at times like it does come from a resonating cabinet,this is for those who want to nitpick,and the upper registers are not defined like on good soft dome Dynes and ScanSpeak units,again only high end soft domes can make this happen.

Eagles Hell Freezes Over is a must audition,and one track stands out(most of the album is top notch)Hotel california is one of those classis songs one must listen to on new speakers.Before Tequila Sunrise is a well recorded song so easy to listen to,here midrange coloration is abvious to any audiophile and good listener.Nothing to worry about,as it does not get in the way much.Hotel California is special its the song here,and the superb spacial guitar recording and deep bass lets you slip in with the crowd.All good here,the sats and sub match to perfection and the tight defined bass really lets the Ultras shine on Hotel California.

Sheffield Drive from Sheffield Lab various tracks proved to nuanced at times for the Ultra to resolve,again grouping the Power of Seven on one ball of sound.The remaining tracks were reproduced with energy and life,Klipsch is again to be held is high regard for making such musical MM speakers.As never during the 9 hour marathon was I tired of listening like I was a few times using some competing speakers(Z-5300 for example).This shows class in a segment where BOOM and POWER dominate.

Its time to say good buy and use the last CD,Stereophile's Test CD 2.This CD contains some of the better recorded music you will ever hear.I started with Ave Maria,this is a work of beauty.Ave Maria sounded as good as ever,besting the presentation made by the MX5021.The main lacking was the loss of space portrayed by high end speakers so important in a work like this.Now to the test tones,the subwoofer was very capable with almost no audible loss down to 31.5hz!Very impressive for a multimedia sub,and the best performance ever for such a subwoofer.At 25 and 20Hz the output is almost nonexistant.The Ultra 5.1 has THE sub to beat at the moment,in the world of PC speakers it stands alone.

To sum it all up the Klipsch Ultra 5.1 is the finest sourround sound PC speaker set overall,with balanced sound from top to bottom.Non fatiguing sound and real improvements over the Klipsch 5.1 set,like the much improved control pod,superb subwoofer more capable in both output and freedom from port noise.Further the sats no longer carry any edge with them,smooth and the transition from sats to sub is near perfect(lets call it perfect at the price).Anyone who is looking to transform his PC into a small HT should look no further,and for gaming you simply cannot go wrong.And to top it all the musical performance is great,rivaling the best performers in this price range! As for the question Logitech Z-680 or Klipsch Ultra 5.1...let get real here,the Ultra 5.1 are superior in any aspect I you might look at,the only strong argument is the Z-680 decoder/pod the Ultra 5.1 lacks.And for all of you with quality sound cards,this is not a real problem.

--TheEAR