Will the Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1 be enough for a home theatre?

[Krusty]

I am currently in the process of building an LCD projector to function as a home theatre. While I have no end product yet, I am very confident that my results will be good enough to get a 200" high definition screen to look good even during the day.

What I need now is an audio system that will function adequately in my up and coming home theatre. The room I have is about 20 feet deep and 15 feet wide. I will have a pull-down screen being used so most people would be sitting on the couch about 15 feet from the screen. As I am a computer geek, I will, obviously, be using a HTPC to run all media.

Currently, there is a deal on the Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1 system that would allow me to get a set of these speakers delivered to my door for just a bit under $300. As that is still a rather hefty price tag for me, I want to make sure that I don't have any better or lower cost alternatives. As the speakers will be powered by a computer and the Klipsch speakers are the best computer speakers in the market, this seems like a no brainer but I just need to be sure. Soo..here's my questions:

Can I find a similar cost, higher output, reasonable quality 5.1 - 7.2 speaker setup that would work with an Audigy 2? If so, where should I start looking and what should I be looking for? Aside from amplifiers and speakers, what else is essential to merge home audio equipment with a personal computer?

And, of course, if I do decide to buy these Klipsch speakers, would they be powerful enough to give the room a commanding audio presence? I have heard the 4.1 speakers in action before, but this was in a small computer room. I am afraid that the Klipsch speakers will be rather unimpressive when used in a larger room.

[Mr. Chambers]

They will indeed put out alot of sound, and for not alot of money. You'll be hard pressed to beat them for the money. But to be honest, with that kind of video setup (coming from a fellow projector owner) - why would you sacrifice audio quality with video that good?

If it were me, I would work a few more hours, save alittle more - and piece together a proper audio system, with a reciever, bookshelves, and a better subwoofer.

However, you did state a low budget (I think?) so your first choice may have to suffice.

[Quest For Speed]

For the price the Klipsch is the best. To move up to a really good speaker system requires a much larger investment.

[lilxvietxboi]

The Klipsch should be rather impressive, but I don't think it would make a movie seen on a 200" screen justified, especially in a large room. You can maybe get a receiver and speakers for it, but that would probably be over your budget. All you need to merge real home theater speakers is your digital out(from your Audigy) to a digital in(on a receiver) whether it be a coaxial connection or optical. Whats your overall budget on the audio portion of your home theater?

[Krusty]

This actually did not start out as a home theatre project. One night, I was surfing the web and came across a forum thread about someone using a 15" LCD and overhead projector to make an LCD projector. Skip forward about a week and I found myself having spent $100 on lenses, $80 on a 400w metal halide ballast, $30 on a bulb, and $150 on an LCD. After finishing the projector and building my screen, I will have spent about $600 on a 1024x768 projector with a 20,000 hour bulb.

Anyways, I don't really plan to spend too much money on the rest of this setup as it is a hobby thing first and a home theatre second. I still have a HTPC to build (well, actually an excuse to upgrade my desktop and use the old parts for a HTPC) so I don't want to go over about $400 for a sound system. That would put my speakers and screen under $1k and I'll need about $500-$600 in parts for my HTPC.

[Krusty]

I have gone ahead and ordered the Klipsch speakers off of the dell web site for about $286 shipped.

For anyone else looking to jump on this deal, here (http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?id=217&arg=A0241925) is a link to the deal. Apply coupon code 8$FT$Q5ZXC8G16 for $35 off. Deal expires Th 9/8 5:59am CT or after 14K uses.

And if I decide to upgrade my speakers in the future, keep an eye on the classifieds for some cheap Klipsch speakers ;-)

[crb806]

Let us know how they sound :thup:

[Despotes]

That's quite a savings! I couldn't pass up that deal and ordered too.
I hope all the rumblings with there high failure rate is resolved.

[Krusty]

I hope you found yourself the correct coupon code. The one I provided in my post expired. There was another deal for the speakers at Dell.com posted at techbargains.com recently, but that information appears to now be gone/expired.

I've never heard anything about a high failure rate with Klipsch speakers...I hope that doesn't become a problem. If it does, I can always fall back on the warranty for now.

You can also buy these for about the same price refurbished at www.klipsch.com. The price for the refurbs wound up being about $5 more for me so I opted for the new ones at Dell.

[Despotes]

It came to $261 and change shipped. There's another coupon floating around--
I entered both.
QC842J5JZ?910T
64DW9D95?$T9S?

I'm feeling a little guilty for buying this. :shrug:
I hope they're much better than my Cambridge DTT3500 system.