For sale is a Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 audio system with upgraded components and cooling for durability. I have upgraded hundreds of ProMedia 5.1 systems since 2005. This system is in very good cosmetic condition, and ships in the original box. This ProMedia 5.1 has THX certification, performs as when new, and has a couple dozen key components that are of better quality than the originals (see explanations of the upgrades below). It ships next business day from the Midwest.

Why do Klipsch's ProMedia 5.1s spark such strong emotions?  Why are these rare?  Klipsch’s ProMedia 5.1 THX is one of, if not the best computer speaker system. Professional musicians and serious gamers have sought these out. Buyers have gone to considerable lengths and cost to have cooling-upgraded Klipsch 5.1 systems shipped to Asia and Australia.  Why, then, are these no longer in stores, hard to find, and why are so many sold “as-is” or with no warranty?  Two problems are A) the computer sound market became focused on low price and lower quality, and B) many Klipsch 5.1s overheat.  The ProMedia's exceptional quality and high failure rate produce strong emotions.  People love their Klipsch 5.1s, but lament the sound dying.  I've done cooling upgrades for over 11 years, and my goal is for people to enjoy the finest computer movie, music and game sound experience for the longest time.

Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 THX and Ultra vs. other speakers: The Klipsch 5.1 THX (front sub port) and Ultra (wider sub, rear port) remains one of, if not the best sound systems available for your computer. Klipsch designed a high-powered, efficient 470 watt power supply and matching amplifiers to immerse you into your games, movies and music.  Klipsch built its name in speaker design, specifically quality and efficiency: the satellites' tweeter, woofer and crossover reproduce music with crisp detail. Other computer speaker makers cut corners by stretching a single driver to reproduce music and voice information from 120 or 200 Hz up to 20,000 Hz. Klipsch uses a more expensive tweeter and woofer design. Their tweeters use an efficient horn design, getting more sound per watt from amplifier power. 

THX or Ultra?  While the Ultra is a little newer, it does not have the THX certification for the satellite speakers as this earlier model has.  The speaker enclosures on the THX are more rigid, for less distortion at high volume, and more accurate sound reproduction. The THX also consumes a bit less power when not producing sound, saving a bit on electricity and running a bit cooler.

System Requirements:  An upgraded sound card is not essential, but is highly recommended for clarity. Good speakers will expose the weaknesses of your sound card that you might not have noticed before.   

The internal amplifier has improvements compared to when new: If you have researched systems, you know the Klipsch Promedia Ultra and THX 5.1 models are among the most powerful, and have won many awards. You may have also noticed quite a few systems being resold as not working. The typical problem is heat. The nearly 500 watt six-channel amplifier is enclosed in the sub, where internal components get too HOT to touch in a matter of minutes, even if the amplifiers are not working to produce sound. Over time sections of the circuit boards also become brittle, and can even turn to carbon and arc (short).  I learned about this problem and how to defeat it while fixing an Ultra system for myself in October 2005. Since then I've repaired and upgraded or sold cooling kits for over 1000 systems.

1) I upgraded the power handling and heat-dissipating rating of two components that rise to 140 and 180 degrees within minutes and could burn out. I also relocated them a few millimeters further away from other components that get cooked by the first components' heat, and sometimes fail as well. The upgraded components do not change how the amplifiers work; it's the same as originally designed.

2) I also installed a quiet fan out of sight with the amplifiers inside the subwoofer box. Components' temperatures are kept from getting hot, and circuit boards no longer become brittle and char or short.

Using an infrared thermometer, I've measured temperatures before a fan was installed while playing only 2 speakers and the sub at moderate volume. The table below shows how after cooling was installed, temperatures remained far cooler, around 90 and 100 degrees, respectively:

Power Supply Component Temperature Comparison for Klipsch Ultra 5.1

Degrees Fahrenheit           BEFORE COOLING                                              AFTER COOLING

I am confident this system will work great for you for a long time. Klipsch's powerful Promedia would be more reliable if the engineers had properly calculated heat inside a closed sub box. The addition of one fan makes a great difference. You might check feedback left for me by previous buyers over the past 12 years.

Use a good surge protector, ideally a series surge protector.  Your Klipsch has internal (parallel, MOV) protection against lightning and other voltage spikes coming through its power cable, but damaging voltage can enter from your sound card. Check out series surge protection (e.g., Zero Surge or SurgeX). Surge strips and uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) designed for computers either try to absorb surge energy through sacrificial components (which wear out), or try to eliminate surge energy through the ground. That parallel protection works for computers, but can fry audio preamplifiers via your computer's sound card! Series surge protection is different.  In severe storms, the best step still is to unplug electronics. I have a series mode protector available, if interested.

Shopping and Listening Comparisons:

Two specifications worth comparing: True (rms) power at the ears (efficiency) and distortion (THD). It is easy for manufacturers to inflate power numbers to look impressive using momentary short-circuit "peak" power claims. What truly matters are the RMS power ratings, if a manufacturer will publish them. THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) becomes noticeable around 10% and higher. Klipsch's satellites are listed at 1% or less and the sub at 3% or less. Klipsch's strength is in speaker design: the satellites' tweeter, woofer and crossover reproduce music with crisp detail. They are also efficient, getting more sound per watt from amplifier power. If a speaker design is just 3dB more efficient, the result is the same as if the amplifier power were doubled!

Accurate bass vs. thump: Klipsch no longer produces the THX or Ultra, and no computer speaker system matches it today.  Its dual 8-inch subwoofer drivers have 22% more surface area than a single 10" sub.  The sub was not designed to impress with peaky, boomy bass, rather to accurately reproduce lower octaves of music (in addition to rumbling games and movies) as low as 25 Hz.  

There is some confusion about cooling and the use of fans. 

Here is what I have found:

1.  Why are fans needed?  Upgrading parts alone is incomplete. You can replace parts that fail, but the heat generated is still there.  I have seen sections of the Klipsch’s power supply board turn from bright green to dark green and finally to black after a couple of years’ exposure to that heat. That black became carbon, which started to arc and led to failure. I’m glad there are options beyond mine for fixing Klipsch Promedias, but without fans moving cooler air past the circuit boards, the upgraded parts alone are only delaying a failure. There IS a need for removing heat.

2. Do fans inside a sealed enclosure do any good?  The ideal is to have fresh, cool air, but if the acoustics of the sub make it impractical to bring in fresh air, all is not lost.  Closed cooling systems are more commonly used with liquids (think of refrigerants circulating in air conditioners or coolant circulating in an auto’s cooling system), but a circulation of air inside an enclosure also effectively removes heat.  The fans are designed to set up a circular airflow within the sub, bringing air past two small, hot heat sinks plus a neighboring daughterboard and components which often overheat. The heat without the fans is enough to burn your fingers after just 15 minutes, even if the system is not producing sound (handling only a fraction of its rated power).  The airflow draws that now-heated air past a much larger, cooler heat sink that runs the full width of the panel and is thermally linked to the back panel. This larger, cooler piece of metal absorbs the heat from the circulating air, and shares it with the back panel. That back panel is designed by Klipsch and Indigo (the BASH maker) to radiate the internal heat of the system.  It is normal for the panel to get warm during use, since it must radiate 25 watts of thermal energy at idle, and 60 watts or more while playing at volume.

The fans do not reduce how much heat the system produces, but they more quickly and efficiently get the heat off the hot spots and onto the back panel for removal into the room. 
Fans do not need fresh air for cooling. It would help, but fans even out the internal air inside the sub. Instead of vast areas staying cool, while small spots get very hot, now the entire internal air will be an evenly balanced warm.

3. Does this cooling upgrade involve drilling holes in the sub?  No. The electronics are inside a tuned speaker enclosure, and new holes would adversely affect the tuning (bass response). 

4.  Does the sub already provide enough air circulation by the movement of the subwoofer cones?  In a word, no.  The movement of the subs is synchronized so that both pull and push together.  They do not pull air from one side of the sub to another, but pulse air in and out of the sub’s port.  That oscillation at audible frequencies when channeled down into a narrow port is impressive and can be felt by holding your hand over the opening, but inside the entire sub and on the spread out surface of the components, the motion would be hard to detect.  If the hot circuit spots could both somehow be relocated in the narrow path of the air as it is funneled through the tuned port, then there could be some cooling effect.  There would still be no cooling, though, at idle (when subs are not thumping and displacing air).