Those who enjoy listening to music at home, appreciate music equally when traveling. Whether staying at a hotel or going to the cottage, I find music to be an indispensable part of my lifestyle. Most portable speakers are tiny which makes them easy to travel with but their small size is also often their nemesis – they usually sound lousy.

The Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 speaker system, priced at $149, provides an option for those looking for better sound from a portable music setup. These speakers are designed to work with a laptop computer, an iPod/MP3 player, a portable video gaming system or a desktop computer, in a setup where space doesn’t allow for a subwoofer. The ProMedia speakers are larger than typical portable speakers (measuring 10.5″ tall x 3.25″ wide x 6.5″ deep) and they come with a hefty external power supply, so you’ll have to allocate more space in your luggage if you plan to travel with these speakers.

The ProMedia speakers are shaped to resemble mini floor-standing speakers, especially when the grilles are removed. I found these speakers to be very attractive with the grilles off but for a cleaner look, you may choose to leave the grilles on. Each speaker’s front baffle combines dual 2.5-inch metalized woofers with a single 1-inch metalized polymer tweeter (that’s coupled with an exclusive Klipsch MicroTractrix horn). Both speakers are magnetically shielded. The right speaker contains dials for bass and volume control as well as a mini-stereo auxiliary input and a mini-stereo headphone jack. It’s definitely convenient to have the headphone and auxiliary jacks in the front of the speaker. Also built into the right speaker, is a class D amplifier which outputs 30 watts (15 watts x 2) of power. The frequency response of these speakers is rated from 20 kHz down to only 50 Hz (at +/- 5 dB), which is not surprising since there is no subwoofer in the package. The power is turned on and off by twisting the volume knob. A bright blue led on the right speaker lights up when the speakers are turned on. My evaluation pair arrived in an attractive silver finish that perfectly matched the finish on my HP laptop. A black finish is also available. The ProMedia package included an RCA cable to connect the two speakers and a mini-stereo cable to connect a source to the speakers. Unlike some portable speaker sets, the ProMedia system cannot run off batteries, so you’ll have to set them up close to a power outlet.

I performed most of my listening tests with the ProMedia speakers connected to my laptop and desktop computers. While listening to regular CDs, the speakers produced a clean, detailed mid to high frequency response. The vocals came across with clarity and the details were easily discernable. The highs were never harsh nor dull. The imaging of this pair was also quite impressive – they managed to produce a soundstage that was both tall and wide. The bass performance was decent, although certainly not as full or deep as you could expect from a speaker system that includes a subwoofer. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly impressed with the sound that came out of just two, not very large speakers. The ProMedia pair did exhibit some distortion at higher volume levels when I turned the bass dial up, although I doubt that most listeners would listen to these speakers this loud. The MP3 collection stored in my laptop sounded surprisingly good as well, which is important because I would imagine that many users would listen to MP3s using these speakers.

Overall, the ProMedia speakers delivered a sound that was very enjoyable and pleasing to my ears. For $149, the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 are a worthy pair of the Klipsch name.

Manufacturer:
Klipsch
www.klipsch.com

Price:
$149 MSRP (Canadian)

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