X-fi Titanium HD + Klipsch Promedia 2.1

[Thryo]

Hello all - I have been using my Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers for about 2 years now, and I decided to try a dedicated sound card with my new build. I bought the SB X-fi Titanium HD, which just arrived yesterday. It doesn't have the typical lime green jack for speaker output, rather it has regular RCA connectors for right/left speakers.

The Promedia satellite speakers connect to the back of the sub via exposed copper leads. There's a preamp on the bottom of the right satellite speaker which connects to the back of the sub via a cable terminating in a DIN plug. The preamp on the right speaker also has a cable with a 3.5mm jack plug to connect to a normal PC audio card. The preamp also has a headphone jack and an mp3/AUX jack. Here's the manual.

I have read a couple of reviews of the Titanium in which it is used with the Promedia speakers, but I'm not sure how they are connected. Anyone here have this setup?

Also, will the Titanium automatically disable the onboard soundcard, or do I have to do it manually?

All advice would be appreciated!

 

[Thryo]

Just ordered a Monoprice 3.5" female jack to 2 x RCA plug adapter. Hopefully this will work.

 

[gamerk316]

It should; 3.5mm and RCA basically carry the same formats, with RCA carrying only one channel per wire instead of two.

 

[Thryo]

It should; 3.5mm and RCA basically carry the same formats, with RCA carrying only one channel per wire instead of two.

Interesting, didn't know that.

I have found out that the thing to do is to disable the on-board audio in UEFI (BIOS), in the Southbridge section before installing the card. So at this point, I'm pretty sure that doing that and using the 3.5" to 2 x RCA Y adapter will do the trick. Others have said this works better than plugging the speakers into the X-fi Titanium's headphone jack (the RCA jacks have better output than the headphone jack, according to the card's performance spec sheet).

edit: Thanks for the reply, btw.

 

[gamerk316]

^^You technically shouldn't have to disable onboard audio, though Creative drivers tend to be...touchy. [And I'm being VERY generous].

Both 3.5mm and RCA carry the same type of signal: Uncompressed analog audio, typically 44.1 or 48KHz [though up to 192KHz is possible]. The only real difference is that RCA carries one channel of audio per wire, where 3.5mm carries two. Hence why a cheap $0.99 splitter solves the problem.

It should be noted, the headphone jack is basically meant for driving a REALLY good set of speakers/headphones [such as my beloved Sienheisser PC 350's].

 

[MEgamer]

you need to get way better speakers if u are going to use that soundcard.

 

[fall0ut3]

YUP^^^ AGRRED

 

[Thryo]

you need to get way better speakers if u are going to use that soundcard.

what would you suggest?

 

[MEgamer]

for an afforadble option i suggest getting headphones, or if u have large pockets, you could jsut buy the most expensive "PC" speakers, most hifi audio compnies also have PC solutions, just make sure its analogue.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Klipsch Promedia speakers are already good computer speakers.

To actually get better speakers you would need to buy stereo speakers which involves buying an amp and a receiver as well.

 

[gamerk316]

^^ Why an amp? His soundcard already HAS an amp built in. Thats the entire POINT of getting a Titanium HD [or any other soundcard with an amp for that matter].

 

[Thryo]

for an afforadble option i suggest getting headphones, or if u have large pockets, you could jsut buy the most expensive "PC" speakers, most hifi audio compnies also have PC solutions, just make sure its analogue.

I had some really good Grados until they broke & I subsequently lost 'em. I would still want to use regular speakers, rather than cans, most of the time. I can only listen to headphones for so long.

I'm going to try the card out with the Promedias first to see how much difference I can tell the card makes, then get other speakers if I think I need to.