On the Music tests, I had to do some balancing. Setting your equalizer levels for great explosion playback can lose some highs. If the next scene stresses flute music or a small child's voice, excess BASS adjustment can cause a loss of clarity, or the high tones to sound muted. Generally, I'd recommend that most people stay fairly close to the default subwoofer output level. This will assure that bass doesn't muddy the highs, and allow you to crank up the volume without distortion even on demanding scenes. Gladiator and The Patriot really have some sweet soundtrack clarity. With careful adjustment of the front-to-rear fade, the music seems to walk through the listening environment. Moving towards you and filling the room as though it is actually flowing. This is how it was intended in most soundtracks. The music should be clear, and flow to the listeners ears directionally with the action on-screen, rather than sound like it's behind the picture or exploding in front of it. The Promedias could be very picky about windows volume level. If you change your windows volume, then you will almost always lose the proper centering of front-to-rear fade on the speakers, and may also wish to re-adjust the subwoofer output as well.

With the subwoofer properly tamed (hard to want to do it!) the soundtrack of Gladiator was awe inspiring. The highs of the music and the clanking of swords and armor were stunning. And don't think for a minute that you must sacrifice BASS to enjoy movies. When a heavy bass scene hits (The cannon shots in The Patriot battle scenes) that subwoofer will explode out and shake the floor even at default levels. I found that I could run at a windows volume level of about 75%, and 75% speaker volume, which vibrated the floor of the room! An empty soda can on a nearby table would shake with the floor vibrations in The Matrix - Lobby Shootout. And all this was distortion free and clear. At those volume levels, I sat about 12 feet away from the front speakers and sub. At 6 feet away it approached painful on high tones, in excess of 110db! Be careful with the Promedias, they definitely get loud, and pets may never recover! (Poor kitty).

How about SOFT tones? Are they able to ignore BASS completely? Can they capture a human whispering? Does it sound like a whisper? The answer from playback of The 6th Sense is YES! The tweeters in the satellites are capable of relaying even the lightest and pitch highest sounds at nearly any volume level. Under 25% volume they seem to hunger a bit, but then again; you don't buy 4.1 speakers to listen to minimum volume up close.