I'm having a really tough time deciding between these two speaker systems. I have roughly a budget of $150 and these have been highly regarded at this price range.
I would've already gone with the Promedias except that the ones with such high regard were apparently the "old" version of the Klipsch set. The "newer," redesigned set has had a lot of complaints over the years about dying components as well as build quality changes. Yet the sound is still comparable with the Z623's.
Does anyone here have experience with either set? I'm also considering M-Audio AV 40's, but they MSRP for $199 and that's a little above my budget. Unless there's a noticeable boost to justify the $20 above my budget, I'll stick with the former two.
Any other backed recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
With regards to your original question, I actually do have a PM2.1 and a Z623:
Both are pretty damn good for games and movies, but the PM 2.1 stands out from the Z623 for being more 'musical'. That is, it handles music better than the Z623 which I've found to be pretty muddy sounding, instruments seem to blend together and, to me, just doesn't sound right. The PM2.1, while NOT being an audiophile speaker system, has better transparency (NOT that it's transparent per se) and definition when compared to the Z623. I'd say that my PM2.1 is pretty old, easily 10 years old or more, the only issue I'd had with it was the foam seal disintegrating on the sub due to my leaving it in my storeroom (I'm in the tropics) for a couple of years or so. Had it resealed and it stills has more bass punch compared to the Z623 (which is no slouch either).
I've not tried the M50x myself, though I can say it's well regarded by the audio community as a whole. I do own an ATH-AD700X and I can say that due to it being open, it's quite airy and soundstage is pretty decent. I can't say with absolute certainty, but I've been told mids and highs are better for gaming in that they are better for positional audio. I don't use my ATH-AD700X for gaming, so I can't say for sure, but from what I've gathered, mids and highs are better for positional audio....bass tends to muddies the mids and highs, obfuscating them.
You can also consider Kingston HyperX Cloud headset, I have it as well, it's a closed back design and comes with a volume control attached to the headset (the headset can be detached from the volume control) and while not being airy as the AD700X, with narrower soundstage due to its closed back design, it's still a good gaming headset that can double up as a decent sounding cans for music. Just don't expect the kind of soundstage that open cans have.
Bear in mind that this is just my opinion, I'm no audiophile nor do I wish to pretend to be one......when it comes to sound, it boils down to personal preference and bias most of the time.
