Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 & 8400 5.1 Integrated incompatible?

I don't know if it will help, but here's a link to the klip site:  http://www.klipsch.com/media/Products/5.1Manual.pdf

 

Page 5 of the manual that link goes to I think gives the setup schematic, if that's the right system.  Looks like everything goes into the subwoofer, and then from the subwoofer into the computer?

 

Anyway, maybe the link can help some.  Looks like you'd have a quick setup schematic that came with your system, but maybe not...

Thanks, but that pdf document is a replication of the instructions that come included with the speakers. Connecting from the satellite speakers to the subwoofer is not an issue - standard speaker wire is used for that purpose (and is included with the speakers). The problem is connecting the subwoofer to the back of the PC. Here one must mix and match between the three ports on the subwoofer and the four relevant audio ports on the PC. One's first natural response is to match black/black, green/green and yellow/orange. That doesn't work. Eventually I did get sound output - I had to manually attempt every combination of connections (I don't offhand recall what combo finally worked). Making this tedious process worse, after each attempt you must manually power down/up the subwoofer (this is a Klipsch ideosyncracy). Frankly this is an unacceptably bad situation.

 

But what makes it far worse is the ineptitude of Dell support on this subject. I made 6 separate calls to Dell support (I am counting only those times that I persisted in waiting long enough to make it through the wait queue). Four times the support personnel hung up on me after hearing what the problem was. Once the support person spent about 40 min going through very simple attempted fixes with me (ex. reboot the computer, disconnect/reconnect cables) before saying he couldn't fix the problem and giving me a case #. On my last support call attempt, the tech spent about 15 min looking for documentation on the Klipsch speakers before saying that they had none and since the speakers were shipped from a different warehouse, I needed to call DellWare support instead (this despite the fact that the speakers were purchased at the same time as the CPU and NOT from DellWare but from a direct drop down menu option on the CPU webpage). I insisted on talking to a supervisor. The sup repeated that they had no documentation on the Klipsch speakers and therefore could offer no support. I recommended to him that they get documentation. He replied that they had requested it but since it was a new product it had not yet arrived. At that point I called his bluff. I noted to him that the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers had been an audio option for at least one full month and therefore could not be considered "new". He had no response to my question about why documentation is not immediately requested when a product rolls out. Instead he gave me a case number, the DellWare support number and a promise that they would spend more time investigating this problem and would call me back if they found anything. They never called back. The DellWare support number provided was actually the DellWare sales line and from the phone menu options there is NO option/drill down option for a non-corporate customer to talk to a human tech. Bleh.