Klipsch Promedia 5.1's - Amp repair

TOOL1075 said:
Sending your system off to some guy and paying him over 100 bucks is kinda.... well.... how would I say this....

NOT [H] at ALL! lol
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Seriously. For that repair cost, either DIY or outright upgrading seems to be a better plan. :eek:
 
When my amp died (power surge) i sent it straight to Klipsch for repair, cost me 65 bucks plus shipping and its been rocking since.

Did you contact them at all?
 
Well, I had mine 6 months after having him fix mine and it's DEAD again. This Sub box is the worst design Ever.....
 
WaXmAn said:
Well, I had mine 6 months after having him fix mine and it's DEAD again. This Sub box is the worst design Ever.....
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Yessir.

You know, $100 can buy a number of things more interesting than a 6 month repair job...more if you want to add to the pot...
 
I just got mine repaired from eliot and its still extremely hot.

The backplate gets very very hot after a few hours of being left on. Is anyone experiencing crazy high temps from the sub? I wish I just went the custom route after all this and get a decent setup.
 
I live in DFW, local to Elliott, and just had him repair my ProMedia 5.1 Sub/Amp. It was much quicker than sending it to Klipsch and cheaper also. It was previously making a very loud humming noise, and now that is gone, and it sounds great. Hopefully this fix lasts...
 
Is anyone willing to post pictures of the repairs? It would be interesting to see what exactly is being replaced and why it costs as much as it does. Resistors are fairly inexpensive and the repair itself isn't that complicated.
 
Crash3087 said:
Hah! Are you for real. Try the 5.1 ultra hooked to an X-Fi Elite Pro with the EQ tuned. I love my audio and I can't agree with you there. You sound like a dumbass. Klipsch pretty much own for spending only 400$. Once I have like 8k lying around I'll pick up a Klipsch Reference series. Whatever you are using can't compare to that if you are looking for real quality.
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$400 carefully spent can easily purchase a setup superior to the Klipsch set.

One example:
$100 Energy Sub
$150 Pioneer VSX-518 reciever
$90 Dayton audio 5.1 Sat/center speakers
 
Paid $359 for mine five years ago. I think they're worth repairing plus it's the environmentally correct thing to do in my opinion. If the amp goes again I've got a receiver laying around I could use.
I'm curious as to the symptoms of other's amps demise. Once warmed up I'd get crackling distorted noise then no sub. Sounds as though other's died in other ways.
 
How long was the turn-around time for those of you that used Elliott for the repair? I sent my amp to him at the end of October and am still waiting.
His email replies are prompt but generic.
 
i had mine for 4 years before it crapped out on me. i fixed the problem by replacing the mosfets for the sattelites. it only lasted for 2 months. then i sent it to klipsch for repair, and they sent me a brand new one. now heres the kicker: it only lasted a month and a half! thats right just 6 weeks! it fried itself. for some reason, it just started getting hotter, and hotter, until it finally cooked itself. 300 degrees on the outside. so while i await another new amp, i have a plan, and will let you all know how it works out. i have made a seperate box, just for the amplifier. i put in some 12 volt fans,9 to be exact (the little 1.5 inch square ones from those cheapo hd coolers), mounted with rtv silicone to reduce noise, mounted in the top, on the inside to pull air out of the box. with two 1/2 inch slits in the bottom about 3 inches long for cool air intake. i also have 2 heat sinks with 12 volt fans for the power supply boards to keep those cool. oh and i used 1/2 inch mdf to cover the hole in the sub box with a little rtv silicone to seal it up.
 
While I know the Klipsch Promedia series are the high end of computer audio I will tell you that you can get more for about the same amount of money or less money if you know what you are looking for.

The Promedia 5.1's are a great set of speakers and sub, but if you have never really experience anything other than computer speakers for audio then you really should be more open minded and broaden your horizons a bit. Even a budget, entry level 5.1 true speaker setup can be had for around $350. Also, in a lot of those setups you don't even need a sub unless you like to booming noise and you think that that is what a real sub should sound like?

Also, before you go around calling me a speaker snob I will tell you this. I spent a total of $100 on my current 5 speaker setup (currently I am not using a sub) and the sound completely kills all the Klipsch speakers I have used (which includes not only the Promedia series, but a few of their home theater lineup too). Anyway, just my two cents to put all the people out there who think that Klipsch is the end all be all of computer speakers!
 
I just tosed the amp and picked up a receiver and a 100 dollar sub and I was good to go.
 
AthlonXP said:
I just tosed the amp and picked up a receiver and a 100 dollar sub and I was good to go.
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I'm stupid, so.........
what receiver and sub??
how do you hook up the receiver to your sound card???? digitally, optically???
you can still use the other speakers, correct???


I may be in the same boat soon. My sub is moaning a bit lately, its 4+ years old.:eek:
 
magoo said:
I'm stupid, so.........
what receiver and sub??
how do you hook up the receiver to your sound card???? digitally, optically???
you can still use the other speakers, correct???


I may be in the same boat soon. My sub is moaning a bit lately, its 4+ years old.:eek:
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The thing to keep in mind when hooking up your receiver to your soundcard is to decide if you want to use your soundcard DAC (digital to audio converter) or the DAC from your receiver. If you are looking for a budget receiver you most likely want to use your soundcard's DAC since a budget receiver won't have very good DAC circuitry in it.

If you want to use your soundcard's DAC you need to hook up your soundcard to your receiver using analog connections. If you are running a 5.1 setup that would mean you would be using three outputs on the back of your soundcard. You know how soundcards have multiple 3.5mm outputs in the back, well each one is assigned to two different audio channels.

Green (the main one) - is for the front left and right speakers
Black (colors may differ) - is for the center and subwoofer
Blue or orange (I can't remember right off the top of my head) - is for the rear surround speakers
Pink - for the mic output

In order to connect your soundcard to your receiver via analog connections you will need to have at least three 3.5mm to L/R RCA adapters. Something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882123077&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Audio+/+Video+Cables-_-Belkin+Pure+AV-_-82123077

You will connect those adapters from your soundcard to your receiver multi channel input. From there the receiver will control only the volume and your soundcard will handle all of the DAC work.


For those of you who don't have a very good soundcard and want to use your receiver's DAC components, just connect your soundcard to your receiver through a digital output (either coaxial or optical). Then your receiver will take care of all the DAC stuff and you can adjust your speaker levels as you need to.
 
if anyone wants to let their promedia 5.1 ultra speakers go (only speakers, no sub. though i would consider the sub at the right price) I'll buy them :)
 
Elliott has had my cash and my amp since October 27th. His last communication with me was on December 2nd saying the amp would ship on Dec. 5th and he would provide a tracking number at that time.

EDIT:
Hi, sorry for the delay, your amp failed during testing but the problem has now been resolved and is ready to be shipped by tomorrow, you should receive UPS tracking info by tomorrow.
Cheers,
Elliott

I will update with how the amp sounds soon.
 
satchel said:
KMac,

Did you get your amp back?
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He did get it:



And anyone else that wants to inquire or get an update on their amp just send me an e-mail (or yahoo messenger Mon-Fri to: eliott4113@yahoo.com), I was having trouble getting some of the parts to repair & upgrade these amps, and also just came back this past weekend from a 3 week vacation, I will ship like 10-14 amps by Friday and same thing next week and this should clear all the delayed amps due to shortage in parts and also due to the previous holidays. I apologize for this delay and any of you that has not received their amp please contact me and you should receive a response within 24hrs or faster on yahoo messenger.


Cheers,
Elliott
 
Qcoen said:
I just got mine repaired from eliot and its still extremely hot.

The backplate gets very very hot after a few hours of being left on. Is anyone experiencing crazy high temps from the sub? I wish I just went the custom route after all this and get a decent setup.
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Hi Qcoen,
IF I WORKED ON YOUR AMP AND IT EVER DIES DUE TO EXTREME HEAT I WILL FIX IT FOR FREE.
The parts I use to repair and upgrade these amps are rated to military specs and can stand very high temperatures unlike some original parts from your amp, all the amps generate heat, the problem with these Klipsch amps is not heat but that some of its parts can't take the heat and my job is to correct this problem, 95% of the amps I repaired and upgraded 2 years ago or more, they're still going strong.
Cheers,
Elliott
 
satchel said:
KMac,

Did you get your amp back?
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I did get it back, but have not hooked it up yet because of the holidays. I will go test it now.

I am quite sure I dislike a merchant posting my location on a public forum though.
 
KMac said:
I did get it back, but have not hooked it up yet because of the holidays. I will go test it now.

I am quite sure I dislike a merchant posting my location on a public forum though.
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KMac, your real name is not even posted nor your complete address on that tracking info,
I would never post any of my customers personal info but if this bothers you I'll delete it.
I'm just trying to show the amp was delivered to you.
Elliott
 
:) Hello all
I recently had Elliott repair the amp from my Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers; he actually had to do two fixes! The first time he replaced and upgraded the bad components and sent it back. I had also told him that I had a time line for an upcoming event and needed it by a certain date. He said he would try; WELL He made it happen; I had my speakers in time to use them for a Halloween party. BUT in short order the whole system died again; the symptoms were different this time though, no lights, no sound, no nothing! I contacted Elliot and he told me to send it back and he would check it out. He let me know that he was very busy and the turnaround time would not be as quick this time. It took some time but he sent it back and it has been working great ever since!
>>NOW I WOULD LIKE TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF STAND UP GUY ELLIOTT REALLY IS<<
THE SECOND REPAIR WAS UNRELATED TO THE FIRST, THIS TIME THE PRIMARY TRANSFORMER WENT BAD; This is THE major componet on the circut board. this go's bad and theres NO power to anything!
When Elliott returned it there were NO additional charges, HE went ahead and fixed it under warranty even though it was a completely different component that went bad. He purchased the transformer, did the repair, and shipped it back, ALL ON HIS OWN DIME! Now how often do you hear that; I'll bet the manufacturer wouldn’t have fixed it under warranty!
That’s some pretty impressive service if you ask me! Not to mention that, his prices are very reasonable to begin with, far less than Klipsch charges to do the repair with STOCK parts, and his longest turnaround time was still comparable to what the manufacturer quoted me!
SATISFIED CUSTOMER
GRANDDADDYBEAR
 
My 5.1's recently died and I'm pretty sure its the amp. Basically I can still get audio from the PC to my headphones when delivered through the volume controller, but when I switch back to the speakers I get no sound, and specifically i noticed I don't get that characteristic "pop" from the amp and speaker set that I used to when everything turned on.
I'm just wondering if this is something I could possibly fix myself or if it is a much more complex problem.
If I opened this thing up would I be looking for something burnt out etc?

Thanks in advance gents.

-Ben
 
Sounds(no pun intended) like the amp has failed components. You may or may not see burnt components. Without electronics experience there's little you can do. I'd contact Elliot for advice/repair/upgrade.
 
Understood.

I took a quick peek inside and i couldn't see anything that looked messed up. Tested the fuse and it's totally fine. When I transfer audio between the headphones and the speakers, there is a clicking down in the sub as if it was trying to get the juice going but can't. I supposed I'll need some professional assistance as I really do not have the electronics equipment nor knowledge to find out which part in particular is faulty.

Still sad though. Hahah.

Thanks guys.
 
I was given a set of THX 5.1s a year ago. The guy didn't want to send them out to Klipsch for a repair, due to reading about the fixes usually not working well. A few things I noticed on looking at this amp: The MOSFETs on the BASH board are screwy. The sub ones are dead, and the satellite pieces are squealing (literally). I checked all the other resistors on board, and those check out fine. No bulging/leaking caps. On the DC converter board I noticed my R527 resistor drifted...and I can't tell whether it's a brown or yellow first band....looks more brown. Should be either 1 or 4 ohms, and is reading almost 6. The solder joint has been hot, and is slightly pulled away from the trace. The two diodes right next to it also have solder joint issues, although I haven't tested them yet.

I'm not sending these to anyone, because I'm cheap mostly, and I'm trying to save as much money as possible on this. The four MOSFETs replaced cost $4.18 so far (2x IRFZ46, 2x IRF540N....both are uprated from IRFZ44N and IRF530N). I have gobs of replacement resistors, so I can take care of those no problem. I also bolted a large (about 3" wide and 10" long by about 3" high) heatsink from a power amp on the back. I also added some heatsinks to the BASH board, on top of the black heat sink wings for the FETs I replaced, and another heatsink for the DC converter board. Temp levels dropped dramatically. There is still something else dying inside, as the sub croaks after a minute on high volume. I'll post more as I learn more (still fairly new to this stuff...more used to tube guitar amps, and have messed with industrial power amps). Any suggestions for where to look is appreciated, and maybe this info will help people.

Despite putting in higher (temp) rated components, I still say heat is an issue of this design, as there's no real surface area on the outside of the amp to take heat away from the amp cards...which are making the most heat. I noticed the system's back was too hot to touch after being driven for a couple hours (watching a movie..before the sub died).
 
Yeah, I've been watching it closely for new schematics for the 5.1's. Great info all over that page for the other models, too.
 
Well, time for an update. I haven't looked at my system in a while, but the Thompdale site has all of the 5.1 schematics up, so I'll be jumping into things even more now. I'll be sure to post the progress, and possibly let others know where the trouble spots may be (although it seems I'm having the same ones as mentioned on the Thompdale page). Good times geeking around in circuit boards.
 
I just received my amp back from Elliott and it (the sub unit) seems significantly louder (deeper?) than it was even when it used to work fine. I was actually noticing the kitchen counter, the STOVE and the microwave door vibrating when i cranked up the sub to 80 (50% in x-fi panel) and it never did that when I first moved here (back when everything still worked). Using my favorite computer subwoofer test: Diablo cathedral level ripped music. I actually couldn't even find what was rattlling for a bit (i mean come on, the wood from the kitchen counter rattling? never knew a sub could do that!) +1 recommendation for Elliott for repairs and a BETTER sounding system than before if you don't have the technical skills or electrical experience to work around PSU amps (and my stepfather used to do work like this before he passed--it's NOT easy at all).
 
I have the EXACT same problem... let me know if you ever found a solution for that.

AA Man said:
The amp seems to kick on, I hear a clicking sound from the internals of the sub woofer,
But no sound out of any speakers, through both inputs, the ones in the rear of the woofer, and the input on the volume controller box. I still have sound coming out of the headphone jack on the volume control box, so it seems to me that it has to do something with powering the speakers.

I looked for burnt spots on the boards, but I couldn't find any.

Again I have read a quick fix on OC Forums, about how somebody just replaced a $2 relay, and she said she got them to function again, I was really wondering if any body had tried that fix?

though it seems like contacting Elliot is the best remedy, Ive read he does good work.
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Falkentyne said:
I just received my amp back from Elliott.
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How long did you wait? I sent Elliot my amp 8 months ago. Every email I send asking what's taking so long is answered with some variation of "sorry it will be ready next week".
 
This thread needs some do-it-yourself or how-tos.

Ive got a z5500 I replaced my broken klipsch 5.1s a couple years ago, but I still have them sitting around. I definetly would like to make them function without the hiss and fuzzes again maybe in another setting like a MAME box.

Somebody has to have some insight. Im going to look over these schematics when I have time and see what the dilly is.
 
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