EdmundGTP

The subs are 4 ohms each according to the the schematics and repair guides that I've read. Unless you can somehow score a smokin hot deal on that amp, it's a LOT more than you really need to accomplish the outboard amp mod. You could get all the capability of that unit (and more) with a sub $500 Crown, QSC or similar pro-audio amplifier and a $80 Behringer Feedback Destroyer. That amp is probably way overkill as far as wattage is concerned, but it probably would work.

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/111984.aspx

Glad my thread here helped another person keep their KSP's in service!

Ohhhh you know.... I hadn't been saving it really... Somtimes inspiration strikes.. The planets align just so.. I get a tap on the shoulder from the thing, and a particularly glorious result happens to pop up on the first google image search I do... The rest is klipsch forum history, as it were....

Nice work on fixing those amps. Still loving my KSP's and the original amps are loving collecting dust in a closet. haha.

Can't you guys see that this man has the FEVER!! And the only solution is 15 inches!!!!!

I thought they didnt care about sound quality in the birth place of "grunge".. [] Joking aside, it's most likely because whichever retailers do have storefronts there have determined that there isn't enough of a customer base to maintain a stock of a high-end item like that.

There isnt a whole lot to mess up with respect to the new set up with the external amp. You may still get ground loop hum through the amp, and another place you can pick up interference hum is through the low voltage audio cables running from your receiver to the amp. Need to know more about how you have things set up currently to get a better idea.

Just out of curiosity, where'd you come across NOS drivers for these? Something you sourced a while back?

Glad to hear it's working out. I think when I first finished modding the KSP towers I ran my receiver's crossover at 100 hz, and seeing as how the subs are co-located with the towers, you dont have to worry as much about being able to audibly determine where the bass is coming from. I switched it back to 80 hz though when I added a third sub to the system. With just the KSP towers alone though, the switch from 80 hz to 100 hz is a very very subtle one. I actually still have the amps to my pair of KSP's still laying around in a box. I only ever had problems with one of them though. The last time they were both up and running in their totally stock form, the left speaker amp was working just fine. Not sure what I'll end up doing with them, but I know neither of them is doing me any favors sitting around taking up closet space.

Any new updates Steve?

Greased for life means greased for life. In other words, the bearing will work until it doesn't anymore.. How convenient right? The only tools of mine that I lube are my air tools, but like you I've had luck in the past self-diagnosing things when they break and coming up with means to fix them myself rather than pay out the a$$ for repair services.

That looks like a good unit. I already run a Furhman power conditioner/surge protector, so I was thinking of picking something up that's simply a single outlet current sensing switch like the Niles APC-2. http://www.nilesaudio.com/product.php?prodID=APC-2&recordID=Automated%20Switching%20Systems&categoryID=Switching%20Systems&catcdID=&prdcdID=FG00254 Or perhaps just another power strip that has a current sensing outlet.

Got a link to that particular product?

Good deal. Glad to hear it's all going smoothly. Does that seris of Crown amps have the auto-sensing turn on, or are you going to pursue another means for sequentially turning on the amp?

In Florida at the moment. Once I get back to Arizona later tonite I can check back thru my notes and pics and follow up on your posts. Ahh, what the hell. I have my laptop and a few extra minutes; I can probably cover at least one of your questions. In order to avoid loud turn-on thumps, all you have to do is make sure that the amplifier powering the KSP subs is the LAST component to turn on, whether it be by trigger or by power sequencer. I have additionally signal processors in my subwoofer pre-amp signal path which further complicates the issue. I leave those signal processors turned on all of the time and when I want to use the KSP subs, I turn on their power amplifier by hand AFTER turning on my receiver. Also, from what I've seen, most power amplifiers don't start outputting signal the second that you turn them on. Typically there's a delay of a few seconds while the internals of the amp power up, and THEN it starts passing signal to the speakers. It's kind of funny that I went through all the work to get the KSP towers fully functional, and now 90% of the time I don't even use the subs in them because I have an additional third powered sub that turns itself on and off by signal sensing and is more than big and powerful enough to cover the duty of the KSP subs. Anyway moving on. You will want to keep your subs wired in-phase with the rest of the system so it is important to know which lead going to the speaker is positive and which is nevative. Those binding posts which I linked to you earlier are distinguishable from eachother by different colored plastic rings on them (red for positive, black for negative) so you shouldn't have to make any additional markings on the KSP's. All you have to do is connnect the proper sub wire lead to the proper binding post. If you have un-mounted the sub from the KSP enclosure, its terminals SHOULD be labeled somehow. I don't specifically recall which size spade terminal goes with positive or negative though. If I recall correctly however, the two wires which run from the sub to the amp are green and black in color, and I'm almost 100% sure that the black (as it usually is) is the negative lead. As far as sheilding is concerned, you dont need any, becasue at this point you no longer have any low-level/voltage audio signals passing through the KSP enclosure. Those low-level/voltage signal wires (i.e. RCA type signal path) are the ones most succeptible to RF interference, hence the reason sheilded RCA cables are so important. A side note. Another thing you might find when taking the KSP's apart, are some screw holes that may be a bit stripped out from previous over-torquing. I know at least a few of the holes in my speakers were wallered out to the point that they barely held the screw in. While, the speakers are apart I'd try to fix these holes by pressing a couple of tooth picks into them until they fit tightly, then snap off the excess. Then you may or may not want to push a drop of wood glue into the hole and let it set up for a day before trying to re-insert a screw. That way when you go to put everything back together all of the screws can be properly tightened and you eliminate some possible air leakage points. Also, if you take the subwoofer out of the enclosure, pull out some of the foam as well and have a look at all of the internal corner joints. You'll notice that they used some really thick glue to seal all of the joints, but there may be some spots where the glue is lacking or doesnt form a continuous bead along the inside corner. While mine were apart, I re-caulked all of the areas that looked like this just to be on the safe side. I'll be trying to think of some other tips and info from when I worked on mine, while I fly back west. Good luck on it and post back with pictures/updates/questions if you can.

Appreciate the input Trey. First thing I tried was bundling all of the low voltage signal cables. Didn't work. Tried the cheater plug. Also didn't work. I'm sure the issue with my amps was indeed the filter caps, but after multiple attempts to have them fixed I decided to say "screw it" and figured out my own work-around. The speaker is now "passive" and driven with an external amp and EQ. Works great!

Try searching for KSP-400 instead. You'll likely find many more threads dealing with this issue. Mine in particular. I used outboard amplifiers to power the subs in mine. Try not to get so bent out of shape over the fact that nobody has provided your schematic right away. This is not really a "high traffic" forum and things tend to go un-noticed for days at a time. Not to mention that Technical Data from Klipsch on these speakers is hard to find. It isn't "readily" floating around and typically you have to ask around a bit before finding anything even close. I have the schematic for the KSP400; don't know how much help that would be to you. I can tell you right off the bat that there is no aftermarket plate amp that will be a direct fit replacement, and trying to retro-fit one of similar size will simply be more fabrication work than it's worth. You're better off fixing the amps, or using outboard stand-alone amps instead. The number of people here who have taken it upon themselves to actually dive into troubleshooting the circuit boards of these amps is extraordinarily small. I know of one, maybe two.

Great show but MAN that background music gets annoying..

O SNAP!!!!![]

This is almost as bad as that DjNick character.

I'd be very interested to hear more about the details of your fix circuit board fixes on these amps and look forward to hearing how it turns out. Some pictures would be great! I still have the amps for my KSP-400s; theyre in a box in a closet somewhere. One of them I know still works fine, but I dont recall exactly what state of disrepair the other is in. I wish I had the small electronics know-how to dive into trying to fix the amps myself, but since I don't I took the different repair route.

Previous assessments are correct that your sub amps are malfunctioning in some way. If you call Klipsch Tech Support, they will refer you to a 3rd party electronics repair facility to have the amps serviced and the cost will be anywhere between 100 and 200 for each amp. There are no aftermarket "mountable" subwoofer amplifiers that will fit the original amp mounting location in the KSP towers. Trust me; I've looked. I had to send one of my amps back for repair twice (at no extra cost for the 2nd repair, thank god) and decided that I was done screwing around with the Klipsh amps and pursued a different solution. Here is a relatively long thread detailing most of my ordeal and what I ended up doing with the speakers (KSP-400's). I can tell you that they are now working perfectly and I'm more than happy that I wont have to deal with sub amp failures any time soon. I like these speakers very much and wanted to keep them, which is why I put forth all the effort to get them working properly. http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/111984.aspx As you can tell from that thread, I've got a good bit of experience with these speakers inside and out, so if you have any questions about them don't hesitate to PM me.

Oh get over yourself EAR!!!! Check out that djnick guy!. His earthquake subs will pity the fool that is your set-up any day of the week!!! []

Again with this dumbass?? Honestly??? [8-)]