Stocklone

That's awesome. He is extremely good at what he does. I couldn't be happier with my upgraded Ultras.

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/137803/1397294.aspx#1397294 See this post. This guy was great to work with and tests your amp thoroughly then he upgrades the hell out of your components so you won't have failures in the future. He can even add a fan inside to improve heat issues. The pricing was extremely reasonable. He may be better pricewise then the others you've mentioned.

Those look quite good and the fact that you can buy a pair with removable cables is just freaking awesome! Every high end headphones should be like that. My one question is, when the cord is bumped how much noise do you hear? With the custom-2 you hear very little noise. I know that is not the case with all brands.

It's very crude but I honestly didn't know what else to do since they are out of warranty. It was my third pair under the warranty and unfortunately it was one of the pairs with the very hard fabric. The kind that was kinked before you took them out of the box. My second pair was so much softer. I did this because I started seeing metal where rubber that was bulging out was starting to wear away. Anywhere the rubber was bulging badly out of the fabric due to kinks, I cut the fabric with a razor. Then I took a glue gun and sealed the wire back up so the fabric wouldn't go anywhere or unravel anymore and the rubber wouldn't experience anymore wear. This worked especially well right by the connector which had a huge amount of stress by it. The headphones look pretty ghettoriffic at this point but at least I'm not so worried they are going to break. I worry because they are without a doubt the best sounding and most comfortable headphones I have ever owned. Anybody else come up with any other solutions? Anybody see any flaws in my method besides it looking like crap? I'm hardly a materials scientist.

I'm sure a lot of people already know about this guy but for those who don't: http://myworld.ebay.com/stpeteshepherd This guy is amazing. One of my subs had a terrible buzzing issue. I met this guy through eBay and had him fix my set and upgrade the internal components and cooling. I also had him upgrade the internal components and cooling on my wife's set. She wasn't having any issues but I figure it would be better to upgrade now then wait for them to break. He did it all for a very reasonable price and was extremely communicative throughout the entire process. He e-mailed an extremely thorough explanation of what parts he replaced, why he replaced them and how the amp will benefit. Got my 5.1's back yesterday and everything sounds fantastic. Seriously, this guy is my hero. If losing your 5.1's are not an option, he is your only option.

"Repair and replacing/upgrading 20 to 30 components that have aged from heat, installing the cooling fan and its power supply, and return shipping to the lower 48 states have been costing $85 to $125 total." Everything is done to the sub. You only send the back panel to him. So its actually very reasonable shipping cost. IMO it's totally worth the money. I modded my LCD TV and put a small USB fan on there. The TV went from overheating and shutting down after an hour to never ever having a problem again. And that was over a year ago.

I found a guy off of ebay that will fix it and upgrade the cooling to prevent further damage. He is very familiar with the buzzing problem.

Well the DDTS Decoder is extremely hard to come by. And nobody has made any kind of product to replace it as far as I can tell. I actually own one and would not give it up for anything as I could never replace it. It's very small and does what a much bigger and more expensive HT receiver would do. That is valuable to a lot of people. Especially now since all of the sound cards have digital out now and the Ultras are analog only. You can get cards that turn everything into Dolby Digital. I actually own 2 sets of Ultras. One set is still hooked up to a PC and the other got replaced by a home theater. So I ended up putting my second set in the bedroom. Since you have the DDTS, you could put it in your set in the bedroom as well. It makes a great setup for the bedroom. Both my wife and I couldn't imagine going back to just regular TV speakers. I highly recommend turning your bedroom into an absolutely kickass bedroom instead of trying to sell it or giving it away. The 5.1 Ultras could go bad at any second. I am having problems with mine which I got back maybe in 04. I did find a guy on ebay who will actually upgrade the components that are likely to go bad and add extra cooling to prevent future wear. He only wants a section of the subwoofer so you aren't spending an insane amount on shipping. If you want to add some longevity to your system you might want to consider looking this guy up. I am never getting rid of mine. I'd much rather have these speakers than money. They are just too awesome.

Easy come easy go. The buzzing is back. Damn it.

So my Ultra 5.1's started making a very loud buzzing sound starting last week. The only way I could get it to go away would be to turn the volume up to 78 then set the volume from my PC to very low. I was sure I was screwed and would have to eventually replace them in the coming weeks. And then a lightning storm happened and the power went out as I heard a mighty crack in the night. My cat of course ran under the bed in terror. It quickly turned back on. My brother went upstairs and said the speakers were making a loud buzzing noise. I came up and looked at the control pod and it still said 76. I turned it back down to my normal 40 (pre-buzz) level and the buzzing is completely gone. Everything works perfect now. I tried switching out control pods when I first heard the buzz so I know it is something with the sub. I have no idea how long they will stay fixed but I just thought this would be a fun story to share. Anybody have any idea why this happened or if they think it will stay fixed?

If music is your primary concern, I would go with Cowon. They have the best sounding players. Period. The battery life destroys everything else on the market. I have had a D2 for over two years. It can be upgraded with SD cards. Right now I have 24GB of space. When the 32GB cards get cheap I will have 40GB. The S9 is much more sleek but no SD. The screen is very nice on the S9. The V5 has an SD slot and is also very good for movies with a large high resolution screen that supports all kinds of video formats. Cowon products usually support a ton of formats so you can find the format that's perfect for you. I've been nothing but happy with mine and I will definitely buy another Cowon product if this one ever dies. If music is not your concern and you want to play games and surf the internet then go get an iPod Touch. But that's what I have my Android phone for.

I really appreciate every one replying. I am not as worried now (actually quite amused by the replies) and I will most definitely start carrying around some ear plugs for those impromptu loud noise moments.

I also own a Cowon D2. Fantastic player, isn't it? I love using my custom-2's with my player. The over ear the ear design is awesome. Here's why: You can slide them out of your ear without having to take them off. This is absolutely great for conversations during the day. Second, you can hang them on your ear and have your own personal soundtrack going on in the background while still being able to be completely aware of your surroundings. You know so you don't get hit by a bus while crossing the street. I listen to just about everything and I am quite happy with the performance no matter what I am listening to. I never tried the S4's. So I can't help you there.

I noticed this too. I am on my 3rd pair under my warranty. (See they honor their warranties ) I have a feeling these will break too eventually. I was quite tempted to buy another pair off of amazon for cheap. But since they are going to do a new line, I will just buy those when the time comes. I hope that the new line has over the ear hooks. I love the hooks. It's makes them so convenient to wear them at work all day with occasional conversations. I am pretty excited about the news. I will miss my custom-2's when they bite the dust. Until then I am babying the heck out of them.