KevinB

Hi @jonboy604, Welcome to the Klipsch Community forums. While it is impossible to know exactly what is wrong with your soundbar, we do know that the firmware is out of date. When you open a case with Klipsch Product Support the first thing they will want you to do is install the most current firmware. Please see this post and update your firmware. Because this is a demo unit I don't know what the warranty or date of manufacture might be. The Cinema series of soundbars have had their issues. Most of the firmware issues have been resolve with the current version but there may have been other manufacturing defects that have been resolved in more recently manufactured products. If I were to purchase another Cinema soundbar I would not want to purchase a demo unit. If the firmware update doesn't resolve your issue and your soundbar is still under warranty, a warranty replacement from Klipsch is your best option. Your second best option would be to return the demo unit to your retailer for a refund. Another thing you should be aware of: At least one large Klipsch retailer is telling customers that the Cinema 1200 has been discontinued.

Hi @Subi and welcome to the Klipsch Community forums. Can you describe what happened with step 3? What documentation did you follow when doing the upgrade? Here are the Cinema 1200 - Current Firmware Update Notes. With the newer firmware, the soundbar will phone home overnight and complete the firmware update but it needs a network connection. If your soundbar was using older firmware that didn't provide this capability there was a different procedure to update it: Cinema 1200 - Updating Older Firmware. This procedure includes a link to the WiFi firmware. Firmware updates can be finicky even if you follow the instructions exactly. I hate to say it but you may just get lucky after the second, third, or tenth attempt. I would make a small change to the step 3 procedure and perform #15 in between #5 & #6. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Hello @mushasho and welcome to the Klipsch Community forums. I'm sorry I can't provide much help with this one other than a few suggestion. If you purchased it online, many online sites will keep a record of your purchases for you. If you purchased it from Klipsch, they should have a record of your purchase. If you purchased it from a retailer, explain your situation to them and they may be able to help. If you can't remember exactly when or where it was purchased, your credit card statement may help. Your soundbar's serial number will tell Klipsch to which country and to which distributor the soundbar was shipped. The distributor's records should provide the name of the reseller who purchased it. Unfortunately, that information may not be easy to obtain.

Hello @dissatisfied buyer and welcome to the Klipsch Community forums. Klipsch has been very good at honouring their warranty and providing warranty replacements. I have a Cinema 800 with Surround 3s. The current firmware resolves most of the major firmware issues although the soundbar still must be power cycled occasionally to regain audio. Once you manually install the firmware Klipsch provide and connect your soundbar to your network (wired or WiFi), the soundbar will automatically update the firmware when newer firmware becomes available.

Hello @James Robertson and welcome to the Klipsch Community forums. The Cinema Series (and before that, the BAR Series) were plagued with severe firmware and reliability issues. Current firmware has addressed most of the major firmware issues affecting the Cinema Series but component reliability continues to be an issue. You haven't provide much information about your issue and while it sounds as if it could be a component failure there are a few things you can check before requesting another RMA. Verify that your electrical outlet is still providing power: plug another device into the outlet that supplies power to your sub or plug your sub into a different outlet that you know is working. Please review these knowledgebase articles: Cinema 1200 - Subwoofer Wireless Connection Cinema 1200 - Subwoofer Reconnect Please reply back and let us know how your issue got resolved.

That is exactly what I suggested. I even provided a link. 😇

Yes, both of us are speculating. When problem solving one forms a premise (or speculates) based on knowledge and experience then attempts to prove it or disprove it. My speculation is based on considerable experience working with these soundbars. What qualifies you to make the assumption that this is not another defect?

@Old Salt Most customers use the wireless sub that came with the soundbar and find that the bass is more than adequate. While the Cinema soundbars provide an RCA jack so customers can connect a wired sub, the specs don't say much about output levels. Considering the many issues with the Cinema series soundbars, the issue you are encountering could be related to yet another defect. I would Submit a request to Klipsch Product support and explain what is happening. They should be able to confirm the soundbar's output levels and let you know if they are sufficient to drive the R211SWs. You have nothing to lose and if they determine there is an issue with your soundbar they can arrange for a warranty replacement.

This is an issue seen on many of the Cinema series soundbars. Recent firmware updates have reduced the number of times the audio disappears but have not completely resolved this issue. Often the only way to restore the audio is to power cycle the soundbar.

Thanks for the heads-up @billybob but I'm unfamiliar with that product.

Honestly, I think that is your best option.

@001... Yes. Companies usually try to clear out discontinued products to make way for newer ones. Let's hope the next generation of soundbars has fewer issues. 🙂

My Klipsch dealer from whom I purchased my soundbar told me last week that the Cinema 800 & 1200 have officially been discontinued (in Canada at least). Speculation is that the Cinema 600 is soon to follow.

Be that as it may, it doesn't give you the right to misrepresent what someone else has said to make your point. If what you say is true then clearly the issues with these soundbars are not minor ones otherwise they would have been resolved by now!

Why would you deliberately want to misrepresent what @Dogatos said? This is your quote: This is what he said: The Klipsch BAR series and Cinema series soundbars have far too many reliability and firmware issues. This is evident by the many customers seeking assistance in these forums. In my opinion, Klipsch has had ample time to address these issues but has failed to adequately do so.

Hi @jsub31 and welcome to the Klipsch Community Forums. You didn't say what hardware revision your Cinema 600 is. If it doesn't say, then it is the original 600 that was very unreliable. The current revision is Rev 3. If you qualify for a warranty replacement and they give you a Rev 3 Cinema 600, it should be much more reliable than the original. I would ask for a warranty replacement. You have nothing to lose. I would only only attempt a repair if I couldn't get a warranty replacement.

My suggestion would be to return it to wherever you bought it, if it's not too late. The BAR series had (has?) lots of reliability issues. Your Surround 3's will work with the newer Cinema series 600, 700, & 800. While these soundbars have also had their issues most have now been resolved. They are a big improvement over the BAR series. What's more, the price of these soundbars has recently been reduced significantly. The Cinema 700/800 would be a replacement for the BAR 48.

Check out this thread: Bar 48 No-Power Repair Thread

If you wish to submit a bug report you should Submit a request to Klipsch Product Support. The responses you receive in these forums are from other users, like yourself, who may have information they are willing to share but we don't have access to any internal Klipsch documentation, especially any information about how a feature is supposed to work. As you might imagine this makes it extremely difficult to determine whether a specific behaviour is normal or due to a bug. As Klipsch has updated their firmware the soundbar behaviour has changed. For example, if you wanted to check a setting selecting it used to activate the next option then show you that setting. Klipsch finally changed that behaviour so that the first press of a button did nothing other than show the current setting. The setting was only changed when the button was pressed a second time. While the sound modes do change the sound, Klipsch has said little about how this works or exactly how the sound has been altered. This is especially true for the Cinema 700, 800, & 1200 soundbars that have many more modes from which to choose.

Hi @Dogatos and welcome to the Klipsch Community forums. I have good news for you: This is normal! See this knowledge base article. Cinema 600 - Turning Virtual Surround Sound On/Off While you are at it, have a look at the other Cinema Series articles. There is a lot of useful information there.

While the Cinema series soundbars evolved from the BAR series one cannot conclude that the Cinema 600 is a newer version of the BAR 48. I managed to locate an old copy of the Bar-48_Spec-Sheet_v03.pdf. This is the CINEMA 600 Spec Sheet. I owned both sound bars. This is the main thing that the spec sheets don't tell you. The original BAR 48 spec sheet stated that the BAR 48 supports Dolby Digital Plus but it never worked. Dolby Digital Plus can provide CD quality audio but can only be delivered via an HDMI connection because of the higher bandwidth needed. The Cinema 600 spec sheet stated that the Cinema 600 supports Dolby Digital. It makes no mention of Dolby Digital Plus and, in fact, does not support it.

Is it defective or is there a way to remove it? Contact Klipsch Product Support. They will help you.

Only you can decide what is best for you and "better" is a relative term. It implies better suited in a particular situation and you don't say how you use your soundbar. For example, I certainly would not want a Cinema 1200 just to listen to quiet music in my bedroom as I go to sleep. As you may know, the Cinema series is a replacement for the BAR series of soundbars. When they were first introduced they had lots of reliability issues and firmware issues similar to what owners of the BAR series experienced. Most of the firmware issues have been resolved and the Cinema 600 is now at hardware revision 3. I don't know if there have been hardware revisions to the other Cinema soundbars. Now that Klipsch has reduced the price of the Cinema series soundbars they offer great bang for the buck but it leads me to believe they may be getting ready to introduce a new series of soundbars to replace the Cinema series. If you are looking for a new soundbar, this is what I suggest: Decide how it will be used: blockbuster movies with surround sound? Something else? Establish a budget. Do a Google search for soundbar reviews and compare what is available. When you find something that interests you, check it out in some of the available community forums. There is a lot of information in this forum about the Cinema sound bars. Check it out... Cinema 1200 Cinema 800 Cinema 600

Before recommending a solution it would be prudent to identify the source of the problem first. These BAR 48 knowledge base articles suggest that the subwoofer also has issues.

Hi @xenon1, welcome to the Klipsch Community forums. This is the Bar 48 No-Power Repair Thread. You have a completely different issue so you should begin a new thread in this forum for your issue. A good choice for a Subject might be: BAR 48 sub has very low volume. Please provide as many details as possible: How old is your soundbar? Did it ever work at full volume? When did this start happening? Have you updated the firmware? Your post will be much more visible and you will have a better chance that someone can provide an answer.