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5.1 Ultra - Loud Humming - Control pod or amp?


DonnieZ

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Big thanks to StPete Cooling and hopefully he still monitors this page. :) I replaced those two capacitors and the hum is gone. :)

 

While replacing them,I noticed a resistor that looks damaged/bad. Anyone know what it is for? How to tell if it is damaged/bad and what I would need to replace it with?

 

2vl5h50.jpg

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That is a 100,000 ohm resistor.  It is likely fine. I've replaced over 1,000 of these, as part of every repair I do. I upgrade them to 2 watt, but I recall well under .5% of panels actually having that resistor fail.  More often the 205,000 ohm resistor (1/8 watt) by the transistor on that board will rise in value and fail, or there will be charring between the two 470 ohm resistors at the bottom of that daughter board. That charring eventually burns out a nearby IRF740 MOSFET (power transistor) and a 22 ohm and/or a 390 ohm resistor on the daughter board. 

It has been years since I logged in to this forum. Glad my notes from years ago still are helpful.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Is this "humming" everyone is talking about the same as the high pitch whistle?

My PM Ultra 5.1s started having a very high pitched whistle that starts as soon as you turn them on. I don't hear it in headphone mode, but it drowns out any music coming from the speakers. Have tried checking all of the speaker connections, different power outlets etc, and still no dice. Wondering if this is due to the same "humming" issue?

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Just another person who created an account just to say thanks to "stpete cooling", and everyone else who have contributed to this thread.   What was it, 5 years ago?   This info is still relevant.   I've had the humming for some time now....FINALLY it got so bad I re-looked up this thread and picked up the 105C capacitors from Fry's ($1.29).   I'd guess it took me about 30 minutes (and I was explaining everything to my 8 year old during the process).

 

 The old system is rocking again, no hum at all.     Should have done it sooner.  

 

Communities like this are awesome, thanks again. 

 

 

To Socalguy:   I don't think we're talking about a high pitch whistle here.   Mine was definitely a medium to low pitched hum...

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  • 5 weeks later...

Another person registering to thank Stpete cooling!

 

My Promedia 5.1 system has been making the annoying hum noise from the speakers for the last 3 months. I ordered five Panasonic EEU-TP1V101B from amazon and replaced the old capacitors without any issue. No previous circuit board soldering experience!

 

It's so great to have that noise gone!!

Edited by Valkyn71
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  • 1 month later...

I too have been having a issue with my 5.1 system. it recently developed a squeeling/humming sound when I first turn the system on which point you can barely hear any audio coming from the speakers;  but eventually goes away once I start playing a youtube video. Now does this sound like a amp issue, a speaker(s) issue, or control pod issue? and if anyone thinks its a control pod issue; where in the wolrd could I find a replacement? I hope i dont have to take it to the guy ive had my amp repaired from before down the street where i had to shell out 80 bucks for parts and labor to get some issues taken care of because I really cant afford that right now. Thanks to anyone that can give more info on this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

can anyone out there shed light on my last post? does this sound like a resistor(s) or capacitor(s) that have possibly gone bad? I did decide to take my amp to the guy down the street that has done work for me before to see if he can figure out what is happening but so far he said it is working but i told him otherwise that whenever i turn it on i get that squeeling/humming.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hey matts6887,

Did you get anything figured out on yours?    My system has been working great since I did the cap fix, but now all of a sudden it has another problem, it might be the same as yours.    What happens is that when I turn it on, I hear a very high pitched ping that fades away very slowly.    I can get very little volume out of the speakers, and even then it sounds terrible.    

 

One time I was messing with the volume control and it went completely back to normal....   The next time I turned it on, the problem was back.   So...that does make me think it's in the control module, maybe the volume control knob POT.   I'm going to pull it apart and see if I can see any bad connections or whatever.    Anyway if anyone has anything to suggest, I'd love to hear it.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

Big thanks to stpete cooling, novinha, StevenWithaV and everybody who posted to this message board.  You made it easy for somebody who has never used a soldering iron before.  I've loved my ProMedia 5.1 system since 2001, so much that I've put up with the humming for over a year.  No more hummmm!  

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  • 1 month later...

The Promedia 5.1 lives again!

 

I had my Promedia 5.1 originally repaired by Elliot quite a few years ago. Recently I started to get the hum and finally last week I'd had enough. I stumbled upon this thread and decided to give it a shot.

Much thanks to stpete cooling and everyone else that contributed to this thread for the info on the C35/C36 cap replacement. The walls are shaking again :)

Edited by shadower
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  • 1 month later...

Registered to say thanks.  My original Promedia 5.1 set had the same hum issue many years ago.  I called Klipsch and I was amazed when they replaced the entire set with the new Ultra offering.  That experience was something I'll never forget and has made me a customer for life.  Roughly 10 years later, I was heartbroken when the Ultras did the same thing.  I immediately started looking for a comparable set of speakers but was having a difficult time as Klipsch no longer makes the 5.1 series.  I simply didn't want to replace the 5.1 system with the current 2.1 offering.  I had made up my mind to switch brands until I found this post.  The repair was simple and like most have said, took about 30 minutes.  Most of that was waiting for the iron to heat up and taking out the back plate screws. 

 

My Ultras are alive again!  Thanks to stpete cooling for the suggestion and the many others who confirmed their success stories that finally convinced me to try the repair. 

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I am glad I found this thread.  I am having the exact same issue as the OP and many of you.

 

I have placed an order for a basic soldering kit, solder, and wick, and now I just need the caps.

 

I see that places like digikey and mouser have caps for really low price, like 30 cents each or less, but shipping is like $5-10 and will take a while.

 

Amazon has these for $6 and prime shipping.  Would these work ok?

 

1 - http://www.amazon.com/100uF-105C-Radial-Electrolytic-Capacitor/dp/B00W8YCPWW?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A1THAZDOWP300U

 

or

 

2 - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W8TPAW4?m=A1THAZDOWP300U&ref_=v_sp_detail_page

Edited by shiggity80
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  • 5 weeks later...

Sorry for another bump to an old topic, but just wanted to say thanks to stpete and the rest of this thread.

 

I finally got around to replacing those caps last night and man was I nervous.  I hadn't soldered anything in over 10 years and this one was pretty tricky with the tight space.

 

I was able to get the caps off w/o much issue.  However, putting the new caps in was a struggle.  I eventually got it in and soldered, but the soldering job was pretty bad LOL.  Big clumps of solder pieces sticking out etc.

 

Oh well, as long as it works, I'm happy, and it most definitely does work again!

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  • 5 months later...

Another successful fix thanks to stpetecooling!

 

Just use any  100mFd 35  105 celsius capacitors you can find.

 

There was no visible damage to anything on the board, but the problem is fixed!

 

This was much easier with a second pair of hands. 

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  • 5 months later...

My question is "WHAT ABOUT STATIC?" I have static coming through mine, and it increases or decreases with the volume control knob either on the speakers or from Windows volume control. Please advise if you feel the cap replacement would impact STATIC in any way.   Thanks

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  • 11 months later...

Another +1 for new register and necro THANK YOU bump !

 

This thread needs to be sticky-ed someplace on the internet forever as its become more of a time capsule of info. 

 

I bought my 5.1 ultra's in 2003 and they have been amazing through the years until a few years ago.

I found this thread a few years back when the hum first started, but it would go away after warming up, until about 6 months ago

when my speakers became unusable. Tonight i finally got around to taking it apart and getting the parts, sure enough C35/C36 was the culprit.

 

Having NEVER HELD a soldering iron in my life it took me about 3hrs (mostly due to the crap iron i borrowed from my father in law)

its not pretty, by board is a little more burnt then it was before and  my voice is now going, but plugged it in, NO HUM, hit play on the

mp3 player and out blasts the last album i had loaded (gotg: Awesome Mix, Vol. 2), crystal clear.

$10 in parts (would have been $40 if i had to get the iron) well worth the trouble.

 

if you have young kids just make sure there not around when you attempt this to avoid them learning any new vocabulary ;)

 

THANKS ALL

 

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