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Older Klipsch 15 sub repair/upgrade


PaulR

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My Klipsch 15” sub failed so I replaced it with two SVS PB-3000’s.  I bought the Klipsch new many years ago and it still looks like new but from what l’ve been reading here they have a lot of amp issues but I hate to just let it sit so I was thinking of going with a Dayton plate amp. What kind of power can this sub handle? I think it’s only 250w now. Can it handle 500w??  Another problem is the passive driver on the back, should I just remove it to make room for the bigger amp?

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Edited by PaulR
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I had several old SW-15 Klipsch subs.  They are known to have horrible amp reliability issues.  I turned several of them into passive subs and I just used a separate crown amp to drive them. I left the old amp in place and just wired it through two of the banana plugs on the back... just make sure you disconnect them from the old amp circuit.

 

You can also buy a plate amp, and just just build a little external box for it and hide it behind the sub or another convenient place.

 

Last option, you can buy a stand alone sub amp, like at parts express. But then you are spending $260-$430 on a sub that really is only worth about $100 at this point.

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-SA1000-Subwoofer-Amplifier-Rack-Mountable-300-811

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-SA230-230W-Subwoofer-Amplifier-300-813

Main product image for Dayton Audio SA1000 Subwoofer Amplifier Rack M 300-811

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Wow, $100 bucks lol!  I have a pair Chorus 1’s I bought in 1994 for $600 , looks like their worth double that now but very recently  I replaced the crossovers and tweeters. 
 

I was also looking at the crown amps , I like that idea better because of the rear driver.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, PaulR said:

I was also looking at the crown amps

You can find an old K1 for a couple hundred dollars if you aren't in a hurry.  It will have plenty of power 350 watts at 8 oms per channel if you just use one of the channels, or 1,100 watts 8 ohms bridged.

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On 1/29/2021 at 11:52 PM, Iteachstem said:

You can find an old K1 for a couple hundred dollars if you aren't in a hurry.  It will have plenty of power 350 watts at 8 oms per channel if you just use one of the channels, or 1,100 watts 8 ohms bridged.

 
I bought a new crown XLi 1500 as an open box from Amazon for $257 its 900 watts bridged.  Works pretty good but has a noticeable buzz when the volume is down. If I have the sensitivity set at 1.4v the buzz is less but so is the volume of the sub so I keep it at 0.775v.  I intend on using this sub for a outdoor theatre setup and in my garage hooked up to my NSM cd jukebox that also puts a buzz into a set of Quartets I use out there, it’s not noticeable when music is playing.

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Nice work.  I haven't used the cheap crown amps, I know they are inexpensive and they have to cut corners somewhere.  Maybe it was an open box because it was returned for the buzz issue.  My K1 and K2's are very quiet.  Did you make sure you don't have a ground loop going on?  Or any other electrical issue? You can always try a three prong to 2 prong adapter to lift the ground and see if that makes difference.

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