Bar 48 No-Power Repair Thread

[brandon_young_88381762]

Hello. I’m looking for the power supply for the bar 48. I went on the Amazon link and the closest unit I see is the 24v4amp/12v1amp. Will this work?

[ongtw75]

On 4/4/2022 at 6:32 AM, brandon_young_88381762 said:

Hello. I’m looking for the power supply for the bar 48. I went on the Amazon link and the closest unit I see is the 24v4amp/12v1amp. Will this work?

Hi. You will need a power supply that outputs 24V and 5V. 12V will damage the digital/amplifier board.

Cheers!

[white_2000_T]

You  will need the 24V 4A/5V1A Dual Switch Power Supply Board Module 120W Power Module Isolated Dual Output Power Supply model # WX-DC2412S available on Amazon.  I saw this on a previous post and received it today.  

[PatPaluch]

FYI it appears that + and - were reversed on my power supply. I connected everything correctly and the unit didn’t power on so I just randomly decided to try to connect GND to + and black/red together to - and it worked!!!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yE7hUmqQpRAejA4b7

[Lemzy_Wonder]

Am a new klipch fan with cinema 600, lifted it off amazon, i soon realized at that price point, no sound-bar came close with the audio quality and sub punch

After 1 year of merry making with the bar causing unspeakable mayhem to my neighbors, it finally breathed its last,(not powering on, red shaky light) I panicked, at this point i tried to contact klipch custo.care for a way forward , and though they were nice, i felt they are playing me, like they knew, what was up… i was outside warranty unfortunately 

My pockets were on a recession I couldn’t afford good sound.And thats how i landed here with my 2 feets after weeks of searching the internet , i then realized this was a klipsch pandemic, i relaxed but still wasnt happy

 

Muuuch thanks to @SixerFixer, he indeed opened a way for meto having my cinema 600 back,God bless you Man, he said the weaklink of cinema 600 is/was/has been the power supply unit, so I decided to dig deeper on this OEM power supply issue, and discovered is very much repairable ofcourse with Muuch help from my circuit board Nerd in my area called Mr. David, i will leave his contacts at the end of this discussion 

 

Pay close attention, Problem with OEM power supply starts at the 400v/100uf capacitor that decide to leak(very cheap caps) immediately after warranty(mischievous timing), after the cap drama, unregulated voltage pass through the 5v auxiliary power rail smoking everything on its path, the 5v modulator and the 16v voltage smoothers 

It’s the 5v auxiliary power supply that switches on the 24v main power supply that inturn activates the amplifier, with the 5v auxiliary power supply fried, you are sure the bar will go safe mode(the red light), this in a way is a clever design to protect the main board and the 24v amp from roasting 

The challenge with the chinese 24v/5v knock off power supply is it lacks some of this checks and balances of power flow, i.e there is no 5v axul. power switching the 24v main power, the 5v auxiliary power is regulated from the 24v hence Incase of a fault God forbid, there is no isolation 

 

So for longetivity of your klipsch bar My circuit board Nerd Mr. David highly recommended we repair the OEm p.supply, and I happily obliged

The bar is up and running like new

David email is: davidochieng27@gmail.com, 

Such a gifted man 

 

We replaced the following 

1. 2 400v 100uf caps
2. 5v ac-dc regulator(Chip-Rail CR5241)
3. 16v 220uf voltage smoothers 

[JP71]

I just received my power supply unit you guys suggested. Will replace with hope my sound bar works again 

[pconwell]

I wanted to add my experience getting the Bar 48 back up and working. I can't speak for the Cinema 600 as this thread is for the Bar 48 - so my experience may or may not apply to the Cinema 600.

 

Symptoms: The control panel and lights on the Bar 48 started flickering, then a few days later stopped working all together. Since the speakers still worked, I ignored the issue as an annoyance. However, after another day or two, the speakers became very staticky and then stopped working all together. 

 

After disassembling the guts of the Bar 48, I tested the volage on the 5v side of the power supply - being very careful to not touch any of the 120v parts on the same board. I tested the voltage between GND and VDD. It would show 5v, but then rather quickly started to drop. Around 4.6v, the lights would stop functioning. The STB is 3.3 v out (more on this below) and it turns the 24v power supply on and off. I'm guessing that's why my lights stopped working (dropped below 4.6v) but the speakers were still working (still above 3.3v). Eventually, the 5v side dropped below 3.3v and the 24v side turned off - or at least that's my guess.

 

Side note: I don't have the proper tools to fully test capacitors, but I tested C05 and C06 as suggested by @ongtw75. C05 appeared to be not holding voltage, but otherwise seemed okay based on my rudimentary tests. C06 seemed to be fine. I replaced C05 with two 100uF capacitors but I still saw the same issues as described above. I didn't have the patience (or necessary replacement parts) to test the other capacitors, so I just moved on to replacing the entire power supply.

 

Observations and Reverse Engineering: Based on other posts in this thread and my own testing, I am fairly confident the power supply is set up as follows:

 

5v side:

VDD -> GND: 5v which is used to power the control board (lights, buttons, IR remote sensor, bluetooth, etc)

STB -> GND: 3.3v when the soundbar is on*

STB -> GND: 0.1-ish v when the soundbar is off*

 

24v side:

V+ -> V-: 24v to drive the speakers

 

*STB -> GNC is used to control the 24v side of the power supply. This supplies 3.3v from the control board back to the power supply when the power is turned on, so previous instructions to connect this to 5v+ are incorrect. You can either leave this unconnected or you can use it to trigger a relay (see below). If you really want to wire it to something, wire it to ground, not 5v+. But, if you are not wiring in a relay, the STB wire doesn't do anything so you might as well leave it be.

 

Solution: I ordered this power supply and this relay. The relay is not necessary - but if you want to recreate the original functionality of killing power to the speakers, then the relay will do the trick. Otherwise, you can wire the speakers directly into the 24v side of the power supply and just leave them "on" all the time. Probably not going to hurt much either way, I just like the idea of keeping the functionality as close to original as possible.

 

To keep things clear, I'll refer to the 3.3v STB wire as XXXX (the pattern marked on the wire), the 5v+ wire as Pink, the 5v GND wire as White, and the 24v + and - as Red and Black respectively.

 

To begin, I made sure everything was unplugged. Next, I clipped all the wires connected to the old power supply. You likely want to verify that your colors match mine before you go snip happy.

 

Next, I stripped and connected the AC mains power to the appropriate terminals on the new power supply. Mine was labeled AC-220v. The polarity does not matter.

 

Then, I connected the Pink wire to the 5v+ terminal on the power supply. You will probably want to verify with a multimeter, but mine was the DC2+ terminal on the power supply. This will supply power to the controller board. I also connected a pigtail to the 5v+ terminal as well, which I will connect to a relay (this is optional).

 

Next, I connected the White wire to the 5v- terminal, marked as DC2- on my power supply. Again, I connected a pigtail as well for a relay. At this point, you can test your setup if you want to. The controller board should power on. You should even be able to connect to Bluetooth, etc - but you won't get any sound yet.

 

If you are not planning to use a relay, you can simply connect the Red wire to the 24v+ (DC1+ on my power supply) and the Black wire to the 24v- (DC1-) and you are done. The XXXX wire can be connected to the 5v ground (DC2-) if you really want to - but there is no need to connect it to anything.

 

If you are planning to use a relay, instead connect Red to the NO (normally open) terminal and Black to the COM (common) terminal on the relay. Then connect your 5v+ pigtail to the DC+ terminal on the relay, and the 5v- pigtail to the DC- terminal. Lastly, connect the XXXX wire to the IN (trigger) terminal on the relay. Make sure the relay is set to HIGH switching. Now, whenever the soundbar is turned on, the STB (XXXX wire) will send 3.3v to the relay trigger (i.e. setting it high), causing it to close the "normally open" circuit.

 

You can reference the attached schematic drawing. It doesn't really matter, but just note that the blue wire is 3.3v going from the controller board to the relay (when the soundbar is turned on). Again, STB (aka the XXXX wire) does not need to be connected to any 5v sources (or 24v sources for that matter).

circuit (4).svg

[JP71]

Thanks to all of you. Ordered  From the link to the power supply unit, got it in mail yesterday. Replaced it today, my sound bar works again. A 18$ fix. Thanks to the guy who posted about the white wires. First i had reversed it, power wasn’t coming on, then i read your suggestion and it worked. 
jay

[SixerFixer]

Gotta say, I'm thrilled to see so many success posts in this thread! 😄

[C0jk]

Power supply finally arrived from the link provided. Took me (true beginner, never replaced any electrical components) about an hour total to get the old PS out and the new one in. Tested perfectly. 
 

Thank you all!!!

[Writersblock]

I can confirm this works for the Cinema 600. I used this power supply from Amazon. Some notes:

 

The hex screws on the back are standard sized. I ended up having to use hex keys, which really sucked because the number of screws, but everything I have is metric, so, that sucked.

 

One the 110V side I stripped back the insulation and you pull down on the levers, then insert the wire. The spring holds the wires in place.

 

On the low voltage side, as you're looking at it on the edge, the 24V is on the left and 5V is on the right. I confirmed this with a multimeter and urge anyone doing this repair to confirm this.

 

In the 5V side, the red and white wires go together into the positive side. Black goes to ground.

 

I did drill an extra hole and used the standoffs on the original board to secure the new power supply to the back panel. The hex size on these is smaller than the hex screws that secure the back panel to the case.

 

Thank you so very much for coming up with this! Thanks to you good folks, I fixed my out-of-warranty sound bar for just $13!

[David C]

Thank you sixerfixer I ordered the part in your pic. I changed it I drilled one new hole to compensate for the smaller width.

wired it up. I am back up and running.

I appreciate the help!

 

[Doff]

Hello fellow Klipsch bar 48 friends! I am a completely noob when it comes to electronics, power, amps and watts and whatnot. 

I have a bar48 with surround speakers that are working fine.

My problem is the sub very often wont turn on when the system is turned on. The blue light in the back of the sub wont tun on and no sound. Sometimes it helps swapping the power cables with the bar and sub. I have also had succes a couple times using another random power cable but in the end it keeps often not turning on. I think the problem is the power supply/ bad/unstable connection inside the sub since it  works sometime. 

Has anyone had similar problems with the subwoofer and its power? 

[BrianW]

Gentlemen, Thank you for this post. I have a cinema600 sound bar that lost sound and power. I have replaced the power supply and confirmed that 24v and 5V is reaching the AMP board. However, the unit still won't power on. One clue is the standby line. As described in SixerFixer's article, it should be a +5v line, but I find it has very low resistance to Gnd.

Do you think it is repairable (need to find a tech) or is it a lost cause?

BrianW in Texas

[pd2002]

This fix worked for me as well, thank you so much for this write-up.  I also agree that Klipsch should be making this or a similar fix available to us as it seems to be more wide spread.  I wonder how many of these have been thrown away due to this going wrong and the owner just does not want to try and fix after calling Klipsch, or does not find your super helpful post.

Thanks again!

[pd2002]

Klipsch should be sending you some thank you items for saving their reputation, as these devices should not all be failing after just a few years, 3 in my case.   

 

Thanks!

[KCCoxe]

Hi All, popping into the forums to say I had this problem on my Bar48 a couple weeks ago about 2 years and 9 months after purchase.  Thought about trying the repair discussed here, but in my research I saw a post somewhere else on the web (that I can't find anymore) where an owner had luck getting an older Bar48 replaced.  I couldn't quite piece together what was and wasn't covered under the split 1 year/3 year warranty for different failures, but thought the worst that could happen is they say no.  So I sent in a warranty request, and I included a link to this thread in my message to Klipsch support.

 

Well, despite the Bar48 only have 2+ months of the 3 year warranty left, Klipsch sent me a new Cinema 600 and told me to send the Bar48 back in the Cinema 600 packaging.  Even if I only get another 2 years out of the Cinema 600 before running into a power supply problem, I'll take it.  And I know where to come look again if I need to replace the Cinema 600 power supply in the future.

 

Good luck all.

[KevinB]

18 hours ago, KCCoxe said:

Well, despite the Bar48 only have 2+ months of the 3 year warranty left, Klipsch sent me a new Cinema 600 and told me to send the Bar48 back in the Cinema 600 packaging.

The same thing happened to me. I don't think the Cinema 800 or 1200 were shipping at the time I got my Cinema 600. Unfortunately, the Cinema 600 died after a few months.

 

One of the reasons I chose the BAR48 was because the specs said it supported Dolby Digital Plus which can provide CD quality audio. While many of the BAR48 issues I reported had been resolved with the the Cinema 600, it doesn't support Dolby Digital Plus so it is actually a downgrade from the BAR48. The Cinema 800 on the other hand...

[ChrisduToit]

Hi to you all.

I have had the same problem with my Klipsch. 
3V instead of 5V  from the power supply and the unit will not switch on.

Replaced the two capacitors on the output of the 5V and all is good.

The capacitors are 220 micro Farad / 16Volt.

Hope this helps

Cheers Chris

[B-RAD]

Thanks for the Amazon link 🙏

Edited October 21, 2022 by B-RAD