klipsch cinema 1200 what problems, software flaws, glitches?

[KevinB]

On 1/12/2022 at 8:02 PM, Remmis said:

Anyone have any suggestions outside of returning it?

 

I see that you also asked the same question in the Cinema 1200 soundbar thread. Most communities frown on members double posting. It's bad enough that there are multiple Cinema 1200 threads but things can get really confusing when when answers to a specific question are spread across multiple threads. Just pick an existing thread or start a new one. 

 

Okay, I won't suggest returning it! Check out my other post here where I have tried to provide some additional perspective.

[ChazzMatt]

 
My Cinema 800 experiences these same issues.
 
Check out the links I have provided here. There are many more subtle issues affecting these soundbars that you may only notice once someone else has pointed them out.

Thanks, I'll read them.

Having owned since August 2021 (I pre-ordered in July 2021 at pre-launch price point and received a month later), I was one of the first in the U.S. to get the Cinema 1200. Luckily I pre-ordered from preferred partner Audio Advice. They and Crutchfield were the only retailers for MONTHS to have any stock.

There's a another forum I won't mention but you can probably guess, where there's a running Cinema 1200 thread going since August 2020 -- a full year before release.

Discussing, anticipating, deciding... Then when actually released, more discussion and pictures. What kind of speaker stands are best, etc. As well as any problems, of course.

Bottom line is, I love the sound. I love the power. I keep my 12" sub on +2. I plan on keeping my Klipsch Cinema 1200.

But the intermittent issue with the no audio (especially the muting/un-muting bug) is irritating.

I also should not have to use USB drive for a 45-minute session to update the firmware. But luckily while procrastinating doing that is when eager beavers started reporting the new firmware breaks the remote control functionality for rear Atmos speakers adjustment.

The only reason I upgraded from my previous Sony 1000 watt 5.1 sound system (with wireless rear speakers) to this Klipsch 1200 watt 5.1.4 soundbar system (with all wireless speakers) was because of Dolby Atmos. (And this Klipsch was the only soundbar system with more power than my Sony system, not less.) So I'm certainly not going to install firmware which negates the only reason that I bought this.




Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

[Shelly D]

Well, we bought ours from Crutchfield. A few weeks after we finally received it, it started having issues. When turned on, we got a high pitched squealing noise and couldn’t get it to do anything, even turning on and off, unplugging and replugging, resetting didn’t always work. Reached out to Klipsch support. Received a response that they were running a bit behind and would get back to me shortly. 3 weeks later, we finally get a response. I send them everything they are asking for. Get another response that there is an update. Do the update, which, if I’m being honest was an absolutely stupid process. “You may see messages flash on your bar, or… not. It might take 2 minutes to complete this process, or… it might take 10 or 20 minutes.” Did the update, seemed to work except, of course, the update partial broke the remote, so..  good job, guys! Anywho… turned the tv on today and guess what??? Had no sound again, except for that awesome squealing noise. Reset, unplugged, chanted, called the corners, prayed to the entertainment gods and sorta have sound but now I have no dialogue?!?!? I’ve sent an email back to support to have them either replace it or refund me so I can go get something else. 
so disappointed

[KevinB]

18 hours ago, Shelly D said:

so disappointed

 

Yes, trying to get the firmware to update successfully can be extremely frustrating.

 

I had to try a dozen times before it worked. Klipsch Product Support would only say, "Keep trying. Eventually it will work," I thought they were crazy.

You have to complete step one successfully before proceeding to step two. When you start the update the display should show "UPDATING" then a few seconds later it should change to "UP DSP". If it doesn't, the update is not installing and you need to suspect the thumb drive.

When you see "UP DSP", the firmware is installing. You have to give it time to complete. Forget about the five minutes the instructions mention. If it hasn't updated successfully after thirty minutes, repeat the process and wait an hour before shutting off the soundbar then removing power, etc.

 

After you completed the update, did you verify the installed version(s)? After completing step one, DSP should show 4.9 and not 4.4.

[KevinB]

On 1/14/2022 at 3:29 PM, ChazzMatt said:

I also should not have to use USB drive for a 45-minute session to update the firmware.

 

Do you know if anyone has tried the firmware update using a web browser? I'm not sure if this capability existed before the latest firmware update. Maybe you can confirm?

• The settings in the Klipsch app can show you the IP address assigned to your Cinema 800/1200.
• If you open a browser from your computer or tablet and go to: http://<your-soundbar-IP-address> you will get a webpage showing information about your soundbar and you can also initiate a firmware update using your Internet connection rather than using a USB thumb drive.

 

I haven't tried this myself. When I check for new firmware it says I already have the latest version.

[ChazzMatt]

 
Do you know if anyone has tried the firmware update using a web browser? I'm not sure if this capability existed before the latest firmware update. Maybe you can confirm?

• The settings in the Klipsch app can show you the IP address assigned to your Cinema 800/1200.
• If you open a browser from your computer or tablet and go to: http:// you will get a webpage showing information about your soundbar and you can also initiate a firmware update using your Internet connection rather than using a USB thumb drive.

 
I haven't tried this myself. When I check for new firmware it says I already have the latest version.

No IP address shows up in my app. I have the current app version but it's dependent on firmware installed on the soundbar. I'm not updating my firmware to a newer version that borks remote control functions, as the newest Cinema 1200 firmware does.

So, currently the only way to update firmware from "factory" on Cinema 1200 is to use a USB drive. And then that firmware (as of 01/20/2022) breaks remote control functionality for Dolby Atmos speakers. So there's no reason to "update" to that.

[KevinB]

On 1/19/2022 at 12:47 PM, KevinB said:

 

Do you know if anyone has tried the firmware update using a web browser? I'm not sure if this capability existed before the latest firmware update.

 

Cinema 800 web interface after installing firmware update to DSP 4.9

I've been playing with this and completed a couple of firmware updates. These are the details.

The first step is to get the IP address assigned to your soundbar:

1. Open the Klipsch Connect app. I'm using the iOS version 1.9.2 (100).
2. Go to: Settings.
3. Go to: PRODUCT INFORMATION.
4. At the very bottom you will see your IP address (assuming you have already setup your network).

Open your web browser and go to: http://<your IP address from step 4 above>

You will be presented with the Main Page:

I have chosen not to display the network info. Even though I'm using a private IP address, all settings can be accessed and changed without any authentication.

This is the Device Settings page:

Device Name will be used to identify your soundbar when you do a Bluetooth pairing.
Check for Update tells me my firmware is up to date - nothing else.
File lets me select the firmware file. After selecting it, it appears to install the update but I don't think it actually does.
Reboot device to the Update Mode displays this:

This is what appears after the page refreshes. I will begin with part 1 of the update:

Choose File lets me select the firmware file I want.
Reboot Device starts the update.
Part 1 of the update completed very quickly: about 2 minutes.

This is the result:

Note:

• SUB RX version:
• SUB TX version: 00
• SURR RX version: 00
• SURR TX version: 00

Part 2 of the update:
After I clicked on Reboot Device the update took 3-4 minutes to complete. The green area is a progress bar. As it expanded to the right additional lines of information appeared in the main part of the page.

When the webpage refreshed this is what it displayed.

While this appears to be the Main Page, it is not. There are no Network settings shown. When I went to the Main Page, all my network settings were as they should be.

It's unfortunate that all of this is yet to be documented. I can confirm that the firmware was successfully installed. This approach is much faster, easier, and more reliable than the manual install using a USB thumb drive.

Note: The web interface never did show a value for SUB RX version:, nether before nor after the firmware update. When I checked the versions on the soundbar they matched those shown in the Cinema 800 firmware update article and are different from what you should see on the Cinema 1200.
Cinema 800 - Firmware Update
MCU 92 > WIFI 1.0.146.0 > DSP 4.9 > SUR T 04 > SUR R 11 > SUB T 03 > SUB R 02 > HDMI 43
Cinema 1200 - Firmware Update
MCU v92 > WIFI 1.0.146.0 > DSP 4.9 > SUR T 80 > SUR R 80 > SUR L 80 > SUB T 03 > SUB R 06 > HDMI 43

[Coppermuan]

Thanks for the update advice to use the web interface. I am stunned why tech support doesn't offer this route instead of USB--much simpler.

 

I tried the above method, and whilst straight forward, I got errors trying to update to either DSP 4.4 or DSP 4.9.m Both abort with the below errors. The errors are the same for 4.4. and 4.9, only the ISPBOOT.BIN filesize changes in the below output:

[network_initializer] : Main thread sleep again !

Image invalid or corrupted. Not installing ...

ERROR core/cpio_utils.c : extract_cpio_header : 518 : CPIO Header corrupted, cannot be parsed

ERROR core/cpio_utils.c : get_cpiohdr : 48 : CPIO Format not recognized: magic not found

[scan_ubi_volumes] : mtd6: Volume found : nsdk-rootfs

[scan_ubi_volumes] : mtd6: Volume found : nsdk-settings

Software Update started !

File information: ISPBOOOT.BIN size: 12437504 bytes

 

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by Coppermuan

[KevinB]

10 hours ago, Coppermuan said:

I tried the above method, and whilst straight forward, I got errors trying to update to either DSP 4.4 or DSP 4.9.m Both abort with the below errors. The errors are the same for 4.4. and 4.9

• The first thing to remember is that this feature is completely undocumented, perhaps because it is not ready for prime time.
• I didn't discover it until after I had completed a manual update to version 4.9. If it was available with the 4.4 firmware, I was unaware and certainly didn't test it.

 

On 1/29/2022 at 1:49 PM, KevinB said:

Device Name will be used to identify your soundbar when you do a Bluetooth pairing.
Check for Update tells me my firmware is up to date - nothing else.
File lets me select the firmware file. After selecting it, it appears to install the update but I don't think it actually does.

 

Is that how you initiated the update?

 

This is what worked for me:

On 1/29/2022 at 1:49 PM, KevinB said:

Reboot device to the Update Mode displays this:

This is what appears after the page refreshes. I will begin with part 1 of the update:

Choose File lets me select the firmware file I want.
Reboot Device starts the update.

 

I do not see the filename in the image you posted which leads me to believe you used the first approach. Can you confirm?

[Coppermuan]

Yes, I did the same thing you did. I was successful with other updates--just not the DSP one which is what I am stuck on.

Per my original post, I have two Cinema 1200s, both that display DSP version 0.0 and both un-updateable no matter what I have tried. I had hope with the web interface--but no luck. At least I have an error message indicating that there is something wrong with the update file itself OR the hardware that interprets the firmware.

[KevinB]

15 hours ago, Coppermuan said:

Yes, I did the same thing you did. I was successful with other updates--just not the DSP one which is what I am stuck on.

 

I just tried again on my soundbar and I got the same result you posted showing all the errors. 😓

 

The next screen showed:

 

This is what I got after I successfully completed part 1 the first time. It looks as if the failed attempt reset the SUB/SURR version. I tried to install ISPBOOT.BIN again but it wouldn't install. 😢

 

Out of desperation, I rebooted the soundbar and it showed all the version numbers I had before I attempted the update. It appears Klipsch has a few safeguards in place. ☺️

 

The first time I successfully completed part 1 of the firmware update from the USB thumb drive, the soundbar displayed showed DSP 4.9. After I completed part 2, it showed DSP 0.0. Klipsch Product Support had no suggestions so I reinstalled part 2 because it was already on the thumb drive. When I checked the display I saw DSP 4.9. ☺️

 

I have a couple of other suggestions for you based on my own experiences. At this point you have nothing to lose other than your time.

 

Try part 2 again from the web interface. Be patient. I noticed the display on the soundbar changing for a few minutes after I thought the updated had completed. Wait five minutes after you think the update has completed then turn off the soundbar, remove the power, wait a minute, reconnect the power, then check the settings.

 

If the soundbar display still doesn't show DSP 4.9, repeat part 2 of the update using the thumb drive. I waited an hour before restarting my soundbar to make sure the update had completed. 

 

Please let us know if you were successful.

 

P.S. I attempted the manual update about ten times before it installed successfully.

[KevinB]

As of today, there is a new firmware for the Cinema 800 & Cinema 1200 soundbars.

1. Upgrade Step 1 - DSP
2. Upgrade Step 2 - MCU
3. Upgrade Step 3 - WIFI

Cinema 1200 Notes:

Cinema 800 Notes:

This is definitely good news and as much as I am tempted to upgrade I'll wait a couple of weeks to see if the update gets pulled. There have been far too many issues with new firmware versions to assume there will be no issues with this one.

[ChazzMatt]

On 1/14/2022 at 10:01 AM, ChazzMatt said:

Current firmware update causes the hardware remote control to not work correctly. You can no longer control the rear height speakers with the remote control if you manually update your firmware. Confirmed by many owners in another forum.

OTA updates don't work -- I've never received one -- so luckily I'm still on factory firmware from August 2021 (The one with no smartphone app EQ.) Everyone who has updated to newer firmware has done so via USB drive. I'm not manually updating with USB drive until it's all hashed out.

The problems on the old firmware pale in comparison to the hardware remote control losing functionality.

My Klipsch Cinema 1200 sounds fantastic. I love it. The only issues I have are:

1) occasionally when turning on the TV there will be no audio and I have to physically turn off electrical power, then turn back on. "Occasionally" means once or twice a month.

2) when muting for long periods of time -- because I need to take a phone call or do something else that requires my full attention -- when I then UNmute the soundbar there's no audio. The only fix is to physically turn off electricity to the sound bar, then restore.

"Long periods of time" is an arbitrary number. 5 minutes? Don't know. Basically, the longer muted the greater chance there's no audio when un-muting. Something is obviously "timing out" and losing connection. The volume LEDs still go up and down, but there's no audio.

For brief instances, I can mute and unmute without issue. This is a function that I use frequently. So it's very annoying, when I then have to get up from the couch and pull out the media console from the wall to find the soundbar power cord.

==

Nothing else, except a hard electrical power reset, will fix these two issues. Because I've tried everything else.

Other people have complained about this too. So it's not that I alone have a faulty unit. Replacing the unit won't fix the issue. For the muting) un-muting in particular, it's obviously poor software coding.

This shows me that in spite of the 18-month delay in releasing the soundbar and a name change ("Bar 54" at CES 2020 to Cinema 1200 August 2021), Klipsch seemingly did not extensively test it before releasing.

I haven't heard that these "no audio" issues have been fixed with newer firmware. What I have heard is that the newer firmware breaks important remote control functionality.

I have reported to Klipsch Support specifically the muting/un-muting problem.
 

 

 

All right. Here's a mystery. My soundbar seems to have updated its firmware itself.  Besides taking the app update -- which I have always done -- the only difference was on a whim last night change the Klipsch from one home Wi-Fi access point to another.  I actually changed it from a very strong signal Wi-Fi extender access point (in the same room) to moderately strong Wi-Fi router access point (in another room). This morning everything was still the same.  But now this afternoon I find my firmware has updated and the soundbar was factory reset and "locked" until I power cycled.  It was NOT that way this morning!

 

========

 

I come home today and my soundbar is on and at volume "35" with the LED display constantly on....  The TV was not on.  Who turned on my soundbar?  And changed the LED readout to constant?  My wife wouldn't do either of that.  (TV and soundbar both turn on/off with cable box remote.  To turn on the soundbar by itself or mess with the LED readout mode you need the Klipsch remote, which she never touches.)

 

I couldn't turn off the soundbar with the remote nor adjust the volume, even when I turned the TV on to send some audio to the soundbar.  Volume was stuck on 35, with the LED constantly showing (which is not my normal mode).

 

So, I power cycled it via the power strip and then the remote worked and I found EVERYTHING had been reset. All my settings: Sub volume, all the front and rear surrounds, etc.

 

So I opened the Klipsch app, and sure enough now everything in there is  active. Except I can't find the equalizer?

 

App says this is the firmware version:1.0.151.  Now I need to see if that's the latest.  I admit I've not kept track since it never would auto-update.

 

I readjusted all my preferences.  +6 for the front,  rear speakers and height speakers, +2 Dialog, + 2 Sub, Standard mode.

 

One funny thing is the app says it can't find the sub. But the sub is connected and is thumping. And the app KNOWS the Sub is now back on +2-- even though it says it's "not detected". Whatever.

 

After taking the screenshots below, I remembered to turn the LED back to "OFF". Now it only displays for a few seconds when I press a button on the remote, the way I like.

 

Now where is this equalizer?  [emoji848]  It's not in "Channel Levels" nor anywhere else I can find.

 

===========

 

==========

Sub "not detected" but yet it knows the volume level of the sub?  

OK...   Don't care, I use the remote anyway for everything.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by ChazzMatt

[ChazzMatt]

March 11, 2022:

 

After yesterday's obviously botched OTA firmware auto update, suddenly my soundbar has gone crazy now. The audio keeps cutting in and out.

 

Even after power cycling several times.

 

I have factory reset through the app.

 

Subwoofer still showing "not connected", even though it is obviously working.

 

But now the soundbar volume keeps disappearing. Going silent as if I've muted. If I hit the remote volume button it comes back for a minute and then goes away again. Also my various surround/height speakers volume keeps being set back to zero or to two.

 

So right now I am removing the Wi-Fi connection and leaving it disconnected. I do not want the app interacting or interfering with the soundbar whatsoever.

Edited March 12, 2022 by ChazzMatt

[ChazzMatt]

March 12, 2022:

 

Checked version numbers my DSP was 4.4. MCU was fine. Wi-Fi version fine, but all the other speakers were lower versions.

 

What I should have:

MCU v99 > WIFI 1.0.151.0 > DSP 4.9 > SUR T 82 > SUR R 82 > SUR L 82 > SUB T 03 > SUB R 06 > HDMI 43

 

Updating everything now via flash drive, and am on the last of three files (WiFi). I have my clock timer set for 20 minutes for this one. Because it looks like it's finished, but I know better -- due to everyone's experience.  Klipsch even says to wait 10 - 20 minutes on this last one.

 

Klipsch:

• Make sure drive is 8GB or less and formatted to FAT32
• Preferably, use a USB 2.0 drive

 

I'm actually using an old 1GB flash drive I had in a drawer. Freshly formatted to FAT32. The largest of the 3 update files is 150MB -- and you can only have one file on the flash drive at a time, going step by step through the three update stages (DSP, MCU, WIFI).   So an "8GB" flash drive is overkill, but probably about the smallest you can buy easily nowadays? (Klipsch says 8GB or smaller, preferably USB 2.0.). Mine fits the requirements.

 

===

Follow-up #1:

 

Everything has updated except for the surround speakers. They are still on version 80 instead of current version 82.  All the other categories are correct.

 

I'm running the last "WiFi" stage again, and this time I have moved my rear speakers within 5 ft of the soundbar. Normally they're about 20 - 25 ft. away,  (11 ft behind my couch).

 

I now see a progress count on the various speakers, whereas before I didn't.

 

======

Follow-up #2:

 

Went and ran some errands. Came back after a couple hours.  Everything is updated.  Moved the rear surrounds back to where they belong, along the back wall.

 

Equalizer is now visible in the Klipsch Connect app, which I re-installed.  Set it for "Vocal" mode.  <I'm keeping on Dialog +2, but with Equalizer in Vocal mode hopefully this will bridge the gap between the excellent but sometimes low Dialog +2 and the louder but sometimes "robotic sounding" Dialog +3.   

 

• Re-set all my front, rear, surrounds to + 6 (due to the distance from my TV in front and back).
• Sub is on +2
• Dialog is on +2
• Standard mode.

 

App still says Sub is not connected, while also correctly showing it's on +2.  As I will never adjust the subs nor the other speakers from the app, I don't care.

 

Let's hope all the gremlins are gone now.

Edited March 12, 2022 by ChazzMatt

[ChazzMatt]

Let's hope all the gremlins are gone now.

No such luck. Got home Monday night. Turned on cable box+ TV+ soundbar. On screen notice said "Klipsch is now available" or whatever the wording is.

But it wasn't. No audio. No response from hardware remote. Turned everything off with TV remote, turned back on. "Klipsch is now available".

Still no audio, no response from Klipsch hardware remote. Clicked on/off several times on the remote. Volume up and down. Hit the input buttons. NOTHING.

Power cycled. BINGO.

Audio back. Hardware remote works, etc.

Opening the software app remote I then saw different volume settings than I really had. I adjusted them to match reality. To reiterate, the surround speakers were ALREADY on + 6 from the hardware remote, but the virtual remote showed something different.

It also keeps saying my sub is not connected.

The virtual remote has no clue.

In days since, I've had to power cycle a couple more times because of no audio.

===

On a positive note, on the virtual remote, I do like having equalizer "Voice" mode enabled. It seems to complement the "Dialog" settings. But other than that I really have no use for the app remote.


Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

[Allen_Crabtree]

I’m have had the exact same experience but I cannot manually update seeing as how the firmware update page has been removed from their site.  My DSP is stuck on 4.4 and my surrounds are at 80 like your experience up to the point you manually updated.  I contacted Support yesterday and they sent me the link to update the DSP.  I have attempted this five times to no avail.  It simply will NOT update to DSP 4.9.  Do you happen to have the links to the files you used?  I would like to try following your upgrade process. 

[Allen_Crabtree]

UPDATE:  I managed to get the DSP upgraded to 4.9!  Like you, my surrounds are stuck at 80 as opposed to 82.  I had no idea that the distance from the sound bar would affect this process.  Does anyone have the link to the WI-FI update files?  According to you, this last process was what updated your surrounds.  

[KevinB]

22 hours ago, Allen_Crabtree said:

UPDATE:  I managed to get the DSP upgraded to 4.9!  Like you, my surrounds are stuck at 80 as opposed to 82.  I had no idea that the distance from the sound bar would affect this process.  Does anyone have the link to the WI-FI update files?  According to you, this last process was what updated your surrounds.  

There are a number of issues with the latest firmware update, the most noticeable being audio dropouts. Since Klipsch has pulled that update there may be other more serious issues.

 

Since Klipsch has said nothing about why the update was pulled, if product support is unwilling to provide you with the firmware you are probably better off not installing it.

[TV-Technics]

When is Klipsch going to fix these software issues??? I am a Klipsch reseller and one of my clients has power on/off issues and all previous mentioned issues with speaker levels automatically changing by themselves etc... I can't sell half working speakers to my clients! This need to be fixed asap!!!