klipsch cinema 1200 what problems, software flaws, glitches?

[KevinB]

On 3/21/2022 at 1:59 AM, TV-Technics said:

When is Klipsch going to fix these software issues???

I assume that's a rhetorical question?

 

Klipsch says very little about issues that have been reported and as customers we we are extremely frustrated with the poor quality of the firmware updates and the reliability of the hardware. If Klipsch watches these and other forums they should know this. Our only recourse is to abandon our Klipsch soundbars for a competitor's product. If you read through the BAR series and the other Cinema series threads you will see that many have done just that.

 

Many of the Big Box resellers continue to promote Klipsch soundbars and will exchange them if customers insist. Other resellers whose focus is not on volume sales find themselves in a more difficult situation.

 

All of us have to do what we can to impress upon Klipsch how dissatisfied we are with the current situation. As a reseller, you may be able to contact other resellers in your area and together approach your distributors' Klipsch rep to discuss options open to you.

[yoopdog]

Hello to everyone.  I have been reading this thread with a lot of interest.  Thought I'd share my experience. I purchased a Cinema 1200 in the fall of 2021 and have been experiencing many if not all of the issues cited here.  Buggy app, mismatches between setting in app and settings on sound bar.  My main problem though is the soundbar will intermittently freeze up when I turn the equipment on. No buttons on remote or soundbar will fix it. All I have is a cable box connected to a Samsung TV via HDMI.  HDMI eARC from TV to HDMI eARC on soundbar.  When the glitch happens, the soundbar will only produce a low volume, high frequency, static-like sound which comes and goes.  Only solution is to unplug/replug AC power.  Sometimes I will have to repeat this 2 or 3 times to get the soundbar to work.  The process is:  unplug the sound bar for 10 seconds, the TV audio will come on through the TV speakers.  Plug soundbar back in.  TV audio speakers cut out.  Soundbar audio comes on briefly, then cuts out again while wifi connects.  Once "wifi connected" message is done, the audio may or may not come back.  If it comes back, then I'm good to go.  If it doesn't, I repeat the process.  

 

A related bug is occasionally when I turn on the TV, the soundbar will switch to its digital input so there is no sound.  In that case, I switch it back to "TV" with the remote and then sound.  Go figure.

 

Very frustrating.  I've been working with Klipsch support and have an open ticket (opened Jan 30th).  I was getting good support to try different fixes up until three weeks ago.  Now nothing for 3 weeks, crickets.  No response, no update.  Last message was they were going to have to refer the problem to their tech team since it was "a bit of an odd one".

 

Oh yeah, I went through the firmware update process.  What a fiasco.  Two USB drives and 3 hours later I had the bar updated to:

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

 

Problem is still there.  My current work around is to get an extension cord so I can plug the sound bar into an outlet near my sofa so I can cycle the AC power quickly and easily (maybe I should hook it up to the Clapper! lol)

 

What I've tried so far:

• new HDMI cable
• changed plug from outlet strip to wall outlet
• factory reset
• changed wifi from 2.4Ghz to 5Ghz
• firmware update
• all combinations of eARC, HDMI, Dolby Atmos, digital output formats on Samsung TV
• all possible digital output formats on Comcast cable box

If I don't hear from Klipsch support soon, I'm going to contact Crutchfield about a refund/return.  I'll post what happens.

 

[Goz]

5 hours ago, yoopdog said:

Hello to everyone.  I have been reading this thread with a lot of interest.  Thought I'd share my experience. I purchased a Cinema 1200 in the fall of 2021 and have been experiencing many if not all of the issues cited here.  Buggy app, mismatches between setting in app and settings on sound bar.  My main problem though is the soundbar will intermittently freeze up when I turn the equipment on. No buttons on remote or soundbar will fix it. All I have is a cable box connected to a Samsung TV via HDMI.  HDMI eARC from TV to HDMI eARC on soundbar.  When the glitch happens, the soundbar will only produce a low volume, high frequency, static-like sound which comes and goes.  Only solution is to unplug/replug AC power.  Sometimes I will have to repeat this 2 or 3 times to get the soundbar to work.  The process is:  unplug the sound bar for 10 seconds, the TV audio will come on through the TV speakers.  Plug soundbar back in.  TV audio speakers cut out.  Soundbar audio comes on briefly, then cuts out again while wifi connects.  Once "wifi connected" message is done, the audio may or may not come back.  If it comes back, then I'm good to go.  If it doesn't, I repeat the process.  

 

A related bug is occasionally when I turn on the TV, the soundbar will switch to its digital input so there is no sound.  In that case, I switch it back to "TV" with the remote and then sound.  Go figure.

 

Very frustrating.  I've been working with Klipsch support and have an open ticket (opened Jan 30th).  I was getting good support to try different fixes up until three weeks ago.  Now nothing for 3 weeks, crickets.  No response, no update.  Last message was they were going to have to refer the problem to their tech team since it was "a bit of an odd one".

 

Oh yeah, I went through the firmware update process.  What a fiasco.  Two USB drives and 3 hours later I had the bar updated to:

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

 

Problem is still there.  My current work around is to get an extension cord so I can plug the sound bar into an outlet near my sofa so I can cycle the AC power quickly and easily (maybe I should hook it up to the Clapper! lol)

 

What I've tried so far:

• new HDMI cable
• changed plug from outlet strip to wall outlet
• factory reset
• changed wifi from 2.4Ghz to 5Ghz
• firmware update
• all combinations of eARC, HDMI, Dolby Atmos, digital output formats on Samsung TV
• all possible digital output formats on Comcast cable box

If I don't hear from Klipsch support soon, I'm going to contact Crutchfield about a refund/return.  I'll post what happens.

 

 

i have that exact issue and it drives me mad

[OO1]

7 hours ago, yoopdog said:

, I'm going to contact Crutchfield about a refund/return.  I'll post what happens.

 

 the product's electronics are clearly defective  .....DOA

[KevinB]

@yoopdog

I'm sorry you are having so many problems.

 

There are definitely issues with the latest firmware update. They are serious enough that Klipsch has removed them from the website. So many of us have had issues similar to yours after installing new firmware that it's easy to conclude they are all firmware related.

 

7 hours ago, 001 said:

 the product's electronics are clearly defective 

That is indeed a possibility. It wouldn't be the first time either. Klipsch soundbars do have reliability issues. 😢

 

Before you throw in the towel there are a few things you should check.

 

HDMI Cables

There is a difference. That doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune but you should be using a good certified HDMI cable. Other Cinema 1200 owners have experienced a noticeable improvement after upgrading their cables.

 

Factory reset

After having installed the latest firmware as you have done, doing a factory reset then power cycling the soundbar has improved matters for some owners. You can do the factory reset from your smart phone using the Klipsch Connect app. It will remove Bluetooth paring data and network settings but has also been known to improve overall stability.

 

Samsung firmware

I have a Samsung 2019 Q70R TV and had some connectivity issues. A few months ago a firmware update was automatically installed. It resolved an issue with the onboard Netflix app not being able to passthrough a Dolby Atmos stream. Verify that your TV has the latest firmware installed.

 

Cable TV connection

Many owners connect their audio/video sources directly to their TVs. When there were audio dropout issues we assumed they were due to HDMI (e)ARC communication issues. One owner decided to use an optical cable to connect his Cinema 1200 to his TV to circumvent that issue but the dropouts persisted. I have had far fewer issues once I connected my cable TV box and my Apple TV 4K directly to my soundbar. This hookup will also confirm that your TV is not contributing to your audio dropout issues.

 

17 hours ago, yoopdog said:

Only solution is to unplug/replug AC power. 

I wouldn't call that a solution because it doesn't address the underlying cause but is is the only way to regain control of the soundbar when it locks up or completely loses the audio.

 

17 hours ago, yoopdog said:

Very frustrating.  I've been working with Klipsch support and have an open ticket (opened Jan 30th).  I was getting good support to try different fixes up until three weeks ago.  Now nothing for 3 weeks, crickets.  No response, no update.  Last message was they were going to have to refer the problem to their tech team since it was "a bit of an odd one".

That is not unusual. I've had a ticket open with Klipsch Product Support for two years. On multiple occasions I've asked for an update on the issues I've reported but they never comment on any progress or lack thereof. 

 

If my suggestions don't help I would consider getting a replacement. The Klipsch soundbars do have great sound. You'll have to weigh that against the many ongoing issues.

[OO1]

the main issue is Software related problems that affect hardware operations , there are no hardware reliability issues as such but firmware issues ,  the teams that are  supposed to write fixes , are busy , studying the issues and coming up with Solutions via  firmware upgrades  ,   but in the end , the issues should be resolved -

[yoopdog]

Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful response KevinB.  I'll try a few more things.  

 

16 hours ago, KevinB said:

Cable TV connection

Many owners connect their audio/video sources directly to their TVs. When there were audio dropout issues we assumed they were due to HDMI (e)ARC communication issues. One owner decided to use an optical cable to connect his Cinema 1200 to his TV to circumvent that issue but the dropouts persisted. I have had far fewer issues once I connected my cable TV box and my Apple TV 4K directly to my soundbar. This hookup will also confirm that your TV is not contributing to your audio dropout issues.

 

When I first purchased the Cinema 1200 in the fall of 2021, my 5 year old Samsung TV didn't have eARC, only ARC.  So I could not get Dolby Atmos transmitted to the soundbar if I put my cable box and Firestick into the TV.  I had both the cable and Firestick connected to the soundbar HDMI inputs then HDMI from the soundbar to the TV.  Well, the glitch here is every time I turned on the equipment, the soundbar would play from it's own HDMI inputs for a few seconds but then switch to "TV".  Work around was to use Klipsch remote to switch back to "HDMI"...every time.  Klipsch recommended putting the cable box and firestick inputs into the TV, not the soundbar.  A few months later I purchased a new Samsung TV with eARC and now the new batch of issues.  As Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "so it goes".  

 

16 hours ago, KevinB said:

If my suggestions don't help I would consider getting a replacement. The Klipsch soundbars do have great sound. You'll have to weigh that against the many ongoing issues.

I agree.  The Cinema 1200 really does sound good when it's working.  Almost makes the glitches and workarounds (plug/unplug) tolerable.  I suspect Klipsch is working to provide a new firmware update since the previous one is no longer available.  I'll sit tight for a few more weeks to see what happens.  Need to weigh that against the wife yelling, "the sound doesn't work again, come fix it!"

 

Since we're talking glitches, I'll add another one.  I really enjoy being able to switch to bluetooth with the remote and listen to music from my phone, but the last time I did that the subwoofer stopped working.  When I switched the soundbar from bluetooth back to "TV", the subwoofer was still not working despite a solid blue LED on the subwoofer.  <sigh>  unplug/plug got it working again.  

 

The salt in the wound for me is my previous Definitive Technology soundbar with Playfi was full of glitches too. (The wireless subwoofer stopped connecting, it was out of warranty, so I finally scrapped it.)  I purchased the Cinema 1200 to replace it.  Again, biasing sound quality over software.  My mistake evidently.

[KevinB]

15 hours ago, 001 said:

the main issue is Software related problems that affect hardware operations

Yes, that is one of the main issues.

 

15 hours ago, 001 said:

there are no hardware reliability issues as such

I must disagree with you here.

• I had multiple issues with my two BAR 48s that firmware updates were supposed to address but didn't.
• I had a Cinema 600 that dropped dead after a few months.
• If you read through the many threads discussing the BAR series and the Cinema series soundbars you can see how many owners exchanged their soundbars for another one having the same firmware version only to encounter a whole new set of issues.
• If you need more proof, read through the Bar 48 No-Power Repair Thread thread.

There definitely are major reliability issues with many Klipsch soundbars. 😒

 

[KevinB]

7 hours ago, yoopdog said:

When I first purchased the Cinema 1200 in the fall of 2021, my 5 year old Samsung TV didn't have eARC, only ARC.  So I could not get Dolby Atmos transmitted to the soundbar if I put my cable box and Firestick into the TV.

Actually, you don't need eARC to get Dolby Atmos. Many of the Klipsch articles say you must have eARC and that ARC will not work but they are wrong.

 

My Samsung Q70R TV does not have eARC and I regularly listen to Dolby Atmos content from apps on the TV.

 

HDMI ARC cannot provide the same bandwidth as HDMI eARC and cannot accommodate high quality Dolby content. My TV's HDMI ARC connection does provide the bandwidth needed for Dolby Digital Plus which the TV does support and the Dolby Atmos stream which the TV also supports can be superimposed on the Dolby Digital Plus stream so I can get Dolby Atmos albeit at a lower quality than what is available from an HDMI eARC connection. Many if not most TVs cannot convert audio formats but merely pass them through as is from one input to the output. This could prevent inputs having high quality Dolby content from reaching a soundbar via an HDMI ARC connection.

 

By connecting my audio/video sources directly to my soundbar I can obtain the best audio quality available from those sources without being subjected to any limitations imposed by my TV.

[KevinB]

On 3/26/2022 at 5:12 AM, yoopdog said:

So I could not get Dolby Atmos transmitted to the soundbar if I put my cable box and Firestick into the TV.  I had both the cable and Firestick connected to the soundbar HDMI inputs then HDMI from the soundbar to the TV.  Well, the glitch here is every time I turned on the equipment, the soundbar would play from it's own HDMI inputs for a few seconds but then switch to "TV".  Work around was to use Klipsch remote to switch back to "HDMI"...every time. 

I do not have that issue.

 

My Apple TV 4K and my cable box are connected to the soundbar. They both remain powered on all the time although the Apple TV goes to sleep when not in use. Turning the TV on/off does the same to the soundbar. When I turn on the TV, the soundbar shows the last input to which it had a connection which is usually the cable box. If I know I want to watch a streaming service from my Apple TV, I just press the menu button on the Apple TV remote:

• It wakes up the Apple TV.
• Which turns on my TV.
• And powers on my soundbar.
• And automatically switches the soundbar to the HDMI input to which the Apple TV is connected.

I just assumed this is the way it works for everyone... 🙂

[yoopdog]

I did finally hear back from Klipsch support a few days ago.  They acknowledged the glitch that freezes up my Cinema 1200 intermittently upon start up is a known issue and they are working to fix it with a firmware update.  They did not provide a date though.  

[ysfysf]

14 hours ago, yoopdog said:

I did finally hear back from Klipsch support a few days ago.  They acknowledged the glitch that freezes up my Cinema 1200 intermittently upon start up is a known issue and they are working to fix it with a firmware update.  They did not provide a date though.  

everytime i started my tv , automatically soundbar powers on but with no sound.. not with Tv input or Hdmi inputs, even Bluetooth no sound .. So everytime, i have to remove power plug and wait 10 seconds than power it on.. then there is sound again. 

Also there is a weird sounds come from inside of the unit not from speakers itself directly from Mainboard or somethin' else. it is a really major problem i  believe.so i dont believe a software or firmware update will fix this problem...

  as we all know latest firmware update made it worse..

i'll wait for a new Product than i'll ask them to change my defected unit with a brand new one with a newer firmware , newer software and maybe newer hardware.. 

[ChazzMatt]

Got an email from Klipsch asking if

1) I had tried factory resetting my soundbar and
2) did I have ANOTHER TV to connect it to, to see if the problem(s) continue.


I told them yes, I had factory reset the soundbar and there are tons of people with the same problems due to the flaky firmware.

Don't try to blame my LG C1. [emoji848] And don't act like this is the first you've heard of these problems!

Everyone in this thread has different TVs... but the same Klipsch soundbar problems. It's not the TVs.

I love the sound when it works. I don't want to give it up.

I just want to stop having to frequently power cycle the soundbar, then wait for a minute, then have to go through all my settings, OVER and OVER...

"Frequently" being once or twice a day.


====

(Klipsch Product Support)


Thank you for contacting Klipsch Product Support!


Our sincerest apologies for the extremely delayed response. We've been experiencing substantial traffic increases. I would be more than happy to help troubleshoot and resolve your issue with the Cinema 1200.

First, I would like to run through a few basic troubleshooting methods to see where the issue is before moving onto the next step!

Have you tried to restore the sound bar back to factory settings?

Do you have another TV that you can test the sound bar on to see if the same issue persists?

Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

[yoopdog]

Another follow-up.  Klipsch finally did come up with a firmware update that worked.  My soundbar hasn't experienced the no sound issue since the update.  You do have to be careful to not try and adjust the volume with the TV remote (not the Klipsch remote) until it has connected (about 5 seconds or so).  If you do, it may crap out and you have to unplug/plug to get the soundbar working again.  

 

On a related note, thought I would play some music from my phone on the soundbar via bluetooth today.  Push the bluetooth button on the remote...and...the soundbar starts connecting and disconnecting repeatedly.  Tone to indicate connected, tone to indicate disconnected.  Display toggles between BT 30 and VOL 30.  rebooted phone, rebooted soundbar. unplug/plug soundbar.  Did not fix.  phone indicates bar is connecting/disconnecting.  I do believe it is a problem with the soundbar since I can connect to all other bluetooth devices I own.   I have a ticket in to Klipsch support.

 

And I thought summers in MIchigan were buggy!!!!  Geez, you'd think bluetooth connection would be settled tech at this point.

[Maverick3]

Does anyone else have the issue where the sound is very low at higher volume levels? Example: I turn on the bar and 35 is my usual tv watching level, but it sounds like its on 0 from time to time. Unplugging, resetting, turning off (bar and TV) and nothing changes. Then it will randomly revert back. Is there a calibration setting I'm missing somewhere?

[KevinB]

2 hours ago, Maverick3 said:

Does anyone else have the issue where the sound is very low at higher volume levels? Example: I turn on the bar and 35 is my usual tv watching level, but it sounds like its on 0 from time to time. Unplugging, resetting, turning off (bar and TV) and nothing changes. Then it will randomly revert back. Is there a calibration setting I'm missing somewhere?

I've never heard of that kind of behaviour before. If you're connecting via Bluetooth or analog the audio level at the source will affect the output volume level.

 

More likely it is due to an intermittent component failure in the soundbar.

 

Open a service request with Klipsch Product Support. 

 

[sbcoffey42]

I have had my 1200 for almost a year now and I was always impressed with the sound and like everyone else here, I was able to live with the un-plug / plug fix. My wife would occasionally unplug the sound bar because there was some "electrical" noise coming from it. My hearing is not as good as hers and I never heard it. I could go weeks without needing a restart, I could just power up my system and go.

That being said, it is now a brick. A week before Thanksgiving the unit would not turn on. I submitted a ticket, and the next day the unit worked. A few days later, I am back to the same problem. No power. My tv will sense that it is plugged into an HDMI receiver, I can see network activity on the lights for the ethernet connection. I can even still connect with the app and log into the soundbar from a browser. What I do not see is the blue lights blinking or coming on for the sub or surrounds. my firmware is  4.9. The thing is, it has worked then just stopped. I am making a major assumption that it is firmware issues and I know that when it was new the firmware wasn't 4.9. Does anyone else leave their bar plugged in to ethernet? Has anyone else come across something similar?

 

Thanks

[KevinB]

On 11/28/2022 at 10:20 AM, sbcoffey42 said:

That being said, it is now a brick.

Well, that does simplify things...

 

It doesn't really matter how you got to this point. All you can do now is to work with Klipsch to get a warranty replacement.

 

Not all of our soundbar issues are firmware related. These devices all too often experience component failures. Klipsch doesn't try to resolve them. Their solution is to provide a warranty replacement for the whole soundbar.

[sbcoffey42]

23 hours ago, KevinB said:

Well, that does simplify things...

 

It doesn't really matter how you got to this point. All you can do now is to work with Klipsch to get a warranty replacement.

 

Not all of our soundbar issues are firmware related. These devices all too often experience component failures. Klipsch doesn't try to resolve them. Their solution is to provide a warranty replacement for the whole soundbar.

I got the link so I could manually install the new firmware. Should get that done pretty soon.

[KevinB]

24 minutes ago, sbcoffey42 said:

I got the link so I could manually install the new firmware.

I understood you to say your soundbar was completely dead?

 

Let us know how the firmware update goes. I hope you got the link directly from Klipsch.