user32i4723847289 Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Recently, I bought an SW-12 II without knowing if it was working or not. I pretty much expected it to be non-working since I got it for a very nice price of $75 US. It is also in very good condition cosmetically. Sure enough, when I hooked it up, it was not working. I power it up, the green LED on the front comes on, and if I put my ear close to the active woofer, I can hear a slight buzzing noise (like it's receiving power). If I leave it on for 30 minutes or so, the heatsink begins to give off heat as well. However, when I play music, nothing happens. There is no movement of the woofer, and the sound does not change at all no matter what the volume settings. I am curious if anyone can give me any sort of diagnosis as to what is wrong (amp / inputs / woofer / etc), or if I need more information before that can be determined. Am I better off just bringing it to a certified Klipsch dealer and asking them to repair it, or would they most likely not do that? Would Klipsch repair it if I called them up? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 I assume you've got it hooked to your receiver/processor sub out and the sub turned on in the receiver's bass management? Using sub cable or speaker wire for input to sub? Try both. Klipsch can repair the sub's amp, at least they should be able to. You shouldn't need over about 4 or 5 position on the sub gain knob to hear a good amount of output. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweek Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rckpls Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 ---------------- On 5/8/2004 1:04:59 AM Vexeus wrote: Recently, I bought an SW-12 II without knowing if it was working or not. Am I better off just bringing it to a certified Klipsch dealer and asking them to repair it, or would they most likely not do that? Would Klipsch repair it if I called them up? Thanks. ---------------- The SW-12 II is a very nice subwoofer. The specs may not match the newer models, but the KSW-12 and RW-12 suck when compared to this classic. I suggest you go here and download a copy of the owner's manual. http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?Cid=192 Be sure everything is hooked up properly. If it doesn't work, call Klipsch to get an RA number and send it to them. They charge a flat rate of $240 to repair the SW-12 II (last time I checked). I've just recently learned it's worth paying their price, after sending one to a local repair center that said they would fix it "in a few days" for $150. Well, they've jerked me around for over a month with no progress. They told me it was repaired last week, so I drove about 15 miles to their shop, paid the $150 and waited for them to bring it out. Someone came outbout 20 minutes later and said, "We thought we had your woofer fixed, but it started shutting down after it played for a while".......That's exactly the reason I took it in for repair in the first place!!! Anyway....if it's broke, let Klipsch fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 Have you opened up the box to make sure the leads are hooked up inside? Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user32i4723847289 Posted May 9, 2004 Author Share Posted May 9, 2004 Everything appeared to be hooked up correctly when I opened her up. All wires were connected etc etc. The amp didn't appear to have anything wrong with it, but that was just a quick glance over, and I'm no electronics guru. I tried the RCA inputs through the subwoofer out on my computer soundcard, and I also hauled it up to a friends to have him try it with his receiver. Neither seemed to get any output, just the normal fuzz noise it has when you put your ear up to it. I think I'll be taking it to a local electronics store or calling Klipsch up cause it seems to be an amp problem. Thanks for the input though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoonman21 Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Wiring Help I have a SW 12 II powered sub and bought a replacement sub but I forgot which wire is pos and neg white or black? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rckpls Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 White. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfalls Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Does it really matter which wire is positive since you're able to switch phase 180 degrees? Since you say it sounds like there's power to the woofer (best way to tell if the woofer is good is to touch its posts to a AA battery and see if you hear a "pop") it sounds like the problem is with the power-supply or a driver in the audio circuit. Drivers are used to amplify voltage or current to suitable levels for the output transistor. It's probably not an output or there wouldn't be sound at the woofer at all. Also since the heat sink gets warm the open/shorted driver may cause the ouput driver to max, without passing the audio signal. In essence the outputs are on with nothing to amplify. Look at the capacitors in the power-supply, I found a bad cap in the power-supply of a Promedia 2.1 sub. The only indication was the top was "bulged" a little. I replaced the cap and it started working again. The easy fix would be to replace the amp. I've found many on ebay over the years. I once replaced the amp in my SW8 with one from an SW10. Of course with its extra wattage I had to be careful how much I turned it up, but it fit and worked great. Hope this helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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