LeChuck Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Hello, I bought a refurbished ifi system that I received last Friday and I am now having a problem with one of the satellites. I emailed tech support but since I am impatient and totally bummed about this, I thought I'd post here to see if anybody would have an idea on how to fix this if it's possible. Anyway, the system was still working beautifully last night connected to my iMac G5. I went to bed with the computer turned off but the ifi on. In the middle of the night I got awakened by repeated banging-like sounds and after I managed to wake up a bit (and after my wife called the police over someone supposedly trying to break into the house) I figured out it came from the speakers in the office. Satellites or sub I am not sure but I turned the system off and went back to bed. This morning I turn everything back on and it turns out the woofer in one of the satellites is not working anymore. The tweeter seems all right. I swapped the left and right speaker cable to make sure it was the speaker and it was. Problem still on the same side. Connected a headset to my computer as well to make sure things were ok with its output and that was fine. What could have caused this problem? Power surge? I did not see a spot for a fuse on the sub itself. Are there any fuses or amps inside the satellites? I noticed they can be opened but I didn't get a chance to look at it before going to work. I just hope that the woofer isn't hosed and I don't have to send it back. And just before the long holiday weekend, what a bummer. They were singing along beautifully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 the amp is only inside the subwoofer. you probably heard the subwoofer, but i could not for the life of me tell you how that happened. You have a 90 day warranty so Im sure klipsch will take care of you one way or the other, dont worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 Yeah, the sounds were too loud to come from the satellites, but still, I can't understand what happened to the satellite's woofer, and the sub and amp seem to be working well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy W Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 OK, I want to make sure we get the right diagnosis here, and a sat would be an easy thing to swap out for you. You did the right thing by swapping the speaker wires, but since you heard strange noises I want to make sure it's not another problem. 1. There is an internal fuse in the subwoofer, but no fuses or amps in the sats. If the amber/green LED on the front of the dock is on then the fuse is not blown. 2. Turn off the main power switch (back of sub), unplug the AC cord, and then unplug the DIN cable (the one that connects the dock to the sub). Check all the pins and make sure they are straight, then carefully reinsert the DIN plug, plug it in, and turn it on main power switch. 3. Disconnect the signal cable from the back of the sub. Remove the grills from the sat speakers, then turn on the system (push mute/standby button on dock) and listen for a slight hiss from each satellite. If you can hear this (you may have to put your ear up to the satellite) then the amplifier is getting the correct signal to turn on. 4. Now turn off the AC switch, wait 20 seconds and turn it back on. This time when turning on the AC switch and standby button watch the woofers in the sats. You may see a slight movement (this is OK), but the woofer should not get sucked in or forced out and stay there, and it should not have an undue amount of noise (hiss or hum). 5. Now hook up the signal cable to the sub (or insert an iPod) and play some music. Something simple with a bass line and vocal will make it easier to hear a problem. What do you hear? If it helps listen to the sats one at a time (bass and vocals are usually mixed mono, although the reverb effects are usually stereo). Turn up the volume if you need to, but listening too loud can mask bad noises. 5a. If you get bad sound from one speaker, swap the cables at the amplifier end and listen again. If the bad sound moved to the other speaker, then you either have a amplifier or speaker wire problem. Check the speaker wire connections, make sure all the connections are solid, and there are no shorts (crossed wires). Even a single stand of wire barely touching the other wire/connector can cause a short. 5b. If the bad sound came out of the same speaker both times then you probably have a bad speaker (or you inadvertantly created the same bad wiring connection both times). To confirm this diconnect the "bad" speaker and listen to the good speaker only. Then replace the good speaker with the "bad" speaker on the same amplifier channel and listen. Then do the same test with the speaker on the other amplifier channel. A bad speaker will sound bad on both amplifier channels, and a good speaker will sound good. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 Thanks for this checklist! I am pretty sure that I can zoom to #5b but I will still check every item tonight when I get home. I have the experience of what it does to short the speaker wires on an amp as it happened to me on a Rotel THX amp several years ago while letting a banana plug touch the wrong connector. A big flash, noise, and a fuse to replace for one of the amps. This time it just looks like the satellite's woofer is dead (and no connection was touched, and the speakers were not moved between evening and morning). I was kinda hoping it might be just a small blown out part or fuse and I wouldn't have to deal with sending something back... More tonight... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 Well, I have dilligently followed all the steps and tested everything and...the satellite's woofer is definitely out of commission and remains immobile not matter what... And the other satellite works well on either channel, with both cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 I had an RSX-5 woofer break, I still have to buy a new one. I still don't know how it happened tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy W Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 I was kinda hoping it might be just a small blown out part or fuse and I wouldn't have to deal with sending something back... More tonight... OK, please call customer service and they will let you know what to do. I doubt they will want the whole thing sent back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted November 28, 2005 Author Share Posted November 28, 2005 Andrew, is that the Home Audio customer service (which I had emailed) or the Promedia customer service? It's not a Promedia kit so it sounds like a sill question right now... Edit: ooops, strike that. My order confirmation email had come from Promedia and the service number is in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted December 1, 2005 Author Share Posted December 1, 2005 Well, while I haven't been able to find the time to call within the hours of service yet, I want to mention the fact that emails to customer service or tech support remain totally unanswered. That's really disappointing. EDIT: well, as my impatience prompted me to post the previous message, I have to update it and say that support has just come through in a very efficient way. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Amy Posted December 2, 2005 Moderators Share Posted December 2, 2005 Phew, good to hear! You can always email me also, if you're having trouble with getting a response. And on a side note (not to make excuses)....we have a very strict spam blocking software here that can cause problems from time to time with incoming customer emails. We try to check what's been blocked daily, but we may miss one here or there. There's too much spam going around these days, that's for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted December 8, 2005 Author Share Posted December 8, 2005 Well, I received the replacement speaker today. That was fast. As I expected, I enjoyed some 15-20 minutes of beautiful sound and then, loud plops in the subwoofer, big buzzing sound coming from the speakers, and after turning it off and back on, the system is dead. The light on the control pod is green but no sound comes out of the speakers. I disconnected both speakers and tried them both on the Promedia 2.1 kit that I have. One is working well, and the second one, on the same side as the one that previously failed, is messed up. This time the woofer is not totally dead like last time but it's failing, with totally low and distorted sound. I don't know what to do at this point but I think replacing the satellite again is not the solution since the problem comes from elsewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted December 8, 2005 Share Posted December 8, 2005 sounds like amp problems... sorry to say Did you save the box? that makes life simple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted December 8, 2005 Author Share Posted December 8, 2005 The box is somewhere but I don't know in what kind of shape. I am wary of the shipping cost for something like this though. We'll see what customer service says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 they should give you a shipping label so you don't have to pay though it might take a couple days to recieve it. so in essencce extending the agony. sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted December 11, 2005 Author Share Posted December 11, 2005 They did provide a shipping label and now it's all in the hands of fedex. I'm a bit worried though. I've done some research and found this in these forums: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/112541/ShowPost.aspx As well as a similar issue on the apple forums. I'm kinda worried that it would be more of a problem between the iMac and the speakers than from the iFi kit by itself, and that it will happen again. Could this be the case? The thing is, the first time it happened, the computer was turned off. Also, I have used a Promedia 2.1 kit on the same machine for a few weeks with no problem (could there be a difference between these 2 kits in how protected they are?) as well as a headset (although...there's no amp in the headset so it's a different case). Anybody with that kind of experience on an iMac G5 (the post I referenced above is from 2002 so it's not the same machine). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 Imac G5 were heat objects..... Always overheated and the power supply was fault till model two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted December 20, 2005 Author Share Posted December 20, 2005 It's funny, I was sure I had answered this but the answer isn't here. I was saying that my G5 iMac is of the very latest batch, right before the brand new ones with the isight integrated. It's a revB model with no power supply or heating problems. Klipsch has received my iFi kit last week so I'll be waiting for a replacement to return. But frankly I am very wary of connecting it again if I cannot rule out the computer's fault, even though it seems like a stretch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 I dunno I doubt a soundcard has enough power to damage it, let alone the fact that the imac has a weak output anyways..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted December 20, 2005 Author Share Posted December 20, 2005 I was thinking more of an electrical issue, something shorting out, but that's the limit of my knowledge of such things. Maybe the amp was just defective. The headset I'm using is working fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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