Jump to content

i-Fi volume control malfunction


ape #3

Recommended Posts

Greetings. It's been several years since I've visited this forumfor various reasons. Primary among those reasons was that I have had no problems with any of my Klipsch speakers, and I have a few. In fact, I have never purchased anything but Klipsch speakers, for home use, in my life.

This held true for my father too, who purchased his first - a 1951 custom klipschorn - from one of the first Klipsch employees.. In 1960 when stereo came around, Paul Klipsch told my father if he would drive the speaker to Hope, AK (from CA), Paul would have an exact match built for him. He did. Paul did. I have that pair still as the lynchpin of my HT (R&L Fronts).

Why do I share this story? As a point of refrence to just how much this once customer focused company has changed. During the week it took to build that 2nd K-horn, Paul insisted my father come over for dinner to get to know a loyal customer. I'd like to believe that if Paul were with us today, things would be different.

I've had my ifi for a few years now. I purchased the system because it was a Klipsch. I later read the rave reviews. I use it in my 5th wheel trailer, during the coule of times a year we go vacationing. I'm not sure when my system started doing the volume malfunction - couple of years ago at least. It wasn't severe at first, and since we only used it a couple times a year, didn't warrant much attention from me. We got back last week from the latest weeklong vacation, it's now virtually unusable. The only symptom I've experienced that I haven't read is that once the system warms up, it works fine. This warm up period is about 20 minutes.

This ifi is my most recent Klipsch purchase. It would be a shame if after all this history, it were my last. Very disappointing is the indifference to valid customer issues, especially considering that this is either a design issue or a bad part lot issue. It's not about the cost of the system but rather an indictment on the company's attitude towards satisfying customers..

Whether I spend another nickel - or continue to advocate to friends, peers and associates all things Klipsch - now largely depends upon how this issue is handled. They can no longer feign ignorance to the problem. I am a little suprised that Amy - who's numerous employee perspective input to this forum in general I have respected for years - did not have anything of substance to offer in the way of commitment to customer satisfaction.

Very frustrating and alarming situation. This was the very last thing I expected to see when I logged on today to see if anyone else had experienced the same problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 168
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Ed,

I am so frustrated with this problem. I bought the docking component, but it didn't fix the problem.

They offered to refund me, but it is such a pain to box up the stuff. I really love the sound

quality of these $500 speakers and would love to get my system working correctly again. I

bet this problem happens to every iFi still in use after a few years.

-Rich

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

hey all, although i have been running the ifi for more than a year fine, recently it has developed similar sign. so i was watching a DVD. it kept turning itself off. i switched off the main power supply for that speaker and turn it back on. still no heal. and i got fed up so i disconnected the dock from the ifi, disconnect ac cable. and connect the ac cable alone. turn it on. (ifi doesnt sound since it's off) and i disconnect the electric cable. plug the dock back and it's working fine for a month, and increasing.

disconnect ifi dock, turn on ifi without dock. disconnect power, connect dock back on. maybe it helps.

edit: what i mean by disconnect the AC cable is that you have to disconnect the AC cable from the rear of the subwoofer, preferably 5-10 seconds. this makes difference. same things i faced with my logitech z cinema speakers. i had to disconnect the AC cable in order to "reset" it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I, like so many others, have been popping in here periodically over the past Years to see if there was ever going to be a solution offered to this issue. After following the forum for a couple of years, and finally getting a signup email from one of my several signup attempts, my recommendation is:

Abandon all hope.

Cut your losses and find another way to use the actual IFI speakers or just take the loss. I personally imagine that this product was probably rushed thru engineering and to market (gotta sell ipod accessories, gotta sell ipod accessories), and had to meet all of crapples many restrictions, like the dysfunctional scroll wheel. And then Klipsch decided to sell them in costco, whoops, prolly took a loss there as well due to the high failure/return rate. Strangely enough affluent shoppers who pay just to shop at a store return defective crap at a higher rate than walmart shoppers.

Maybe the IFI problem hasnt been fixed because they have to get crapple to approve any design changes or updates, and klipsch aint makin no more money fixin what people done paid for. Aside from control docks of course, they must have a cash cow there since they never seem to be in stock (and I want my $57 dollars back).

There has never been a satisfactory resolution for this issue, and in fact, it seems to me that Klipsch as a company has never fully acknowledged there is even an issue. To say nothing of the thousands of view this thread has gotten over the past few years, look on that big auction site or CL in your area and see how many defective units you can find (although in all fairness, if there are still any units that work properly, they are probably still in use, like mine would be).

While I used to like Klipsch and loved the whole IFI setup, it went to hell, so I did some research, klipsch support and costco were no-go's so meh I just bought another dock, thinking surely a company like klipsch have fixed this seemingly minor issue. PSYCH. The new dock didnt fix the problem, but I dont even use an ipod anymore so i thought maybe Id just use the IFI as awesome PC speakers and Never touch the dock or janky *** scroll wheel again. After a half hour of micro turning that damn wheel on the control dock physically taped to the back of my desk, to find the exact position that works, what do you know, it cut out again the next day. I think klipsch has gone the way of soundstream and PPI and phoenix gold and a/d/s and orion (and on and on), farewell to audio companies that make superior products and actually stand behind them, unless you are buying their $8K boutique offerings.

So after several years of loving a defective product, Ive given up on this IFI unit (and any hopes of klipsch ever resolving the issue). Dont get me wrong the speakers themselves are great, I am currently using a 3-channel car audio amp to power them, since there are a million more 3-channel 50/50/100 car audio amps than 3-channel home amps. Course you gotta use an AC/DC converter, but meh, still cheaper and better than than the Keiga. Im also gonna try to purchase more of the many defective sets out there on the cheap and use the speakers as 7.1 speakers for my bedroom. Sucks cuz the IFI was awesome (while it worked). Now I wish I would have bought some crappy chinese speakers, at least when they broke I woulda been ok with it, but when you buy from a seemingly high-end company with a former track record of quality, I thought there was a valid reason to spend $400 instead of $40. Whoops

Ive tried to register for this forum several times over the past few years,and never got the confirmation email, I didnt think it really even worked but when this one came through, id thought Id jump at the chance for a little closure. Maybe I'll check back eventually to see if anybody smarter than me ever figured out how to bypass the dock, and use the powered speakers as friggin powered speakers, but it may not even be reasonably possible, and I dont think i can bring myself to care too much anymore, unless its quick, easy, and free.

Also in case anybody up there cares, I live in Kirkland, shop at the real kirkland costco, and know many employees at both costco and sams. I know many people in sales and service (A/V, car audio, cellular, pc) all over the place, and so almost daily have contact with people in these areas, who often ask me what I think about stuff cuz I know what Im talking about and Im almost always right. And trust me, I tell them.

Just my two cents of course. Individual mileage may vary.

"Customer Service is what to tell your customers to make them think you care about more than their money"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all,

Sorry to beat what seems like a dead horse but has anyone ever fixed their amp without sending the unit back to Klipsch?

My iFi developed the volume control issue last year and the left channel went out as well. I was able to fix the volume control problem by replacing the 3 leaking capacitors (2 x 35v & 1 x 25v) but the left channel is still out. I am still in the process of trying to trace the source of the problem (and would post back my findings here if anyone is still interested).

I really like this speaker set and I hope I can find a way to get it going again. Any new input/help other than what has already been posted in numeruous threads would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

-Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah, I understand the 'abandon all hope' mentality - certainly seems like the folks at Klipsch have abandoned us - but re-purposing the system, especially the L&R speakers doesn't really cut it with me. The L/R's are only RS3 speakers, hardly cutting edge. Competant as perhaps PC speakers if one has a decent amp to push them, but just 'using them elsewhere' doesn't make me feel any better about dropping the $$ for the system. In fact, I found my L/R pair to be a little underwhelming and replaced them with a better sounding pair of Klipsch Rebels which really seemed to bring the Ifi system to the next level.

No....the 'worth' of the Ifi system to me is the SW/amp/contol assy.....which is where the problem is and is the part that can't really be re-purposed without dragging along the issue.

What mine has evolved (or devolved) to is that it works fine if it's given about 15 minutes to warm up. As is the case with many, when I first turn mine on - ear splitting noise that makes the wife and kids jump out of their skin whenever the weak, crappy volume dial is touched, either in 'volume' or 'sub-woofer' mode. But once it's been on for 15 minutes, the system functions as if it was new. Don't know if this thermal 'workaround' will work for others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

well it's not funny how I used to post my ifi works fine and now it's in deepsh*t just like you guys.

mine kept shutting itself off at random times (blame the dock). and often it just set itself at highest volume and only sounds at left satellites. ocassionally the dock would turn off, means no light and no control thru buttons and remote but the music is playing (3.5mm line in behind sub). Now the dock just often just refuse to turn on, after many unplugging attempts.

Btw I also opened up the sub and dock, as far as I can tell there is no obvious sign of damage... Anyone?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Interesting timing for your post.

I dug the sub out of the garage over the weekend and saw that the 4700µf 25v is now leaking from the top.

If anybody has the time, it would be nice to list good replacements (i.e. rubycon) by part number. Something one could order a set from say digikey or mouser.

I'm going out of town in a couple minutes or would do some research myself.

Looks like there is room for a larger 35V unit like the other 4 on that board. Just replace all 5 with same p/n ok?

Wonders what the health of smaller caps in there are like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

mine gets worse until it's unusable. kept turning itself off. so i decided to open the back panel and wiggle every components. now the damn thing doesn't shut itself off but has random pops that gets often if i push the bass level at maximum. at least it's usable now.

yes mine is also using rifeking, cheap caps found in crappy mobo, i heard. according to this guy: http://www.rvramblings.com/?date=2009-12-03 there is one 25V caps apart from the four 35V caps on top. if replacing caps helps, i would try to replace mine too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You will need to replace ALL the capacitors, meaning all the 5 large capacitors (4 X 4700µf, 35v + 1 x 4700µf, 25V) PLUS all those found in the PCB board (sandwich in below the heatsink)

Place the capacitor with the exact value and voltage rating.

DO NOT REPLACE WITH ANY OTHER VALUE.

Go for brands like Rubycon, Nichicon, Panasonic, etc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just measured the larger cap sizes. The 4 larger 4700µf 35Volt are;

18.00mm Dia, 35.50mm Length with 7.50mm lead spacing

The smaller 25v one is

16mm X 31.5mm also has 7.5mm lead spacing.

Ordered some Panasonic caps from digikey.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Wondering about the health of the other dozen smaller Rifeking caps in the sub.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey i just wanted to say i have this same problem. I bought my ifi's used and after 6 months the sound has started going out of the right speaker and subwoofer.

I've noticed that when i adjust my remote volume the same sound distortion also happens so the problem shouldn't be something physical with the remote but inside the amp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lucky you! I replaced the same caps and it got rid of the popping in the volume control but I completely lost my left channel! You fix one thing and break another. Oh well.

I'm waiting to see if anyone who replaced all the caps would chime in with their results.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

guys, I have been following this thread for years!! I have bashed Klipsch to everyone I know for not supporting this issue, However, I have never doubted the quality of the speakers.

I too could not just throw the system away. So let me know what caps I need to change, and how to do it and I will test my unit out this week and let you know if it works

this is the first sign of life to this thread in 3 years!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I replaced these 5.

normal_DSC02355.JPG

Qyt 4 4700uf 35V ..... digikey part number P5558-ND

Qty 1 4700uf 25V ..... digikey part number P5547-ND

$14.71 shipped

Not sure they were the best, just what I picked.

Added some pics at

http://www.justwebspace.com/G2/thumbnails.php?album=1

As to the how, you need some soldering skills. Not a ton, but some.

Check the recapping tutorials at badcaps.net

http://www.badcaps.net/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...