Made in China?

[chunkyrice]

I have recently bought a brand new Klipsch Promedia 2.1 system and I have noticed that at the back of the speakers is a sticker that says that it is made in China. I remember that my friend bought his a couple of years ago and his didn't have such a sticker. His is still working to this with no problems, while after having mine for about less than a week, I hear a slight hiss on the left satellite.

Questions:

1)I was wondering if it was related to the satellites being made somewhere else or if it is a control pod or subwoofer problem? Has the speakers themselves been always made in China, or is this a fairly recent thing?

2) If these speakers behave like my Grado headphones, then would an appropriate breakin period be required before they unleash their full might and glory?

[rjon17469]

For the hiss, examine the audio input wires to the control module, as well as the speaker wires themselves, and see if they run along any power wires. AC-carrying wires induce magnetic fields around them. If that magnetic field encounters another wire, such as your speaker wire, a current can be induced in it, at the frequency of the first wire (i.e. 60Hz) and at a volume depending on the level of interaction.

To get rid of this, always run audio cables and power wires at 90 degree angles apart to each other, never parallel.

I doubt you have a ground loop issue, as I would think it would be in both channels if that were the case.

Failing that, I cannot say what might be the cause of your hiss. Double check the computer audio output with headphones to confirm it isn't the computer.

In regard to the break-in period, every speaker needs to be broken in. Primarily, to the extent of my knowledge, the spider (folded suspension assembly behind the cone) comes out of the factory relatively stiff. As the speakers are used, the spider loosens up a bit and allows the speakers to play fully.

My PM 2.1's definitely needed a break-in period to sound their best.

Also, avoid blasting your speakers during this break-in period. A large number of speakers fail within the first month of ownership, in general, because they were not properly broken-in and pushed to and beyond their limits too soon.

To break-in, I usually do ~20 hours of playing, starting at normal casual listening volume and moving up slowly, so by the end of the 20 hours they are loud, but not blasting.

[Daddy Dee]

Your hissing satellite is something that Klipsch tech support needs to hear about. If they can't solve the problem they should replace the defective part for you.

this is not something that needs break in to resolve.

[Coytee]

Regarding breakin...

I'm under the impression that when Klipsch (as in the engineers as they work on a project) "break in" a speaker, specifically a bass type driver, they simply hook it up to some kind of signal generator (pink noise?) and put a handful of volts through it for something like 20 minutes (or was it 2 hours? [*-)]). If it is a larger driver, (subwoofer?) that might have a more stiff surround, they might run the process again.

Main point being.... you don't have the "100 hours breakin" mentality.... you can sufficiently break in your speakers in a couple hours at most and consider yourself done with it.

[jacksonbart]

You read something ironic, last night I had some Chinese food that was made in the US of A. I checked out the plastic wrapper of my fortune cookie and it said it was made in New Jersey.

[chunkyrice]

I didn't blast it that's for sure. I listen to folksy music like Sufjan Stevens, nothing like hip hop or anything that I'd wanna play too loud.

I've tried going through Klipsch and they told me to go return it, was about to return it since I thought that the left speaker died, but it suddenly resurrected itself, but still have the hiss unfortunately. I'm trying to go to the tech support place of where I bought it from so I could work something out with them instead of getting charged 15% for restocking it.