Klipsch Promedia 5.1's - Amp repair

I'm not running the Klipsch subwoofers at all.

I'm running 4 Ultra satellites and 1 RCX-4 satellite (upgraded Ultra center channel for clearer dialogue) on my amplifier.

I have a standalone Dayton 100w/10" self-powered subwoofer that I now use. I previously used it on the "SWS" port on the back of the Klipsch amp as the amp allowed you to plug in additional subwoofers.

In short, I fixed the Klipsch amp and sold it + subwoofers along with some Paradigm speakers
 
Elliot repaired my amp and it failed.

R527 fried (he replaced this with a milspec resistor) and it looks like one or two of the diodes (d5 and/or d6) around it are dead. He did some work on the daughter-board, but I haven't tested anything there yet. As far as the diodes, I tested them and one wasn't rectifying properly. It looks scorched.

I'm sure Elliot does a good job, but I really think the better route for us as a community is to get more knowledge about this out there. That thompdale site is fantastic.

One place where I think Elliot is wrong is the cooling. Active cooling or a much better external passive cooling solution is absolutely necessary. As of the time I last checked, Elliot believes this is not the case. This amplifier as a whole unit puts out as much heat if not more than an average processor. Imagine putting your processor/motherboard in a wooden box with one hole with a passive heatsink on the processor. Now the processor (or in this case the power transistors) is for the most part adequately cooled. The problem is that all that heat is dumped to components close by.

Most people who build passive systems end up having to use some sort of fan or exotic solutions because of chipsets, mosfets, etc. All of these parts rely on airflow. In this case, the lack of airflow allows heat from the heatsink to dump to the surrounding capacitors, resistors(which are already creating quite a bit of heat), and diodes. Either a transistor ends up failing due to heat, a resistor goes, or a diode dies. Depending on what happens, you can end up with a chain reaction with a few components that go out with it. Most plate amps like this that use a significant amount of power at idle dump heat to a much larger back panel heatsink.
 
@international

i think manufacturing another box for the amp separating it to the sub will do much better and will evade all the heating problem. but of course it will become more spacey but it will definitely pro long our pro media.
 
Aside from manufacturing another "Box" hehe.. I recently ordered some parts for my klipsch as i will upgrade some major components from the ac-dc board.

can anybody analyze my pre ordered parts for any flaws or something.. i tried to search for the exact parts on sysjack's lists on page 9 but it was a failure so i searched for the closest alternative.

R527 > 4.7ohm, 2 watts, 5% (purchased this one from a local store near my place dont know the detail though)
R529 > 5.11kohms, 1/2 watt, 1% http://ph.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=1569150
680 ohm > 680 ohm,1 watt,5% (purchased this one from a local store near my place dont know the detail though)
MR7 > 100Kohms,2 watts, 1 % http://ph.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=1155006
all 3 22UF, 50V http://ph.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=8127026
all3 47UF, 50V http://ph.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=8127050
Q10(25551G instead of 25551RLAG)http://ph.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=1126533
 
Last edited:
I've been having issues with my promedia's for awhile, poping, hissing etc. I took mine apart and noticed the 2 main 820uf caps where bulging, going to replace them along with all the electrolytic s on the ac-dc board, and the high stress resistors (R7 and 527). When I bought these speakers I did not know much about audio or electronics, now I build headphone amps and know quite abit about audio. Honestly the set is garbage, and im only repairing them for the electronics part, just to see if I can do it. I like to solder, and tinker around with my multimeter. They are certainly not worth getting a separate receiver and subwoofer though. The Swan's M200 MKIII or something like Tweakcity audio's WAF-1 /Gizmo combo will totally embarrass these speakers for almost half the cost. As well as any mid-range powered monitor.

oh yeah, active cooling in a subwoofer is retarded. I don't think i've ever seen it done before. There's a reason for that, just use 105c rated parts and some good heatsinks and your done, a fan, in a subwoofer? seriously lol

electronics run hot, it's ok, they are designed to do so. If klipsch had used properly spec'ed parts to begin with, instead of saving 2$ per subwoofer, then these things would not be failing left and right.

Im actually using a Sonic Impact T-amp I got on clearance at hastings for 5$ to drive my 2 front klipsch speakers, and it sounds better then the sub amp ever did, even when it was brand new.
 
Last edited:
Elderblaze said:
I
oh yeah, active cooling in a subwoofer is retarded. I don't think i've ever seen it done before. There's a reason for that, just use 105c rated parts and some good heatsinks and your done, a fan, in a subwoofer? seriously lol
Click to expand...

It would be "better" to have the heat dumped to the back panel, but it would take heatpipes or some other transfer material. There's not really much room for a better passive cooling solution that I can see. :( I had some leftover chipset sinks that I tried, but they didn't do much. They barely got warm and the stock heatsink still stayed superhot. I'm open to ideas, but going active isn't that bad of an idea. You're cooling an amp in the sub, not the 8" drivers. It's not that ridiculous. I don't know how a low power fan will affect port tuning, we'll see.
 
hey guys, I did something kind of stupid when replacing the electrolytics on the AC-DC board. I clipped a couple caps off without looking real good at their orientation and can't remember 100% which side was neg/pos. I circled the caps in question in the below pic. Just want to confirm that the negative side is on the LEFT, the same as all the other caps on the board.

51insidecr700x525copy.jpg
 
I'll take a look tonight. It should be in the schematic here: http://www.thompdale.com/bash_amplifier/5-1/5-1_bash_amp.htm

I'll visually verify on my board.

One thing I noticed is that my amp which had been previously repaired by elliot, had a big 1 watt resistor at r527, but it's not 4.6 ohm. It's measuring close to 880 ohm and it looks like it's completely fried. It also looks like at least one of the diodes nearby is toast. I was about to chalk that up to heat even though that's a weird way to fail, but it looks like the color ribbons on the resistor are wrong too. Something's a bit odd here...
 
thanks man, i would appreciate that. Unfortunately I can't read electronics schematics. Im pretty good with a soldering iron and can take decent measurements with a multi, but im only a hobbyist . Most of the projects i worked on where just simple PCB stuffing jobs. I replaced my R527 with a 4.6 ohm 3 watt vishay dale. I also replaced all the caps on the ac-dc board last night, and replaced R7 on the daughter board with a 2 watt vishay mounted far away from the pcb. I ordered 35 mm 820 UF caps though for the large ones, and they where slightly to big, needed 30mm, waiting on those in the mail.
 
acdcconverter.jpg


Negative goes left when looking at it from this angle. look at how toasty my resistor is!

I started work repairing it. Took out the resistor, two diodes, and two caps. The diodes went flying(oops). They took some coaxing to get out of the board, apparently they got incredibly hot, a bit of the board around them was singed. I ended up scratching the PCB when that happened so I'm waiting on a solder mask repair pen before I go further. I don't want to put stuff back in and end up with a short.

I replaced the resistor with one of the proper value. I found one diode on my workbench, the other is nowhere to be found... lol.
 
Last edited:
can someone give me a good guess of what used 5.1's without the sub would price at?
Someone locally on CL had his at $60 bout a month ago but just emailed him back and they got sold. Local pawnshop has the four spkrs and ctr channel for $180. Is that a realistic price for that? and i picked up one of the spkrs and man those suckers are heavy. didnt think they would weigh that much
 
InternationalHat said:
It would be "better" to have the heat dumped to the back panel, but it would take heatpipes or some other transfer material. There's not really much room for a better passive cooling solution that I can see. :( I had some leftover chipset sinks that I tried, but they didn't do much. They barely got warm and the stock heatsink still stayed superhot. I'm open to ideas, but going active isn't that bad of an idea. You're cooling an amp in the sub, not the 8" drivers. It's not that ridiculous. I don't know how a low power fan will affect port tuning, we'll see.
Click to expand...

I've got a 120mm fan/hole on mine and it han't been bad. The only reqal thing is that I hear some higher pitched harmonics getting out the hole I made but it's very directional and I cant hear it from where I sit. Bass seemed like it dropped off a bit but I've also moved a few times during the time frame I was repairing it. In my current house with a blu-ray in its almost too much bass. :cool:

Anyhow for these speakers, even a minor drop in performance still leaves them far ahead of any other PC speakers and they aren't making new ones...
 
buschman31 said:
can someone give me a good guess of what used 5.1's without the sub would price at?
Someone locally on CL had his at $60 bout a month ago but just emailed him back and they got sold. Local pawnshop has the four spkrs and ctr channel for $180. Is that a realistic price for that? and i picked up one of the spkrs and man those suckers are heavy. didnt think they would weigh that much
Click to expand...

They are only two pounds. Are you sure they're the promedia ultra speakers and not the quintets?
 
just checked online for the quintets line and thats what they maybe. wish i had bought the 5.1's from the guy for $60. another guy just text me and he has his for 200. 150 if bought w/ his system. i'm like forget that. i have the logitech z680's that i bought for $40 so i may stick w/ them for the time being. i just wanted to try the klipsch to see how they sounded.
 
$200 for old computer speakers? 5.1 or 5.0? You can buy brand new Quintet II's 5.0 for $200 and free shipping, and they are a lot better than the promedia speakers, I have both.

People are nuts.
 
dont know if they r II's or III's but the pawnshop wants $180 for the four satellites and the ctr channel
 
ecmaster76 said:
I've got a 120mm fan/hole on mine and it han't been bad. The only reqal thing is that I hear some higher pitched harmonics getting out the hole I made but it's very directional and I cant hear it from where I sit. Bass seemed like it dropped off a bit but I've also moved a few times during the time frame I was repairing it. In my current house with a blu-ray in its almost too much bass. :cool:

Anyhow for these speakers, even a minor drop in performance still leaves them far ahead of any other PC speakers and they aren't making new ones...
Click to expand...

Well I'm not putting a hole in the actual sub box, that will completely change the port tuning. That's like adding an aperiodic vent to a ported enclosure. I have no idea what that would do to the frequency response.
 
Well, I replaced all the obviously bad components in my AC-DC converter, and some of the others just for good measure. Put it all back together, and the subwoofer is still not working. The front and left channels work, but nothing out of the sub. It will work for just a few seconds when I turn it on, but then quickly go's away. I also heard some of the electronics making a hiss/whine sound, it appears to be coming from the board next to the AC-DC board with the BASH chips on it, can't actually identify which component is making noise. Im not sure what I want to do now. I really don't want to spend much money on it, I may just throw them away hehe. Im pretty satisfied with just the promedia speakers and T-amp for now. I have a set of high-end phones/dac/amp hooked up for real music listening, mostly just use these for youtube listening. I plan to replace them with some swans MKIII or Tweakcity WAF'1s anyway, was hoping for a quick fix. I hate to toss them out if it's just a burnt up resistor somewhere though..
 
I'm a dissatisfied Elliot customer. My whole process with him started in January 2010, and it is now August. Despite giving me repeated assurances months ago that the amp was on its way, he has since dropped off the map and isn't responding to email or phone calls. Is he a scam artist? How have people here actually gotten amps back from him?
 
I sent him an email every week after the initial 4 week estimate he gave me. I was always polite, but kept at it. I got 2 or 3 assurances that it would ship soon but didn't. Read my post about the whole experience I put in here, it's long and I don't want to go over it again.

What recourse do you have after 8 months? I don't know man... you're far outside the window of help from Paypal or your CC. I don't think BBB can help if he's just fixing these in his garage. Some kind of lawsuit? Not worth the hassle for $100 lost, unless you have lots of money and make it your mission in life.

Here is a thought... you have his address to where you shipped the stuff to. Start a letter writing campaign, maybe certified mail. But I would keep it polite and to the point.
 
arabidopsis said:
I'm a dissatisfied Elliot customer. My whole process with him started in January 2010, and it is now August. Despite giving me repeated assurances months ago that the amp was on its way, he has since dropped off the map and isn't responding to email or phone calls. Is he a scam artist? How have people here actually gotten amps back from him?
Click to expand...

Most people seem to have gotten their amps back. I've read accounts of some long wait times, but I think 8 months takes the cake.

The story is always the same. People ship him their amps, then they wait weeks or months while the unit is fixed. When they ask for updates, some emails aren't returned at all. For the emails that are returned, the customer is either reassured or promised that the amp will ship soon and it rarely if ever ships in the time frame promised. Usually much later.

I have kept up with this thread since its inception and while I initially admired Elliot's presence on the board because I thought this would be another avenue for communication, I'm just tired of seeing my fellow [H] members get taken advantage of. Even if he did return most or all amps eventually, the lack of communication and blatant lies about repair times are unacceptable for any sort of service provider that calls them self a professional and boasts about their knowledge and superior skills. Add to that the fact that some people have had their Elliot-repaired units fail again after getting them back.

An 8 month wait time with empty promises and unanswered inquiries isn't just poor, it's ridiculous. My recommendation to anyone who has their amp fail:

1) If you know your stuff when it comes to electronics and you're fairly confident you can fix it yourself, try that first.

2) If you're not comfortable fixing the unit yourself and don't want to shell out the cash for a new set, send it to the other guy mentioned in this thread (can't recall his name) that fixes the amps, adds active cooling, and actually delivers what and when he says.

3) Buy a new set of 2.1's from Klipsch or scour the net/eBay/forums for a working set of 5.1/51.1 Ultras

4) If you just love the Klipsch sound, buy a separate sub and amp/receiver and use your perfectly good Klipsch satellites with another amp and not worry about them failing any time soon.
 
im still waiting for my bash module to arrive at harman audio singapore..takes 1 month to order this chips from them sighs..hope they recieve it soon so that my cousin in sg will be able to ship it to me here in the philippines... my pre ordered parts for the ac dc board are on its way too. i miss my klipsch so much!!! T_T
 
I got 3 amps back from Elliott but the last one was in Dec 09 so nothing recent. But I started dealing with him in 07 as I had 2 amps fail and I bought a second as a backup.


I since sold the fixed amp/sub combo and got a real receiver for about $200
 
Yeah it's too bad, because I did see satisfied Elliot customers on this forum, and his ebay feedback was positive. I didn't purchase through ebay though.

What was funny was that when my dad sent him an email to pretend to be asking for servicing (just to see if Elliot would respond) he got a response in only a few hours. The guy is a blatant scam artist who has a garage full of people's amps. I don't know at what point he turned to this type of behaviour because he obviously delivered to some people.
 
Update: Elliot just sent me an email with a USPS tracking number. The number appears to be legit. Maybe it will be sorted out after all? I'll keep the forum updated - it's only fair.
 
Suggested common Parts to upgrade:

R527 4.7 ohms to 3 Watts
MR7 100k Ohms to 2 Watts
R1 & R4 470 ohms to 2 Watts
3x 47 UF 50V Caps to same value but with higher Max operating Temp 105c
3x 22 UF 50V Caps to same Value but with higher Max Operating Temp 105c
680 Ohms to 1 watt
5110 K Ohms to 1/2 watt or 1 watt if there is such
Q510 2n5551 to 2n5551RLAG or 2n5551G
 
Last edited:
Yey!!! HK Singapore already recieved the bash module i ordered.. :) can't wait to see my klipsch sounding good again.. parts ordered from farnell are also on the way :)

while waiting for the parts needed for repair/upgrade

Boredom made me do this:

Manufactured Heatsinks+ Customized 3d Slot fan ^_^

DSC06057.jpg


DSC06047.jpg
 
received my amp back from Elliot (elliot-tronics) yesterday. like many of you the communication and turn-around time could be better, but the amp is working great.
 
Klipsch can go take it up the ass (along with that old fart who started Klipsch) and you all know why.

RIP Promedia Ultras...not. Throwing them away in the trash and I rather not deal with people like Elliot (seriously, months to over half a year wait? F that).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top