Klipsch Promedia 5.1's - Amp repair

Originally Posted by Baer View Post
And not to swing mine around but 48 years in High Tech including 12 years as president of a multi hundreds of million dollar company and a published author and columnist and right now also communicating with my China office while posting this. (all true)
It seems that we never should underestimate who we are talking to and that is why I had nothing bad to say about anyone, just posting my positive experiences with someone who did a good job for me fixing a part of something that is for me but a fun hobby.


FYI, the right term is (Multi-Million Dollar Company) and really the term "high tech" has commonly been used only for the past 10 years. To me anything before the 90's is "Low Tech" except Nuclear Physics, I'm still amazed with this discovery and Einstein is still my favorite...
 
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Originally Posted by Baer View Post
And not to Etc...
FYI, the right term is (Multi-Million Dollar Company) and really the term "high tech" has commonly been used only for the past 10 years. To me anything before the 90's is "Low Tech" except Nuclear Physics, I'm still amazed with this discovery and Einstein is still my favorite...


Wow, up until now I have refrained from saying anything personal to or about you but let me set you straight young man..... There is a great difference between multi million (10 to 20 million Etc) and hundreds of millions (a quarter of a billion$ company) so differentiation license was used.
As for no high tech before the 90's? You sir are an idiot if you think that those I worked with at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Labs in the early 60's on various projects were not working on high tech, even in some cases by today’s standards. And yes, at that time we did call it high technology, because it truly was. In fact much of what we enjoy now is based on what we and others like us accomplished then as we transitioned from vacuum tubes and simple flip flops through the VISIC program into true IC’s.
I do not believe that your continued posts help promote your cause nor do they overcome some of the negative comments made here by some of your customers (not by me) so you just may wish to put your efforts into overcoming their complaints instead. If you wish to debate me further on business terminology or the state of technology in the dark ages before this planet was blessed with your presence then let us pick a place to do so on topic and not bore everyone else with what could degrade into meaningless rants.
This is my last post in debate with you here sir so rave on.

To the rest of you I apologize for taking your time to read what was intended to be a simple recomendation for those of you who, like I, needed a simple timely and reliable repair on a rather simple device. It was my opinion that that was the purpose of this forum. I know I have certainly received good advice from may of you on various topics.
 
I never said High Tech was non existent before the 90's I even mentioned Nuclear Physics, I just said the term High Tech has only been used in public for the past 10 years, I've been in electronics for 18+years and nobody ever used that term before the year 2000 (at least I never heard it) and I known about Technology for a very long time....and stop calling me an idiot especially when everything I said CAN BE VERIFIED all you have to do is google it. For an old man you don't sound very wise, I don't even need the name calling or getting upset to own this argument.

Oh an the vacuum tubes sucked big time..very high power consumption, they generated a lot of heat and not to mention they had to be replaced almost as fast replacing a light bulb and you considered that High Tech??? At this point why not just call a vacuum tube TV High Tech? just like the new LCD TV's or other gadgets from today huh?...Oh and the IC's evolved from transistors NOT vacuum tubes...You sir, need to walk the walk before talking the talk...
This is one of the main reasons why I don't participate in forums that much (other than time), some people just talk, talk, and they have no clue what they are talking about (most of the times they just want to impress others with fancy words and terminology) and the worst part is that some of you believe it.
 
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I never said High Tech was non existent before the 90's I even mentioned Nuclear Physics, I just said the term High Tech has only been used in public for the past 10 years, I've been in electronics for 18+years and nobody ever used that term before the year 2000 (at least I never heard it) and I known about Technology for a very long time....and stop calling me an idiot especially when everything I said CAN BE VERIFIED all you have to do is google it. For an old man you don't sound very wise, I don't even need the name calling or getting upset to own this argument.

Oh an the vacuum tubes sucked big time..very high power consumption, they generated a lot of heat and not to mention they had to be replaced almost as fast replacing a light bulb and you considered that High Tech??? At this point why not just call a vacuum tube TV High Tech? just like the new LCD TV's or other gadgets from today huh?...Oh and the IC's evolved from transistors NOT vacuum tubes...You sir, need to walk the walk before talking the talk...
This is one of the main reasons why I don't participate in forums that much (other than time), some people just talk, talk, and they have no clue what they are talking about (most of the times they just want to impress others with fancy words and terminology) and the worst part is that some of you believe it.

He is saying he helped to engineer applications of discrete transistors (simple flip flops) and, as they became practical, ICs.

Whats with the vacum tube hate anyway? They have their place, even today. And yes for a while they were the highest form of electronic technology. We wouldn't have even but looking for something like the transistor if we hadn't already been building triode tubes.
 
Move on people, the vacuum tube and transistor era is over....IC's is the new era and this is where the real High Tech era began in the electronics field.
 
Move on people, the vacuum tube and transistor era is over....IC's is the new era and this is where the real High Tech era began in the electronics field.

for not having a lot of time to respond to customers, you seem to be able to respond about vacuum tubes and such rather quickly

;)

my 5.1 is still kicking from original purchase..great product
 
I have had time to respond to all my customers from this forum this week, (don't worry about it) and yes Klipsch speaker are a great product, but the amp is not perfect. I repair & upgrade around 10 amps per week on the 5.1s and sometimes I have to spend 4-5 hours just on one amp so I'm not always free to answer all the e-mails or messages.
 
I'll have to agree with Elliott about the Klipsch 5.1's. They are definitely an excellent system when working. Just got mine back from elliot-tronics. He did a great job. In fact I had forgotten what a well balanced system this is. Two thumbs up for a job well done.
 
I'll have to agree with Elliott about the Klipsch 5.1's. They are definitely an excellent system when working. Just got mine back from elliot-tronics. He did a great job. In fact I had forgotten what a well balanced system this is. Two thumbs up for a job well done.

Same here, just got mine back yesterday:cool: Works great, Thanks Elliott:D
 
Move on people, the vacuum tube and transistor era is over....IC's is the new era and this is where the real High Tech era began in the electronics field.

lol ok

high tech maybe, but not all progress is good

I will gladly take a nice 300B amplifier with good iron over a chipamp any day
 
for not having a lot of time to respond to customers, you seem to be able to respond about vacuum tubes and such rather quickly

I find that strange as well, since I sent my payment Feb 5th. I emailed on Feb 24th, got a response on the 27th, saying it'd be some time next week. I emailed again on 3/24 and again on 4/14 and even tried calling but no answer, just to get this response on 4/14 "Hi, yes it should be ready this week, you'll get an e-mail with the tracking info very soon..oh and my batt's phone was dead but now works." So I send ANOTHER email on 5/17 and have yet to hear anything.

So I start searching the net, find out others have had this problem as well, and then I find this thread, with the above quote, makes me wonder what my money was sent to TX for.

The sad part, I have another amp that needs fixed, but I am starting to think I will just throw that one away. :(
 
Hi Grimmy, I have your amp ready and sent you a P.M with fedex tracking # and sorry it was not shipped before but your amp failed during testing and I had to order extra parts for it. Oh and I now have a new phone & number and you can find it on my website if I'm not answering my regular e-mail you can just call (you never left a voice mail).
PEOPLE IF I MISS ANY OF YOU THROUGH MY YAHOO E-MAIL JUST CALL OR SEND ME A P.M HERE , I'VE ANSWERED EVERY P.M MESSAGE I'VE RECEIVED HERE AND THE KLIPSCH FORUMS. I've been having problems with my yahoo acct for a very long time (lost e-mails, emails gone to spam folder and can't find e-mails when searching automatically even if they are still in their database) I've already called their customer service & they said they're working on that issue.
 
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Thanks for the reply Elliot.

Sorry to hear of your email issues. Have you thought of switching to something like Gmail? I've had issues with yahoo in the past, and well this day in age, that should be a thing of the past.

Oh and I like how you can label stuff in gmail, and find it quickly later on.

Will let ya know when it gets here!

Thanks again!
 
Quick update: After 2 days of use, elliott repaired sub just blew up with loud scratch noise, now it's completely dead.... I really don't feel like going through all the shipping cost, delay, wait again even if he honors his warranty.

I sent him that amp again to test out my luck, he has been replying my warranty question in PMs so far. We will see how it goes...
 
Elliot,

I found you here in this forum late lasty year. I sent my amp to you in mid-december and you said 6-8 weeks. I've been quite patient... its been nearly half a year and while you've promised to ship several times you have never followed through. Can you please follow up - I just emailed a reminder via eBay.

Thanks.
 
Advice: Get a cheap 5.1 receiver and replace your subwoofer+amp combo.
 
Yup I too sent Elliot my amp:mad: That was in January. I've had promises of him saying it was done and that he's be shipping it back. One was in March and the most recent was last week when he said that it was done and and he would ship it out this last Tuesday. Of course that hasn't been done yet not to mention like the rest of you that has dealt with this guy he doesn't even have the courtesy to return any emails. I still have my shipping receipt and copies of all emails that were sent including the ones he sent at the beginning of this fiasco with all of his promises. If I don't get my amp back in good working order soon I'm calling the police.
 
okay everyone. yes slow work. nominal 6 month return. ok. service after work, 1 mo,6mo, no problem 1 yr, etc. Sats 100% .Subwoofer 100%. Power Amp sucks. that is my say!
speak up I can't hear you?
 
You told EVERYONE that you're qualified to fix these amps Elliot. Are you trying to say that you're not able to? You owe me big time. I want my amp fixed the way you said you'd do it Elliot. And I want it shipped back to me. I feel like such an ass dealing with you.
 
OK here is my Elliot story, which just came to a conclusion yesterday. Sorry for the length.

After reading on here and on the Klipsch forums, I emailed several people about Promedia repairs. Elliot was the least expensive option at $79. Everything I had read said he did ok work but was a little slow to ship stuff.

So back in Feb I contacted him and sent him my stuff. The $79 or so he quoted didn't include shipping both ways, so I think the total went up to $110 or so once I shipped it. Amp plate and speaker control module only. He originally said 3 to 4 weeks.

After week 4 I started emailing him once a week asking for status. A couple of responses here and there saying it was almost done and would ship soon.

At week 10 after my weekly status update request he sent me a tracking number and I got the amp back soon after (5/21). The bad news was I discovered two of my 4 satellite speakers were blown, but I almost never used the rear ones anyway so I moved them to the front. The amp is fixed, the satellites are working, but the subwoofer does nothing. I check the amp carefully to see if anything wiggled loose, no luck. The sub itself works when I hook it up to another receiver, so something is wrong. I email him and get a pretty quick response to call him. So we chat and I describe what's going on. I knew he was in Texas and it turned out he travels up to the Dallas area fairly often, so we arrange to meet so I can give him the whole setup with sub and everything and not have to spend a fortune on shipping. After a couple scheduling snafu's we do finally meet up and I give him the stuff. This was last weekend.

So Friday he calls me and says he'll be in town again. He says the control module was the problem with the bass, and that wasn't part of the original repair, he just repairs the amps. He says he had an extra one and I agreed to pony up another $25 for him to swap it out. We met last night and I got my stuff back. Immediately come home and hook it up, it is all working well now, and this volume control module is better than my old one. The old one was developing scratchy noises when you adjusted the volume and the controls were very loose, this "new" one has tight controls and no noise. So that's a plus.

So the end result is that he completed the repair, and my v2.400's (which are more like v2.200's now since I'm down to 2.1 speakers) are alive and kicking. Elliot kept his word and completed the repairs.

Here is the deal though, if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn't. I ended up shelling out $135 bucks, when I could have gone and bought a brand new Promedia 2.1 set for $150 (yeah I know the new ones have cheaper subs but still). There is no way I would have bothered to ship the sub and everything to him to fix the sub volume issue, the cost for doing that probably would have cost me $50 or more. If I didn't live the in the DFW area to meet up with him and was shipping from out of state, this whole thing would have ended unhappily and I would have been super pissed.

So I think the moral of the story is know what you're getting into and pray that the amp is not the only problem you're having...
 
so i contacted klipsh just to see what they do for repairs.
i got quoted 150 for the repair, and i pay shipping both ways
to Sybesma’s Electronics with a 90day warranty after repair.

ive had 2 replaced by klipsch already that lasted ~6 mos each.
and 1 repaired by elliot that lasted 1.5 years. thoughts on what
to do? trash the system?
 
@ stag3

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Klipsch...5&skuId=9382232&st=klipsch promedia&cp=1&lp=1

On sale right this second for $130, store pickup only. This is the route I should have chosen.

Since my last reply I notice my sub has lost a lot of punch. I have to crank it all the way up to get decent bass playing games and I never had to do that before. Music sounds ok (not great). The volume control has a little issue where I have to "flick" it with my finger to get both speakers at the same volume level.

I totally should have just bought new ones. SIGH.
 
I have had a very reliable pair of Ultra 5.1's that I've owned since around December of 2005. I've never had an issue out of them except for a static noise that fades within 3-4 seconds of toggling it to speaker mode from headphones (using the power button). Yesterday the speakers were working just fine without any issue; I awoke this morning to my control box not turning on and obviously the audio system not functioning. After unplugging and replugging in all cords I am having the issue; I opened up the sub amp and do not see any loose or burnt components. I do not believe it is a DIN plug issue since it is not broken or loose.

Does anybody happen to have any suggestions? I've skimmed the thread but haven't found any definite conclusions.
 
sent elliot my amp in late march, still no reply to emails, pms
all i wanna know is how long?
 
@klance88

3 months seems to be the norm. Call him, his phone # should be on your invoice.
 
i have no phone # on my invoice
If any of you have the number could you give it to me via IM?

thank you in advance
 
Just got my amp back from Henry (stpeteshepherd). Turnaround time from him was 3 days (weekend) starting from when the system arrived at his location. System sounds beautifully.

Good communication, highly recommended. Total was $90 including return shipping back to Cali.
 
I bought a stellar group of Klipsch 5.1 Ultras in Austin, TX for $100 back in 2004.

They functioned perfectly through 4+ moves. Then, the amp died. I had the amp repaired by Klipsch in August 2006. It's been working flawlessly for the past 4 years.

Fast forward to today.

I left the speakers on for a few hours while out and about, and came home to a nice whining sound. It was the subwoofer! The satellites were quiet, but the sub was making a horrible noise. The rear metal panel on the enclosure was extremely hot. The only thing that would quiet the system was toggling the power on the control module.

So, does anyone know what would cause the Klipsch subs to make such horrendous noises?
 
I bought a stellar group of Klipsch 5.1 Ultras in Austin, TX for $100 back in 2004.

They functioned perfectly through 4+ moves. Then, the amp died. I had the amp repaired by Klipsch in August 2006. It's been working flawlessly for the past 4 years.

Fast forward to today.

I left the speakers on for a few hours while out and about, and came home to a nice whining sound. It was the subwoofer! The satellites were quiet, but the sub was making a horrible noise. The rear metal panel on the enclosure was extremely hot. The only thing that would quiet the system was toggling the power on the control module.

So, does anyone know what would cause the Klipsch subs to make such horrendous noises?

These things love to overheat, especially the power supply and/or transformer. Since it seems like your system still has power, probably something else fried.
 
Yea, still has power. Still turns on.

Both subs are making a static-ish whining noise. Adjusting the sub level from min to max does not affect the sound emanating from the subs. The sats, however, still function, play music, etc. The control unit still functions perfectly.

Anything I can do to troubleshoot?

StPeteShepard?
 
I sent StPeteShepard an email and a link to this thread. I don't know if he is a [H] member, but there's a lot of business here for him.

I only have $160 invested in these speakers, and they've lasted 6 years. $100 initial purchase price and a $60 Klipsch factory repair 4 years ago. I think it'd be worth it to have these either repaired by Klipsch or StPeteShepard. (And be more careful about leaving the power on!)
 
It's amazing how long people will keep a good set of speakers. I still have my old Logitech Z-560 4.1 set(remember those?) and they still work as good now as they did back in 2001/2002 when I bought them. Although if I recall correctly I returned the first set in early 2002 because the sub blew and I got the set I have now. One of the best sounding PC speaker systems I have heard along with the Klipsch set. Then again i've been out of the loop so i'm sure something better is out. I do have to clean the volume pot on the pod because it crackles a bit when I turn it up.


I recall comparing the Klipsch and the Logitech set way back and they were about even, I picked the Z-560 because the sub shakes the room and it was cheaper. I just EQ everything and I still love the sound of them.
 
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Yea, I love these Klipsch 5.1 Ultras. They have amazingly powerful bass. The two 8" drivers are just short of a single 12" driver.

I would love to upgrade to something fit for a home theatre room, but law school eats up all my money! So I will just patch up these Ultras and sit tight for a while.
 
Yea, still has power. Still turns on.

Both subs are making a static-ish whining noise. Adjusting the sub level from min to max does not affect the sound emanating from the subs. The sats, however, still function, play music, etc. The control unit still functions perfectly.

Anything I can do to troubleshoot?

StPeteShepard?

Most likely the bash chip in the sub. When they go bad they usually cause crackling/whining. You can take the sub apart and wiggle the bash chip which control's the subs (one does subs and one does sat) to see if the noise changes.

Mine's having a problem from one of the chips, and I'm trying to locate a replacement. I've heard you can get them from harman audio for about $25. You have to then remove the old one and re-solder the new one if that is the problem.
 
im also having problem with my promedia 5.1 thx i think the bash module hc1011 is the culprit.. symptoms: satelite speakers cuts off randomly.. satelite also produce distortion and i noticed a lost of punch with my sub. i checked every weak points in the ac dc board( although my klipsch is still working and i didn't see any signs of charring) tested the 2n5551 transistor, the r527 resistor etc... i noticed my klipsch has factory upgraded resistors the suppose to be 1/4 watt resistor from r527 is 1 watt and r7 from the daughter board is 1 watt and other resistors are bigger than other klipsch owners here posted before.(probably because my klipsch release date was 2006) but the 22 uf caps 50v and the 47 uf caps 50v are still thesame max operating temp is 85c ill consider upgrading these parts to mil spec parts for durability ehancement. i also manufactured a bigger heatsinks for the ac dc board for added heat dissipation.

orded the module at harman audio in singapore and will arrive in 30 days. im in the philippines by the way.

I stumbled upon stpetesheperds old post on Ebay Regarding cooling kit upgrade for klipsch promedia 5.1 thx ultra.. i think this might be a help for others out there who's looking for a guide or some tips on how to troubleshoot their klipsch. :)

Tip #1: If your Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 system has lost just the satellites or just the sub, or these are intermittent, carefully inspect the white, the green and the orange-yellow connectors that link the boards together inside the sub. The connector's pins can lose their spring (due to current and heat, most likely), and one or more contacts becomes open.

Tip #2: If your Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 loses the sound after playing a short time, the problem may be the 2N5551 transistor on the power supply. although transistor is not a guaranteed fix you might want to give it a try. This problem happened most often on the older, THX panels. try to spray a component cooler on the transistor if it brings the sound back, that is good test to verify that the problem is the 2n5551 transistor.

Tip #3: If your system stops working, but the power supply makes high frequency noises, check the three small 22 microFarad and three 47 microFarad 50-volt capacitors on the power supply. Over time, the heat from the power supply starts to dry them out, changing the frequency in the power supply. Usually it is only the capacitors closest to the left heat sink (one 47 microFarad and one of the two closest 22 microFarad capacitors). This is just one of a couple dozen possible sources of failure, be sure the replacement capacitor are rated 50 volts or higher, and observe correct polarity.

Tip #4: If even your control box does not light up, check the 5 amp slow-blow fuse where the power enters the panel. If it has blown, check also the yellow or blue disk next to it for any signs of charring. That disk is a metal-oxide varistor, designed to sacrifice itself in case of a power line voltage spike. You can buy a replacement MOV and fuse at Radio Shack or any other electronic store.

Tip #5: If your system does not power up, and there is no high frequency sound from the power supply powering up (but the control box still lights), or the power supply is only supplying 30 volts to the regulator board (instead of 55 volts enroute to the satellite amplifiers), then there is a chance that a tiny, 1/8 watt 205,000 ohm 1% tolerance precision resistor on the miniboard to the right of the right side heat sink on the power supply has changed value. 1% means it must measure between 203k and 207k ohms. The resistor is immediately below the small black transistor at the upper left corner of the miniboard on the power supply board.

Tip #6: If your control box lights, but there is no voltage going to the amplifier boards and no high frequency sound from the power supply board, look if either of the two MOSFETs on the right power supply board have shorted. If they fail, there are probably also damaged resistors, (e.g., 22-ohm and 392 ohm) that must be replaced at the same time. both resistors are located at the daughter board.

Tip #7: if A few bridge rectifiers have failed at the entry point of the power supply board. While rare, this is an easy fix.

Tip #8: If your panel produces a hum in the speakers, you can replace a set of 4 electrolytic capacitors on the main panel: two 100mfd 35v [start with these two--they are easiest to reach and are the usual causes of hum], and two 100mfd 16v.

Tip #9: This is harder to diagnose, but if you get 55V into the regulator board for the satellites and 85v in for the subwoofer channel, but the output voltage is 0 or far higher than a range of 7.2 -9.8 volts to the satellite amplifiers [0 or far higher than 10 - 11 volts to the subwoofer amplifier], then you may need a new HC1011 chip. There are two of these on the regulator board, one for the satellites, and one for the subwoofer amplifier.

Tip #10: If you still have subwoofer but no satellite sound, check the voltage going to the five satellite amplifier boards. If it is -.47 volt, there may be a 22 volt zener diode on the power supply that has failed. (It sits next to a hot heat sink, like transistor 2N5551 [Tip #2]. 2N5551 produces similar symptoms but usually works for a few seconds when still cold.
 
My 6 year old set, which has had the amp fixed already, started hissing yesterday morning. I took the sub apart and one of the HC1011 chips is buzzing. So I assume that's the problem. I read on here you can replace them for about $28, but my soldering skill sucks bad.

I also read some where else that a bad power supply is what causes the HC1011 chips to go bad and just replacing the chip won't fix the problem, it'll start hissing again in a few weeks.

Not liking my choices.
 
Best to get a budget amp and dump the sub/bash amp combo. That's what I did and then I upgraded the center channel to an RCX-4 and plan to get RSX-5 fronts eventually

When I look at big box store selections of HT stuff $cheap to $1000 even the regular Ultra satellites are bigger/heavier than retail stuff. I bought an Insignia receiver for about $180 that has 3 HDMI in and DTS-MS/DolbyHD decoders and I'm very happy.

I know it's not cheap but I've had my set since 2003 and had the amp blow 4 times.
 
@Kent:

So you've bypassed the bash amp and are just running this off the line level/speaker outputs on the receiver? or the sub from the LFE and the sats as mains?
 
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