Problem with Speakers...I think

[KaRRiLLioN]

I've got some Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers I got about 2-3 years ago and I've changed PC's about 4 times since I've had them, each time using a Soundblaster of some sort. My current PC and last one both have Audigy 2's in them. Anyway, I just recently started having issues where instead of sound coming from the center sides and rear speakers, I'd only get a low buzzing from the sub whenever a sound was playing. This happens in games, or even when doing non-games tasks on my PC. I switched out the Audigy 2 from my other PC to test it and still get the same issue.

The only way to temporarily fix this issue is to turn off the power at the main control, and if that doesn't work then I unplug the power from the sub, since all the other speakers are channeled thru it.

Has anyone else ever had this issue? Should I be getting new speakers? For the price, if these speakers are bad, they didn't last very long. Ugh.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Is this a constant hum? No other sounds come out the speakers like they're supposed to?

What happens when you hook up just the front input to a portable cd player or an mp3 player etc.?

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

No, not a constant hum, but whenever a sound is supposed to come from the speakers, instead I hear a very muted approximation of that noise coming from the sub only as if only the low range of the sound is coming out.

By front port, do you mean the front audio jacks on the PC? I don't have those hooked up to the mobo since I'm using a dedicated soundcard.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: KaRRiLLioN
No, not a constant hum, but whenever a sound is supposed to come from the speakers, instead I hear a very muted approximation of that noise coming from the sub only as if only the low range of the sound is coming out.

By front port, do you mean the front audio jacks on the PC? I don't have those hooked up to the mobo since I'm using a dedicated soundcard.

I just mean the green jack on the speakers.

I wanted you to try a different source for the speakers (the cd player etc.) vs the computer just so we can eliminate the computer as being the source of the problem (even though you did try a different soundcard).

So basically I mean take the green black and orange 3.5mm speaker connections out from your soundcard and plug the green one into a portable audio player. See if the correct sound comes out of the sub and FR,FL speakers or if the problems persists.

If the speakers work right, then it would seem that the problem lies somewhere before the sound gets to your speakers in your comptuer.
If the speakers are still bad, then it's a speaker problem for sure.

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

OK, good idea. I'll try to find some alternate speakers to test it out.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: KaRRiLLioN
OK, good idea. I'll try to find some alternate speakers to test it out.

That's a good idea too.

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

OK, well I hooked up some small speakers to the green port, i.e. main sound port and they worked fine, so I'm pretty sure it's the Klipsch speakers. Almost like the Sub isn't passing the signal on to the other speakers. It sounds like a low base muffled version of what should be coming out of the other speakers.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Well, definately sounds like somthing went wrong with your speakers then.

I'd ask if you were sure you set them up right for connections of speakers to sub, but if you've had them for 2-3 years, then I'm sure you did it right.

I don't know how long the Klipsch warranty is, but you might want to e-mail them with your problem and see what they say.

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

Yep, and they only come with a 1-year warranty, from what I read on their website. I bought them back in March 2002 for $400 and they're already dead. What crap. Now I guess I need to find something with good quality to replace them. I liked their sound quality, but for something that costs so much to die within 3 years makes me very hesitant to get it again.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: KaRRiLLioN
Yep, and they only come with a 1-year warranty, from what I read on their website. I bought them back in March 2002 for $400 and they're already dead. What crap. Now I guess I need to find something with good quality to replace them. I liked their sound quality, but for something that costs so much to die within 3 years makes me very hesitant to get it again.

Yeah, that bites they didn't last longer, but at least they didn't die 366 days after you bought them

This problem might be something repairable though... might want to shoot an e-mail to Klipsch just to check to see if they can figure out what the problem is.

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

I may, considering how most 7.1 speaker systems cost under $100 today and their 5.1 system is still ~$300 you'd think they'd have some better selling points than a 1-year warranty.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: KaRRiLLioN
I may, considering how most 7.1 speaker systems cost under $100 today and their 5.1 system is still ~$300 you'd think they'd have some better selling points than a 1-year warranty.

Generally the $100 5.1 or 7.1 systems are going to be pretty lousy. Not anything near the quality of your promedias. 7.1 doesn't make much of a difference either.

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

I'm sure you're right. It's just that I expect more quality for that kind of money. I'll call them monday and tell them what it's doing. Maybe it's something simple. Otherwise I'm going to me looking for more speakers. Back when I remodeled my office, I ran speaker cables thru the walls and put speaker jacks on the walls to place my rears perfectly behind my PC for a good effect. I suppose I'll go with them again if there's no other good quality speakers to get.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: KaRRiLLioN
I'm sure you're right. It's just that I expect more quality for that kind of money. I'll call them monday and tell them what it's doing. Maybe it's something simple. Otherwise I'm going to me looking for more speakers. Back when I remodeled my office, I ran speaker cables thru the walls and put speaker jacks on the walls to place my rears perfectly behind my PC for a good effect. I suppose I'll go with them again if there's no other good quality speakers to get.

If you have the space and speaker wire already run, you might want to look into getting an actual HT set going.

EDIT: nice deal on ELTs right now

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

You mean with a true receiver?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: KaRRiLLioN
You mean with a true receiver?

yep

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

After contacting Klipsch, it appears this is a well known problem to them regarding their THX 5.1 system and that they had extended the warranty on them to 2 years...which does me no good since I got them in 2002.

I went to pricegrabber looking at more speakers and there are a ton of negative reviews on these. Lots of people had these die on them quickly. I guess I was one of the lucky (unlucky) ones whose lasted longer, but are now out of their warranty. They say they'll fix them for $90 but it'll take 3 weeks or more.

Bah, after all those reviews I think I'll give up on Klipsch. I emailed them explaining this, but I doubt I'll get satisfaction on it. I'm not quite up on getting a "real" sound system since I already have an Onkyo 5.1 hooked up to my 65" TV. Maybe the creative Gigaworks or something will be better. I doubt I'll go to Logitech since I've heard the sound clarity isn't the best on them.

 

[Tiamat]

The following statement is of no use to you but ill say it anyways:

Im so glad i got the Best Buy Warantee. They gave me Ultra 5.1s when I showed them the "well known headphone port problem".


I think you should go get some "real" speakers now. PC speakers do not get much better than then Klipsch's. However, PC speaker audio quality barely scrapes the surface of audio quality that you have missed all of these years.

If you have some money and require 5.1, I recommend what yoyo..jello recommended and other sets like HSU ventriloquist w/ STF2 subwoofer.

yoyo...jello can probably help you with receivers as I am clueless in that realm.

If you want to do hifi stereo, I can brush some brands by you that I have personally auditioned and purchased.


Finally, if you want to do research on your own, hop on to www.avsforum.com and check out their audio section.

 

[imported_skyxliner]

well i was picking between the klipschs and logitech z5500 and i've read too many reviews on the bad defective subs... maybe u can contact klipsch to give you a new sub because it was defective from the start.... so its not necessary a warranty issue right?

just say that this problem happened for a while ago but i was never notified with the second year warranty =P maybe they'll give some leeway

also i just purchased the logis saturday, i believe it'll be more reliable then klipschs

 

[watek]

if you're going to stay with pc speakers, you can't go wrong with logitech even if their sound don't suit you..

you get excellent customer service with logitech..they provide 3 year warranty and add another 1-2 years extended

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

Do you have any issues with some white noise coming from Logis? I read something about that on the Pricegrabber reviews. How are the Creative Gigas?

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

After digging thru some other threads, I found more info on getting a 'real' sound system. It appears that you could get an Onkyo system for about the same price as a Klipsch one. Is the sound quality better do you think? They have some in the $300 range and $400 which is about the same price as you'd pay for Klipsch. For me the only downside would be finding space to put the receiver, and it'd be overkill considering I would only use the thing for my PC, but for the price it's kinda hard to pass up.

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catOid/...1308/link/ref/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The onkyo 780 is supposed to be a pretty solid set for the price. Check out AVSforum in the HTIB area for other ideas.

Be aware that if space is a concern, the onkyo speakers are significantly larger than the Klipsch set.

Front speaker = 17.1 x 6.2 x 7.9
Klipsch satellite = 8.5 x 4.2 x 5.67

(A lot heavier too)

Rocket tykes would be a more similar size but would be a nice set.