O dear sub, hast thou woofed thy last?

April 17, 2010 9:37 AM

Is my subwoofer toast?

I have a large Klipsch subwoofer, not quite 3 years old, that no longer powers on.

It was constantly plugged directly in to the wall (I know...), so I fear it may have suffered a power surge.

It does have a replaceable fuse, but when I tried a fresh one, it powered on once and then instantly went off, blowing the new fuse in the process.

It is still under Klipsch's five year warranty, but they require the original receipt, which is long gone. I'm going to attempt to get a copy from the retailer, but even with proof of purchase I worry about this clause of the warranty:

This Warranty does not cover cosmetic damage or damage due to misuse, abuse, negligence, acts of God, accident, commercial use or modification of, or to any part of, the product. This Warranty does not cover damage due to improper operation, maintenance or installation, or attempted repair by anyone other than KLIPSCH or a KLIPSCH dealer which is authorized to do KLIPSCH warranty work.

For the record, the sub cost about $500 new. I know that home audio products have ridiculous markup, so I'm assuming that repairing components may be worthwhile compared to replacement.

I suppose, then, that my questions are:

Has anyone had a surged-out Klipsch product replaced under warranty?

If warranty repair is not an option, is there anything I can do myself (someone who knows their way around a computer, but doesn't know how to precision solder or anything)?

Is 3rd party repair likely to be worthwhile? Where should I take it (near Chicago)?

posted by Mr. Anthropomorphism to technology (3 answers total)

You could possibly contact Klipsch and ask if they would allow the manufacture date stamped on the sub to stand in as proof that it is within the warranty period.
Otherwise, you could just ask for a replacement amplifier and pay out of pocket for that (probably a few hundred dollars).
posted by ijoyner at 9:57 AM on April 17, 2010

If it blows replacement fuses, it is probably repairable. Usually that points to a short, which can be caused by about a million things. Your best course of action is to try to get a proof of purchase and have it repaired. They cannot tell if you had it plugged into a surge protector or not, so it is unlikely that you will be denied on those grounds.

Where I live, there is a TV repair shop that does a great job with these kinds of repairs, usually for 50-75 bucks.

If all that fails, you can open the sub and look at the circuit board for bulging capacitors or burnt components. These are sometimes able to be replaced, but don't bother until you have exhausted your other options.
posted by fake at 9:58 AM on April 17, 2010

Klipsch should be able to date it off the serial, so depending how nice they are you may be ok. Send an email or call them up. It's definitely fixable.
posted by Slinga at 10:43 AM on April 17, 2010