Klipsch RW-12d Subwoofer - Only $299 - Save 70% - Page 7

Last day to get in on the offer, so tempting....

And if its not DOA, but found to be shipping damage then the games begin as with any retailer / shipper.. As for amp damping one should go to the amp, sub and speaker section of this forum.... I just wanted to bring up a tech fact, for those who know nothing about such things..

Received mine yesterday and like a few others the reflex port was loose and clunking around free inside the cabinet/enclosure. Disappointing, but Newegg was pretty quick on the RMA I will say. After calling up, they had an RMA# and prepaid return label emailed to me a few minutes after I got off the phone with them. I even arranged the UPS pickup the same day and now it's on its way back. Burned off some calories at least.

The interesting thing is, the shipping boxes were in good shape. From the look of the photos here, they're using some sort of adhesive/glue to secure the port? I wonder if the adhesive is prone to failure over time, perhaps aided by less than ideal storage conditions (temperature/humidity). I know the RW-12d has been around (and discontinued) for a while.

My best guess would be that the last pallet of Klipsch RW-12d was dropped hard so to shake all these ports loose...
If the glue was not ageing well, there would be more talk about it..
Edited by joehonest - 12/13/12 at 5:56am

Makes sense. A guy on the fork lift slams the palet full of subs against the concrete floor. I've seen that happen many times.

So basically everyone is getting theirs with the detached port? Wonderful. To glue or to RMA, that is the question...

Mine came yesterday, outside box looks fine but I haven't opened it yet, trying to make time to inspect everything.

FedEx delivered mine while I wasn't home, massive box sitting in front of my garage when I came back

If all else is good I would glue it, you could get something worse or a refund cause their out of stock, forever.
As long as the driver out, you might want to line the walls with padding, it should make this sub even better.

Yeah, I'd like to glue, but then I would assume that would void any kind of warranty and make any returns thereafter impossible.

Only two things can go wrong, the amp and the driver, opening it up wouldn't hurt anything. Klipsch would likely have you send them the bad part and they would send you a replacement.

There has been talk about it, in the past about the port tube coming loose and the grille pegs falling off. I recommend doing a self repair rather than sending it back. The internal sub is really simple and the port tube can be repaired in 30-min or less.

I don't know if this sub will really, really, really, be discontinued NewEgg and Klipsch have a master plan

Here's a link that is almost a year old. http://www.avsforum.com/t/1375790/klipsch-rw-12d-question/30

Here's how to repair the port if you don't want to send it back.

Un-screw the screws holding the woofer in place. Make sure you don't puncher the woofer cone. Pay attention to the wires + and - terminals when getting the woofer out.
When I repaired the port/baffle on my sub I used Clear Perma Poxy. It set's in 5-min and cures in about 3-hours. About 8.00 bucks for it.
Take some of the 2-part Poxy and mix it together. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS when using the POXY and don't get it on your hands.
Apply it around the bottom of the baffle where it connects and or joins and hold it in place for a few mins.
Don't worry about trying to get it all the way around where it connects as you will not be able to reach the very bottom. I used a plastic butter knife to spread it.
It will not come loose again once the POXY dries.
Good Luck
Edited by Ray77085 - 12/13/12 at 12:08pm

I'm posting this again in case somebody missed my other post in this thread:

This fix uses electrical tape.

Two ways to put the tube back in the port:
1. Take out the driver, then put one layer of electrical tape on the tube's outer surface, only on the area that will be inserted into the front port, may be 1 cm away from the edge. Then put one layer on the inside flange of the front port.

2. Without taking the driver out, put two layers of electrical tape on the inside flange of the front port.

#2 will require you to pull the tube from within it and only if your arm can go through all the way in and you can grab the other end of the tube and only then you can pull it in place.

Then squeeze in and it will make a very tight fit.

Just got it and sure enough, the port is loose.

Well,
You have repair options already posted above or you can take a chance on getting another of the same via a RMA !!

Yeah, I'm going to do it myself. So the bottom is the only place where the port tube attaches? And is there a trick to disconnecting the wires to the speaker? They're on so tight I'm afraid of yanking the terminal off, which is a classic move of mine.

I think the bottom is the point of attachment as it's been a while since my repair. You should be able to look inside and see where the assembly glue was to hold it in place. Don't pull on the wires!! The spades should slide off the speaker terminals. If not use a small flat head screw driver.

Mine came an the port tube is completely disconnected rattling around in it. Starting repair now

I'm assuming I would be more wise to go and get liquid nails or silicone epoxy rather than the bathroom caulk that I have. Off to Home Depot we go.

God help me when I try getting the wires back on the terminal.

Looking inside the enclosure why not have a bracket to hold the top of the tube to alleviate the issue? Oh well.

I used the electrical tape method for now, seems to work fine.

I haven't had a real sub before and I'm not sure how to set it. My receiver is a Yamaha-RX2700 that a friend gave me (the HDMI doesn't work). I don't have Audyssey etc or a mic for YPAO or whatever their version is. What's a good starting point for the volume on the sub?

I got plastic specific epoxy (loctite) which is setting now.

Not sure what you mean by volume but your crossover should be around 80hz. Depending on the bottom freq set for your fronts. You want a smooth overlap between the frequencies of the fronts and the sub. Actual volume is to taste I guess.

Just before the windows crack is good.

Since it's a new toy, you'll probably have it louder than it should be for a while. Eventually, you'll want it to blend with your other speakers, not call attention to itself. HSU has nice test tones (http://files.hsuresearch.com/downloads/) with a sweep down from 200Hz. Run that and try to get a smooth transition from your mains through the crossover point to the deep bass.

That also lets you play with the settings (Flat, Boost, etc.) to see what you prefer.

Have fun.

Okay, I give up: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?!?!?!

Excellent, thank you!

Also, for the crawl method of finding the best position, do I put the sub actually up on my sofa, i.e., up on the cushion? Or do I move the sofa and put the sub in the spot?

The loctite plastic epoxy basically welded the port tube to the exit port. It would take an act of God to break it now.

Highly recommend it

Sorry for all the stupid questions, but on the HSU test tones, if I have my crossover set at 80, should I be hearing anything out of my front speakers below that? I.e., my fronts don't go silent until I hit the 40hz tone even though I've got the crossover set at 80 in my receiver.

There should be crossovers for the sub and fronts. So set your sub to 80 and fronts to 70 or 80. You might have the fronts crossover set too low, sounds like its set to 40

Should be a good starting point.

I've got the "low pass" on the Klipsch set to "Off (LFE Mode)", and the "bass crossover" on the receiver set to 80hz. But with the sub muted, I'm still hearing tones out of the fronts until I hit what is supposedly the 40hz tone on the HSU mp3.

With the receiver crossover set as high as it will go, 200hz, the test tones fade to inaudibility between 63hz and 50hz. I made sure the fronts are set to "small" in the receiver and "bass out" is set to "subwoofer" only.

edit: Gonna ask this in the Yamaha RX-V2700 owners' thread too. The manual says about the bass crossover: "all frequencies below the selected frequency will be sent to the subwoofer or to the speakers set to 'Large'". But this definitely doesn't seem to be the case.
Edited by curttard - 12/13/12 at 8:57pm

your sub is set correctly and so is your receiver apparently. you are sure there isnt a frequency range setup for your fronts that may be over riding the bass crossover? what receiver do you have?

interesting. you have your ducks in a row. curious to see what the problem turns out to be. keep us posted.

Just got mine today, same loose port issue. I maneuvered it into place, and seems like it's set. I plan to buy some gorilla tape to apply around the circumference of the joint to reinforce the set and to seal out any air. This way I don't have to mess with glue and have reasonable confidence the port will never pull away. It will be damn stronger then the bit of glue used by the oem. Seems like they were afraid of an uber tight seal for some reason (or just stupid).