Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

[mr.tight]

Hello there,

Thanks for reading this. I just want to post on here and see what happens. If I don't have any joy, I will simply get a replacement system, but it would be nice to know what the problem is. I have a multi-meter, but it needs a battery. If someone is able to guide me, I will do whatever it takes.

My pc speakers have worked very well for many years (13 in fact!), http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Ins.../dp/B00005Z21D , but the other night, there was a loud thud from the sub-woofer, the green led on the volume controller went out, followed by an increasingly loud hum which forced me to switch it off quick. (There is no audio at all). I have had a look at the circuit board, but do not notice any obviously bad components.

Like I said, I do have a multimeter, and if anyone is able to talk me through the diagnostics process, I would be really grateful. I am happy to take pictures of it and anything else you require in order to solve the problem.
There is someone selling the very same speakers for £20, but before buying them off him, I would at least like to know my options. I have lots of time on my hands, which is why I am willing to try and save a few pennies. These speakers are great, and it would be sad to throw them out.

Many thanks

[diif]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

We need to see some photos of the board first.

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Thank you. I will do that now, so hopefully in the next hour.

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

OK. Here is the board. Seems better without flash. Back of unit, side of heat protector (?), and main board back and front. Is there a possibility the problem could be the wired volume controller? When I opened up the controller, there was a smell to it, but others have told me it won't be that.

Thanks for you help. My multimeter is a cheap basic one, but hopefully will do what I need.

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Thinking about this some more, and perhaps it's not worth trying to fix. I would have to buy a battery for my multimeter, and even if I did find the bad component, chances are I would have to buy a pack of them. If I can knock this guy down to £15, I would then have spare parts if it ever went wrong again. Would you agree?

Hah! Cost of sending would be at least £16 in the UK. Back to plan A

[Khron]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

One first thing to try would be, with all speakers disconnected (including the subwoofer driver), to measure for DC on the outputs.

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

One first thing to try would be, with all speakers disconnected (including the subwoofer driver), to measure for DC on the outputs.

Sub-woofer driver? Not sure what you mean by that. How do I measure that please? I have very little knowledge of such things. When you say "outputs", do you mean the connectors that go to the subwoofer speaker? One person told me that the "circuit is open" due to the increasing hum from it when it's switched on.

[Khron]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Ehrm... You said you had a multimeter, right? What about a soldering iron?

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Yes I have a soldering iron, and was just waiting to see what response I got on here before buying a battery for the multi-meter (as I probably won't be using it again for a few years).

[Khron]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Well, since this is a cheap-ish 5.1 system, i'm pretty sure all the electronics are built into the subwoofer box, correct?

PS: Are you seriously trying to imply that shelling out a few pence for a 9v from Poundland or whatever, is too great of an investment? Really?

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

The main board is indeed in the sub-woofer unit. The only other part is in the volume controller, and I can see some (a handful) of components in there, but I wasn't able to get a good look at them. I don't call myself Mr Tight for nothing! lol. Seriously though, it's one of those little batteries (half the length of a AA), and that could end up costing a fiver. I don't mind, but if no one is able to guide me in testing the circuit, then it would be a waste of money. A part of me says throw it out and spend 60 on the new Creative 5.1, but I am interested to find out what is wrong with it. I enjoyed repairing my LG monitor a while back by replacing 9 capacitors (thanks to this forum).

[Khron]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Gotta hate non-standard crap... >_<

Well, either way, measuring for DC on the outputs would at least indicate if any of the amplifiers are blown. That's why it would be best to also desolder the wires going to the subwoofer driver (speaker) itself, so you won't risk damaging it (further) when you turn the thing on again, for testing.

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

The speaker wires are just clipped on, and I had to disconnect them anyway to remove the board. If I get a battery tomorrow, would you help me by explaining what to test? Do I just need to use the resistance setting to check for continuity? Is there a way of eliminating the volume controller as the culprit? Turning the dial will switch on the power, but the green light is no longer on when I do. The only reason I am suspicious of the volume controller, is that it smelled when I took it apart. I know it's only a switch, but the lack of a green light is odd. I can spend £60 on a new one, buy the second hand one for £35 (including posting), or try and fix it myself. Not sure what to do.

[Khron]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Well, the cost of the repair's gonna be detemined mainly by what's toast, really.

No green light means something's not quite right with the power supply. Once again, not something you can test by magic or imagination, i'm afraid.

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Well, the cost of the repair's gonna be detemined mainly by what's toast, really.

Yes that is a concern. When the fault occurred (and it made a very loud bang/boom/thud), I could've damaged any of the satellite speakers and/or the main subwoofer speaker. If I switch it on now, the subwoofer speaker physically dips, then it starts to hum from quiet to loud. Do you think I should give up and go for a new one? I have always been extremely happy with this system as the sound is (was) still excellent after all these years, but their new systems have a stupid auto-power off after 15 mins of no sound, which is not practical for pc use. Sometimes I want to hear a message come in, so their new device would likely be off at that point. No idea why they would want to introduce that feature.

[Khron]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Well, that's one more thing a "living" multimeter would help find out. And to be honest, i'd try to NOT turn it on any longer, especially with any of the speaker drivers connected (subwoofer included).

If it dips visibly, that's gonna be a LOT of DC on the output, which would indeed point towards some blown power amp.

[mr.tight]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

That's interesting. I assumed the amplifier was a single component of sorts, but apparently not. I suppose the other thing is that there could be several damaged components because of this fault, but I don't see anything obviously burnt or bloated on the board. Not that I really know what to look for.

[Khron]

Re: Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Please help me find bad component

Parts don't need to be visually blown, to be faulty. And the amplifiers are those two black rectangular multi-legged components, mounted on heatsinks.

I'm guessing car-audio amps, single-supply (around 12-14v), 4ch per package, with two of the channels bridged on the subwoofer.