A couple weeks ago, I wrote about my broken Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers. The flimsy, cheap DIN plug was no longer making a solid connection with the subwoofer. The Klipsch web site continued to show replacement controls pods as unavailable, so I elected to fix them myself instead.
For those that are looking to do the same thing, here's the parts list:
- Broken Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers
- Replacement 5-pin DIN plug (scavenged from a 6ft. MIDI cable)
- Klipsch DIN plug wiring diagram
- A digital multimeter (highly recommended)
- Soldering iron & solder
- Wire strippers
- Electrical tape
Start by unplugging the DIN connector from the subwoofer and disconnect the control pod from your satellite speaker. To do this, push back on the control pod towards the base of the speaker. It took quite a bit of pushing and prodding to get mine disconnected. Eventually, it'll come off. Now cut the wire about 6 inches back from the DIN plug so that you have plenty of wire to work with. Use your DMM to ensure the wiring diagram for your DIN plug is accurate.
Now, snip the MIDI cable leaving as much extra wire as you want spliced back in to your speaker setup. Use your DMM to identify which color wire corresponds to each pin as indicated on the DIN plug wiring diagram. If the colors are different, make a note of it on your diagram next to the color that corresponds to the same wire on your Klipsch speakers. You now have identified the wires from the two cables that need to be soldered together.
If the wiring for your control pod is the same as mine, you'll see that there isn't a regular "wire" for the ground. Instead, it's spread out as many small, thin wires contained within the cable body. Just twist them all together so that you have one solid wire to connect to the other cable's ground wire.
Use your wiring diagram to twist the wires together connecting the corresponding colors. Use your DMM again (can't be too careful!) to verify that you've identified the wires correctly and matched them up accurately. Now you can solder the connections to make them permanent.
At this point, I put two coats of liquid electrical tape over the exposed wire. Once that had sufficiently dried, each connection was wrapped in regular electrical tape before bundling them all together for a final wrapping.
If you've done everything right, you should now have a solid DIN plug that fits snugly into your subwoofer.
NOTE: I can't stress enough how important it is that you verify the wiring on your replacement DIN plug. Do NOT assume it will be the same as your Klipsch cable. The replacement cable I purchased did NOT follow the same color combinations. If you cross the wires when doing the splice, you WILL damage your speakers further - perhaps to a point that they can no longer be repaired.