SUB-TS15 making strange noises - easy repair 

Omg ! I took the subwoofer to get a quote and the guy said " In my experience we need to change the all 4 capacitors and it cost $80 dolars each ! " I came back home, saw this video and now is working as new !! Thanks mate.

Was just given one of these subs. Person said it was growling and popping (claimed the amp was blown). After seeing your video, 20 minutes later, it is good as new! TYVM!

I was unfortunate to come across this video a bit late, by then I had attempted to change the capacitors and the transistors on the pcb. But after seeing this video I first checked if the glue on the board had become conductive, only to find it very conducive. So I removed the glue using isopropyl alcohol. I was clueless about this before I saw the video, and now my subwoofer is glueless after I saw your video. Thanks a ton for posting this. Saved my subwoofer from going to the dump.

Let me share my experiences for those who already applied all the actions in this video and still have the problem. I checked the values of all the polarized capacitors and discovered failure of the 10 uF bipolar capacitors at the output stage of the Class-D card. I had a difficulty to find them in the market, therefore I created these 10 uF bipolar caps with two 22 uF caps (with higher rated voltage!) connected in series like this: + -- + I mounted two heatsinks on the transistors on +-15 regulator stage in order to reduce the heat stress on the board and to avoid carbonization in this area. Then I cleaned the preamplifier board with a PCB cleaner and used an electrical contact cleaner spray for the switches and volume potentiometer. After the application of the spray it was possible to feel the reduction of the force needed to move the switches and volume potentiometer. The potentiometer become too loose. After all of these, in the first attempt still there was the same problem (random parasitic spikes). Then I left the board aside for a couple days to let the spray evaporate also from the deeper areas of the switches and potentiometer. The potentiometer feeling became normal again. Later I tested the board and everything was OK like the touch of a magic stick.

I thought my Definitive Mythos STS had a bleeding cap, but was super pleased to find your video before getting that deep into board repair!

thank you! was almost about to cry when i plugged it in and heard the popping no more :) many many thanks!

I have a set of 14s that I needed to pull the board of the sub to push out a broken jack head. Your struggle with the back plate inspired me to keep trying and I fixed it. So thanks! :) Two thumbs up!

Thank you so much, mine is about 10 years old and had this issue. Fixed it thanks to this video. I also noticed that the main power pcb was overheated, resistor R146 was toasted but still works. Seems to be a lot of overheat, im surprised it still works. I only notice that sound is not as powerful as before.

Was about to buy a new sub, then I saw this video. Old one is working good as new now. Thanks!

I have this exact problem. I don't know if i'll be able to fix it (i'm not that handy with soldering and stuff) but it at least made me understand the problem. Thanks a bunch! Edit: I have a SUB-TS7. I opened it up and removed a lot of glue, with a sharp knife and tweezers. This fixed it!

Just tried this on an old Infinity sub that was making popping/thud noises. It worked!!! I can’t believe that’s all it was. I had to desolder a small circuit board, clean it, and reattach. Didn’t need to replace parts or anything. Thanks for this video!

This was the exact problem and solution to my SUB-TS7. Thanks very much.

Thanks a lot, I just started fixing electrical, I’m trying to make it a full time job, I’m 45 my mind is not as good as young but I’m going to give it a try, thanks alot.

Update for those who get low volume even after removing glue. I fixed this by changing almost all electrolytic caps, they read bad values with ESR meter, and by resoldering almost all the dry soldier joints in the limiter pcb (the small one) Now I have full volume =)

i'm glad i caught this vid before my parts arrived. sure enough, i believe the components that failed are because some of this glue was bridging where it shouldn't have.. i'll be cleaning this crud off

How dare you! Hk installed that glue, so you have to buy another sub! You're defeating the whole purpose! Well, I hope you enjoy your sub for many years to come.

I have same problem, but thanks to you, i fixit. Thanks 👍🙂

Excellent video! All Harman Kardon subs from this time period suffer from overheating. I would recommend to switch off the sub whenever it is not in use. More convenient but also more challenging is to either install a relais that does the switching automatically or install a switching power supply in stead of the one that uses dissipation to regulate the voltage. HK should of cause have used a different kind of glue but first of all the design of the subs is poor in the sense that they will get too hot. This is especially harmful to: - the glue - the electrolytic capacitors - the PCB. Removing the glue and replacing bad caps will repair the sub (in most cases) but the fundamental flaw remains. So don’t leave the sub on when not used. Just so that you have been warned. Otherwise enjoy the sub!

Thank you so much for the technical information bro

Excellent video Tom, and for once a RU-vid video with music that is enjoyable!!

I paid for a repair, $140. Wish I knew about this first!

Love the dnb at the end!

Thanks mate , i will this on coming weekend... 😀

Thanks for the video! I was able to bring my sub back to life by cleaning out all the old adhesive, although the volume was only 1/4 normal. I found quite of bit of heat damage on the board so I decided to retire it instead of risking a fire.

Thanks so much for your video, it's working perfectly now!

Ohh here it is my solution i have same problem on my sub i hope this method will work on my speakers

have same problem two ears ago with my sub (BOSTON) and i put to the garbage....to late, is gone. thank's for the next time .

Man, you made my day! Thank you very much! Works for me with Jbl SUB136.

Thanks for the guide! I was sure my sub was fine. Thisted fixed IT.

Una consulta tengo un ts15 igual se me dañó la tarjeta del amp quiero sustituirla, cuales serían las salidas de audio del preamplificador para conectarla al nuevo amplificador?

If you take the sub out like i did to mine just hit it from the inside out with a hammer blow. It took a couple of them but worked like a charm. When in doubt, punch stuff

ahhaha, i was facing this weird speaker static noise for very long time and yes my wire is grounded so what i did was , add an extra wire to the speaker{naked and separate} in hope to distribute current off a bit, it did work, but not much but it was still bad.......so yesterday while testing this aux cable for it turns out if u dont fully insert the aux woofer cable and just let it touch the suface, the whole audio issues goes away and my excited ass was happy as hell and in realising so i tested it for couple of times but when i testing the speakers the third wire i connected to reduce the static humming , i didnt realise i was connecting both 2 positive wire in same inlet which firstly only made static noise, but later on multiple tries it fused the capapcitor ,,,,and now im facing the same issue...

very good congratulations

Muchas gracias!!! Acabo de arreglar mi sub ts7 con el mismo problema

I have same problem. Will check it. Thanks!

I had the same struggle removing a plate amplifier. It came off easily with a suction cup. nice video

Hi i have the same problem but when i open the unit is different transformer

I had the the same problem. And the LED light does not change to blue... I don't know what happened..

I have a same woofer, when I turn it on the light💡 doesn't turn blue 🔵 stays yellow 🟡. What might be the issues. Pls help

Thought the newer models had exactly the same problem. So it's done that way just to let you buy a new one after a fire breaks down your house.

Why not re move speaker and push it out from inside

is there any way I can rebuild the limiter circuit? mine is pretty damaged!

On an other youtuube i saw the plate heatedfirst to make it easier release

Has anyone suggestions on how to lift up the module? It’s driving me to despair! 😩

Well that's interesting !

Wow i got the same harman kardon subwoofer... Mine fine... Conductive Adhesive

Hello! I have a TS-11 who needs spare parts! Please, Please help me to find a seller that commercialize parts for this SUB-TS11 Harman Kardon . Thks for the help.

I have a SUB like this, it is still working normally, will it be worth it to do it on it before I give this problem?

I took out the glue but now my sub is always on standby mode. Any advice?

Thanks a lot!

Hi I hope u can help, I have a SVS Sledge Sub woofer amp, which has developed a fault. I would like to know if you could help or diagnose the problem and may be repair. The issue is the subwoofer work fine for most part but suffers from intermittent sound distortion (sounds like a Geiger counter). After further investigation, using test tones, I discovered that the distortion occurs when playing sounds 45hz and below with the gain set to midway. If I reduce the gain to say less then ¼ then the distortion occurs below 30hz. I suspect this is because the amp is drawing less power at a lower gain level until it has to drive the driver at lower frequency. I have inspected the amp plate and I couldn't see any obvious causes like a failed capacitors or transistor. In fact the board looks in good shape no dust or even dirt.

Hello, I've come to this video multiple times and this actually helped. I removed every bit of that glue and now it doesn't make that shit sound anymore, good right? No. I've fixed it a month ago and yesterday I was listening on spotify and my Sub went in standby mode even when the music was turned on. I opened up the Control Board and checked for loose connections, there was a cable little bit loose but still won't go out of standby mode anyone help me?

Question... My Rel sub makes a humm inside, not throught the driver. Could you please give me any advice. Thank´s in advance.

I have a same problem with hkts 11 sub please help me

Hey TomTechTom, thanks for this video. I may just be able to salvage this Faux High end audio Harmon Karden Sub. Do you have any idea where that goop came from? I have it like you on that small circuit board but I also have it all over the bigger board and it's very difficult getting it off without damaging some of the components.

Yes it worked thanks

A shame, isn't it? One would think a company like Harman would know better. Any idea what the brown actually goo is?

Great video, mine is the exact same sub, but has a diferent problem, it stars normal and suddenly it stop working, but the top LED is white wich means it still getting signal, I power it off for a few minutes and start using it and sometimes it works normal but only for 2 0 3 minutes, any advise what the failure might be? Thanks in avance.

Happy to have found this video. I have the same model and problem. Trying to repair it now. But when I removed the screws and pulled the circuit board out of the box, I found that there is a plastic enclosure (box) around everything. In other words, it is sealed. Did you encounter this? I don't see how it comes apart.

The left and right high level output speakers do they work when using line-in? Or to they only work when using the speakers inputs wired to your amplifier?

Got the glue all cleaned up, got the one pin connector connected and am stuck on the higher one. Any advice?

my hkts 15 sub seems to be stuck at a ridiculously low volume/gain level. could this be a fix toward that ?

I experienced same noise with my ts11, i followed your instructions but i couldn't find any brown glue. any assists? thanks

I have a TS7 model, and I can't seem to pry loose the board. Did you heat it up first, to soften the glue?

How did you remove the brown stuff? Using a knife to scrub it off seems too damaging to me.

what if the complete amplifier board is black? still the glue? hahahaha

its harman kardonthey are not really good with subwoofers

Hy, first at all excuse my bad english, what can u say to me about this sub? I want to buy this version or his brother ts 11, but unfortunattely i cant test it,because the owner isnt t from my town..so...is that sub enough powerfull for an 25 square metre living? I have in my room the logitech z5500, if u know it, so how is the base at this harman sub? It s like z5500 s? Boomy, powerfull,club like? Or it s a different type of bass, low frequency bass,?

My Mordaunt Short Sub makes these noises.

Why do they use that glue if it becomes conductive over time?

Harman / Kardon 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

Hi I hope u can help, I have a SVS Sledge Sub woofer amp, which has developed a fault. I would like to know if you could help or diagnose the problem and may be repair. The issue is the subwoofer work fine for most part but suffers from intermittent sound distortion (sounds like a Geiger counter). After further investigation, using test tones, I discovered that the distortion occurs when playing sounds 45hz and below with the gain set to midway. If I reduce the gain to say less then ¼ then the distortion occurs below 30hz. I suspect this is because the amp is drawing less power at a lower gain level until it has to drive the driver at lower frequency. I have inspected the amp plate and I couldn't see any obvious causes like a failed capacitors or transistor. In fact the board looks in good shape no dust or even dirt.