[Advice Sought] Corsair SP2500 - Blown PSU PCB Components!

Granted, I have had the system from the year it was released - so understandably the warrenty has well passed...

However, I find it a bitter pill to swallow whereby one morning, turned on my system, and then turned on the speakers to be greeted with a loud pop.

The speaker system was showing no signs of life.

So with my warrently firmly passed, I thought what the hey - lets see what happened and see if it is repairable.

Sure enough - opening the PSU panel first. And on one side I could see quite clearly that the fuse on the board had well and truely blown (blacked metal where it should be a single strand of metal within a 'glass' fuse). So I went an bought a like-for-like replacement. Fitted that and interestingly the system powers on.

The only issue is that there is simply NO increase in volume anymore. Sure enough, I set the dial to the maximum it will allow - and you get 'just-about' audible level of sound.

Re-opening the system again (obviously in all this, never connected to the mains whilst doing so!!!) - Took a look at the audio board this time. I could see nothing visually wrong here - all the capacitors looked normal also.

Re-checked the PSU board, and took a deeper look at the back side of it and noticed the following damage had occured understandable from the prior event that led to the fuse blowing. Perhaps then these components were the root cause of?!

Does seem miraculous that the system should power on at all - but it does. But I cannot help but wonder then if the audio-volume (or lack there-of) is due to the inability for the psu to provide that further boost in juice to the audio board to enable increased volume levels!?

I am otherwise curious on what I can do about repairing this, and get your advice and perhaps corsairs advice on what I can do.

It would be a bit of a kick in the nuts having paid over £200 for what was and still is a rather premium 2.1 audio system...

Which is a shame.

Even looking to ebay - you know, for one that could be spares and repairs is proving un-fruitful. All that seems to be available are near enough full priced units :/

Is there anyone official here who might be able to aid me in some way (pm me of course if preferred.

It doesn't speak well for a product like this to go 'tits-up' over nominal usage over a couple of years! Heck if it was to be designed as 'throw-away' it should be cheaper and/or come with spare parts being available to more easily obtain... which should be doable given you (Corsair) still manufacture them.

Granted, I have had the system from the year it was released - so understandably the warrenty has well passed...

 

However, I find it a bitter pill to swallow whereby one morning, turned on my system, and then turned on the speakers to be greeted with a loud pop.

 

The speaker system was showing no signs of life.

 

So with my warrently firmly passed, I thought what the hey - lets see what happened and see if it is repairable.

 

Sure enough - opening the PSU panel first. And on one side I could see quite clearly that the fuse on the board had well and truely blown (blacked metal where it should be a single strand of metal within a 'glass' fuse). So I went an bought a like-for-like replacement. Fitted that and interestingly the system powers on.

 

The only issue is that there is simply NO increase in volume anymore. Sure enough, I set the dial to the maximum it will allow - and you get 'just-about' audible level of sound.

 

Re-opening the system again (obviously in all this, never connected to the mains whilst doing so!!!) - Took a look at the audio board this time. I could see nothing visually wrong here - all the capacitors looked normal also.

 

Re-checked the PSU board, and took a deeper look at the back side of it and noticed the following damage had occured understandable from the prior event that led to the fuse blowing. Perhaps then these components were the root cause of?!

 

Does seem miraculous that the system should power on at all - but it does. But I cannot help but wonder then if the audio-volume (or lack there-of) is due to the inability for the psu to provide that further boost in juice to the audio board to enable increased volume levels!?

 

I am otherwise curious on what I can do about repairing this, and get your advice and perhaps corsairs advice on what I can do.

 

It would be a bit of a kick in the nuts having paid over £200 for what was and still is a rather premium 2.1 audio system...

I feel you pain on this Arkronis.

Mine system has had exactly the same issue and there are no spares or refurbs to be found anywhere in AP/Oceania.

I've had my system for 2.5 years and it was working fine the day before.

I was surprised to see that ghastly goop all over the IC's and resistors. I expected a higher level of QA from a Corsair product.

Here's a happy coincidence. My speakers have failed in the exact same way!

http://i.imgur.com/n2XYclDt.jpg?1

So I guess this must be what happened to me as below then? I haven't opened it up though.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=153289&highlight=sp2500

Any option other than to throw away this expensive bit of kit?

So I guess this must be what happened to me as below then? I haven't opened it up though.

 

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=153289&highlight=sp2500

 

Any option other than to throw away this expensive bit of kit?

If it's still within warranty, we may be able to replace it if we still have them in inventory. Create a ticket at https://corsair.secure.force.com and we'll see what we can do.

Corsair are entirely unhelpful despite this being an obvious design fault.

For the people like me who've had their speakers blow up just out of warranty, it is possible to get your speakers back up and running with a couple of external plug packs.

Same problem here, 2,5 years old, big bang, dead, same pictures. A specialist opened it up and concluded that there was a fault in the design also.

Corsair has positioned the SP2500 as a high end speaker setup. But for this amount of money (285 euro) this may not happen. :mad:

Only one thing on my mind......why didn't I buy the Edifier S530? :sigh!:

Corsair are entirely unhelpful despite this being an obvious design fault.

For the people like me who've had their speakers blow up just out of warranty, it is possible to get your speakers back up and running with a couple of external plug packs.

Zetsubou, did you get them up and running again? Can you give us some more info how you did it :biggrin:

Hi Folks,

I bought a set of these for my Mum just over two years back, and they've suffered the very same fate! Blown and burnt components on the PSU board. Corsair are being absolutely useless, as I see they are with everyone else who has this issue.

I'm keen to find out what sort of PSU these speakers require, as surely they could be brought back to life with a replacement PSU from somewhere? Maybe even a desktop PC PSU?

Does anyone have any ideas? These speakers were her pride and joy (She's a big reggae fan - this subwoofer changed her life) and I'd love to be able to get them working again for her.

Thanks in advance!

Ben H

After 5 years (bought mine in the spring of 2011) my speakers finally decided that it was time for them to have this exact issue. Component C903, and the resistor on the front of the PCB blown out. For some amazing reason the fuse never blew.

Way outside warranty, but it seems it's a design problem with the speakers, when they're run at high levels of bass for a long time.

I don't really have anything useful to add, other than it seems a bit weird that these particular components apparently fail quite regularly.

Best Regards.

As far as replacing the PSU board in the SP2500 I found a few on ebay for (at time of posting) $59.99USD I won't post a link but if you search, only checked the US version of the site, 'Corsair SP2500 PSU' there is one seller that has 3x available (again at time of posting). The same seller also has the 'Control Board' if your's is defective. I personally don't like buying on ebay but it may be worth a shot.

Working with high voltage and high amperage components is dangerous. Do not attempt to try and repair on your own unless you are experienced at what you are doing. Do not connect power to the unit while disassembled. Do NOT ask Corsair for assistance in repair as they cannot provide repair assistance. End user repair is not supported. This information if only for those that know what they are doing and simply need a replacement part.

***This is my first post on the forums. I ran across this thread while searching online for any information on a new Corsair speaker system. Unfortunately I didn't find anything ;) -I love my SP2500 and have yet to have any issues with my unit (aside from a defective 3.5mm cable) but eagerly await to see what Corsair comes out with next.