2.1/2.0 Speaker Systems (READ ONLY ARCHIVE)

[fusibou]

I'm one of the many who had speaker crackle in the left speaker of my Logitech Z2200s. My Z2200s were replaced by Logitech under warranty with a set of Z2300s at no charge. If you have the problem and haven't got your replacements, call Logitech. It's worth the long distance charges to get your replacement set.

OK, so like many others, I have a bum set of Z2200s sitting around. The crackle problem comes from the remote control, as many have surmised. I have swapped a Z2300 remote onto my Z2200s and there is no crackle. This is good because I prefer the look and sound of the Z2200s.

So what to do with the extra speakers with the bum remote? I tried surgery: I touched all the solder points in the remote with a soldering iron to fix any cold solder joints but it made no difference. I opened the potentiometer up and flicked out the metal contacts on either side of the plastic disc inside as described in the old forums, but other than breaking the pins that hold the pot onto the circuit board, it made no difference. Maybe I didn't do it right, who knows, but the crackle was the same after.

My low tech solution has been to convert to mono which is cheap, easy, and while sub-optimal for sound, is better than nothing. Besides, that sub still works so it sounds pretty good.

- I put a mono converter between my music player and the remote's green mini-jack
- I connected both satellite speakers to the right channel on the sub using a male-> 2 female RCA splitter

As I am using the second set of speakers for low-level background music, mono doesn't offend me too much and I have twice as many "working" speakers as before. As I already had the above-mentioned cables/connectors sitting around in a box, the solution was free, for me. [Sidenote: I believe there are stereo-mono minijack converters out there somewhere but I don't know. For some reason, I had a male mono minijack->2 female RCA splitter and a 2 female RCA->female stereo minijack splitter, so i connected them with RCA patch cables as a mono converter... it's huge but it works and it was free and I am cheap]

As a footnote, it is a real shame that Logitech does not provide replacement parts for speakers! I imagine they lost a lot of money on Z2200s because they couldn't just ship replacement remotes.

[milly]

Fusibou or anyone else that knows, you referred to the "old forums".  By any chance are those still around?  I also have received a replacement pair of Z2300's for my crackling Z2200's.  Which is very awesome on thier part.  Still I have been trying to search for any good information of how to fix my old Z2200's.  My speakers were crackling even with the 1/8" plug in the back of the computer disconnected, so if I made the input mono like you did the output would still be making noise.  By any chance has anyone found a replacement 10K pot that could be soldered in?  You mentioned pulling the pot apart and cleaning the contacts, which I tried and no luck for me either.

P.S. Logitech tech support had me try this procedure first.

FIX:
1. Have The customer disconnect the Control Pod from the Sub by unscrewing the 2 Retaining Screws.
A.) you can have them disconnect the rest of the connections and clean them too. (optional)
2. Start with the Volume control in the Low volume position
3. Ask the customer to turn the Volume control from Low to high, and then Firmly Tap the Volume knob a couple of times.
Repeat step about 5 or 6 times
4. Press every button on the Pod (there are not many so this is a quick step)
5. Hold the Power button down for 20 seconds
6. Reattach and test

Obviously that worked wonderfully.

[icowie]

Did you ever find a fix for the crackle in your Logitech Z-2200? I too am looking for a fix, perhaps purchase (somehow) another wired remote.

[evilstevie]

Anybody fixed this yet?    I've heard it's maybe the variable resistor in the volume controller?   Is there a different remote that can be used?    How much are replacement remotes from logitech.   It's too bad to have these perfectly good speakers sitting around (that sound better than the 2300's IMO) with a defective remote.      There's only a few resistors inside of the remote, maybe I'll just replace all of 'em and see what happends.

[milly]

I gave up, it didn't seem to do anything with the pot on the volume control after all.  I agree that the 2200's are better than the 2300's so I use the new control pod that they sent me with my old 2200 speakers and the new 2300 satellites and sub are collecting dust.

[redrum12]

well i see the control pods on ebay...mines crackle as well i'm thinking about buying a pod myself because i'm sure mines is past the warranty..(my right side crackles)