Klipsch reviewTL;DR this is a very very decent system, but you may have to fix the sub or go with a separate sub if you’re really wanting a “wireless sub”.I was in the market for a 3.1 system for my desktop rig. So I could listen to music or watch movies and have a decent sound experience without a headset causing what I call “squeeze fatigue.”I wasn’t looking to spend a whole lot, but didn’t want complete garbage either. So in my search on Amazon I found these. They were 5.1, but less than $300. If anything I would get 2 extra speakers than I needed, and Klipsch has a reputation for being quality.Of course I was skeptical of these being only $289 shipped to my front door, while they are listed on Klipsch’s site for $1264.00. What this told me is they are clearing out inventory or they are defective. Reading the negative reviews, the problem was mostly the Subwoofer, but everyone else said it was decent. So I rolled the dice, assuming everyone was using the optional wireless setup, I thought worst case I would just never use the wireless link and be okay.I got them, unpacked them, and was happy to see those copper spun cones Klipsch loves to boast about.I hooked them up using bare 16 AWG copper wire for the main speakers, since the terminals are spring loaded gold plated terminals, and are too small for banana plugs, I just rolled with it. The other ends are banana plugged into an old Sony surround I got almost a decade ago, but still works well for a smaller setup.I decided “I don’t need no stinkin wireless” and opted to use a shielded RCA cable for the Sub.Then I hooked the system up to the TV Using HDMI, which has the best support for DTS in my opinion, and fired up a movie.The center channel and satellite speakers sounded clear. But the Sub just wasn’t doing it for me.I changed settings on the surround receiver, went through all the options on the TV for sending audio. Didn’t help. I tried the wireless setup to see if it was my RCA cable. Didn’t help. I even switched to optical and tried all of those settings. Didn’t help, then randomly it started working… Okayish. My lizard brain was telling me to think it must’ve just needed to be warmed up as a coping mechanism. I was in full cope mode.So I tried the system out for a week, with mixed results. The sound came out great from the speakers. But the sub would be “meh” at best, and have random pops and/or distortion at worst. The sub was the main pain point, just as most of the negative reviews indicated.Most people would’ve tried to return them at this point. But not me. Manufacturers dream of customers like me. Instead of crying about it like others would, I started investigating the problem. I listened to music that had distortion come through the sub, but it wasn’t consistent, it was hit and miss.When I’d play with the knobs and switches on the back, I’d get mixed results, thinking I’d fixed the issue when it would just come back moments later.Refusing to be defeated, I kept tinkering. I wasn’t about to go through the hassle of returning a $1200 system because one component didn’t work. I would buy an amp off the shelf and hook it up to the driver if all else failed.Then as I was tinkering with the cables I pulled the RCA and distortion was still coming through the sub!!!! I had a pocket of time for which the problem was presenting itself without even being hooked up to the surround system. Which told me the amp was receiving low frequency signals from one of the internal components.WARNING: Do not try the following this at home!!!! I took the risk of causing damage to the electronic components and voiding my warranty (not that I trust any company to stand by their products these days… most companies would rather offload poorly designed products at cheap prices and let the chips fall where they may. After all, if you’re buying a surround system at $300 you’re probably not the demographic Klipsch thinks is their market anyway).So anyway… As you can see in the pics, I took the sub apart. (And one of the cables were tight, hardly any slack. It turned out to be the front led cable.)I unhooked it and looked at the board. Since this is an amp that was powered recently, I carefully discharged the caps and started unplugging wires from the wireless board (I marked the wires with blue tape after testing with a multimeter so I knew what they were doing), and then plugged it back in using just the RCA and was floored by the smooth bass that was coming out of the driver!No distortion. No pops. Full sound! Not subdued and crappy like it was before!So I took out the wireless board… Completely. It was glued on, so it was a little tough to remove without risking breaking it. Not that I cared, it didn’t work anyway. I removed the front LED wire, just in case they were also carrying unintended signals into the board.I filled all the holes on the plate with hot glue, and put it all back together, tightening the plate screws from center out to ensure a good even seal.I hooked it back up and enjoy the hell out it now. Music sounds great. Movies sound great. No random pops and distortion from some wandering low frequency signal being blasted from “who knows where”, just some smooth hardwired bass as the electronic gods intended.All in all, I would only recommend this system if you’re willing to ditch the sub as is.I’m more adventurous than most, and willing to do a little tinkering to fix the flaws of the sub. I was willing to chance it because the system was developed with $1200 price point in mind, it just fell short because wireless technology is often quirky and can be unpredictable, and electrical engineering isn’t a perfect science, it is literally the art of refining rocks to try to create predictable resonance fields. In audio electronics, the goal is to reproduce the original air resonance waves of the source event. Which is mind boggling that we can do that. So I give Klipsch a pass on this. It was a swing and a miss, but I thank them for the flaw that was easy for me to fix and save me a nice bundle that I can spend on some other toys.Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.