Fixing a Simple 2 Speakers Set

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Category: Laptop Hardware

Published on Sunday, 22 September 2013 17:58

Written by Ben

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In this post I will demonstrate a simple fixing method of simple 2 computer speakers.

I got these speakers from my uncle who claimed the additional speaker just didn't work from the moment he bought it. Before I even suggested to try fixing them for him I found out he had already bought a new set…. So I was stuck now with a set of 2 lousy , bad looking, low power speakers which one of them didn't even work.

I used them for about 3 months before getting the mood and free enough time to sit down and try fixing the malfunctioning speaker. The main speaker  , that is , the one who has all the wires connected to it -the input audio , the output audio to the second speaker that didn't work and the power cable with a USB interface. The main speaker also accommodated the volume control knob.

Disassemble process:

Since I was a kid I enjoyed dismantling things and see how they were built. This quality is still present in me as an adult (and I'm glad I still have it!) so obviously this was the most fun part of the whole fixing process.

In first look there were no bolts present or at least revealed on the surface of the speakers. I was mistaken the 5mm holes at the back of the speakers to be holes for screws. After realizing no screws were present at the end of these holes and my screw driver reached the back of the speaker itself I concluded these holes are the air blow holes that clear a way for air to escape as a result of the speaker vibrations.

Finally I found out that the front part of the speakers can be extracted out with some little force. I used a little too much force and broke 1 plastic pin in each speaker L.

So I started out with the malfunctioned speaker first.

After the front cover was out of the way , the speaker mounting part could be seen with 4 screws holding the speaker unit in place. After unscrewing the 4 philips screws I revealed the back of the speaker. Using a strong white LED flashlight and a magnifying glass to check the wiring I realized everything  was welded in place. Unfortunately now I had to open the second speaker as well  - the main speaker.

After opening it in the same method mentioned earlier  I revealed a simple electrical board  with some capacitors beneath it. I gotta say that the way the designer aligned the board over the volume knob is….cheap. it looked like he\she stuck it in there with no prior planning.

At first I thought all the wiring is ok and everything is welded together , so I called the big guns - my dad. At first look he didn't see a something wrong with the wring either . After a second careful look he found out that one of the wire leading to the second malfunctioning speaker was not connected to its welding point.. just to make sure , he used his voltmeter to check for the connectivity of the wires themselves by putting the voltmeter's needles at the opposite end of each wire connected to the malfunctioning speaker and voltage seemed present therefor the wires weren't damaged inside the isolating plastic casing.

It took us some time to guess where that welding point was cause they were a few of them without any wires welded so we turned to some simple logical thinking - based on the disconnected wire's exposed tip's length we connected it to the closest welding unit. Moreover , the second welding point of the wire leading to the second speaker was also the welding point of the main speaker's wire. Knowing this supported the suggestion that both speakers get their audio signals from the 2 same points on the board.

Since my dad suspected these speakers work in a stereo mode rather than mono like I thought  we decided to perform a short experiment manually creating contact between the disconnected wire and the suspected welding point while power was on and audio signal was being transmitted to the speakers - and it worked! And as I'm writing this post I'm using them in mono mode (as they were built) J.

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