I was asked to fix a flaky DC jack on a TDK A33 bluetooth speaker, which actually sounds really nice given its size. It's got a beefy woofer with two tweets and two radiators. I was thinking it would be an easy fix: get in there, jumper the cracked solder joint. Reassemble.
Oh how the mysteries begin to unravel. There are tiny hex nuts on each side that would make it appear to be a quick disassembly. They'd turn, but not come out. After poking at one, This tiny nub just fell out. They were stick-on cosmetic nuts with no threads.
I found some Torx T4 screws on the bottom, which only let me access the battery pack. Sort of cool actually that you can service the battery, but still not on the inside yet. No sign online of others doing so either, the closest being a how-to on replacing the speakers. That involves removing the grilles, so I figured if I could get a speaker out I could access the inside. It was suggested to use a spudger to work the edges out, but that did not work at all, and pulling straight up in multiple locations only slightly worked, and basically had to tear them out of the plastic; they were melted into it. Worse yet, the speaker side only has tiny compartments, and had to take the grill off the other side as well so I could remove the radiator plate to access the inside.
After picking away at some foamy epoxy, hot melt, and a sea of black goop, I gave up trying to unscrew/remove the plastic box over the side panel, and just hacked it apart. The thing was billed as water resistant, so I can understand all the precautions with the glue and goop, but I had to trash it beyond repair to get at the problem. Which I found.
I ended up getting a used one on eBay for as much as a "replacement part" would have cost, in the owner's mind. So it's all good. Next time it needs fixing though, I'm drilling holes in the grille to get at the screws!
Oh how the mysteries begin to unravel. There are tiny hex nuts on each side that would make it appear to be a quick disassembly. They'd turn, but not come out. After poking at one, This tiny nub just fell out. They were stick-on cosmetic nuts with no threads.
I found some Torx T4 screws on the bottom, which only let me access the battery pack. Sort of cool actually that you can service the battery, but still not on the inside yet. No sign online of others doing so either, the closest being a how-to on replacing the speakers. That involves removing the grilles, so I figured if I could get a speaker out I could access the inside. It was suggested to use a spudger to work the edges out, but that did not work at all, and pulling straight up in multiple locations only slightly worked, and basically had to tear them out of the plastic; they were melted into it. Worse yet, the speaker side only has tiny compartments, and had to take the grill off the other side as well so I could remove the radiator plate to access the inside.
After picking away at some foamy epoxy, hot melt, and a sea of black goop, I gave up trying to unscrew/remove the plastic box over the side panel, and just hacked it apart. The thing was billed as water resistant, so I can understand all the precautions with the glue and goop, but I had to trash it beyond repair to get at the problem. Which I found.
I ended up getting a used one on eBay for as much as a "replacement part" would have cost, in the owner's mind. So it's all good. Next time it needs fixing though, I'm drilling holes in the grille to get at the screws!
