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crwdns2944351:0crwdnd2944351:0Repairing Apple Pro Speakers Loose Conecrwdnd2944351:0crwdne2944351:0

crwdns2933797:0martinscrwdnd2933797:0crwdne2933797:0

crwdns2936043:0crwdne2936043:0 crwdns2933505:0crwdne2933505:0 martins

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Apple Pro Speakers
Type
repair
Thing
Loose Cone
Title
Repairing Apple Pro Speakers Loose Cone
Introduction
Everything started when I bought an iMac G4 Flat Panel, in 2013. Yes, it's an old machine, dated Early 2003, but I couldn't resist that beautiful design. Yes, it's a PowerPC-driven machine, so what?. That's what I said to the seller - people who buy this computer aren't concerned about performance. And now, it seats nicely, alongside an iMac 21,5" and a MacBookPro 13". What a cute family!
The guy who sold me this G4 was extremely carefull about it. Even beeing 10 years old, the machine was in pretty good shape. There was only one issue: the speakers (in fact, only one of them).
This computer came with Apple Pro Speakers. These are powered by Harmann-Kardon drivers and sound spectacular - so spectacular that, during a party, the former owner pushed the volume too far and one of the speakers started to sound like "plof, plof", when reproducing bass sounds. He told me that, in order to have a decent sound, I should use the iTunes equalizer and keep the lower frequencies attenuated. It worked, but that was only a workaround.
So, I decided to put my hands on the problem. As the speaker was working, these were good news - there was nothing wrong with the electrical parts (the coil, mainly). The problem should then be mechanical. I started to look for a loose cone. And that was the problem.
It seems that, when the speaker was put to sound too loud, the cone got unglued from its rubber surround, and this got unglued from the metal frame. Without this suspension properly glued, the cone was making very wide outward movements, when reproducing bass frequencies, generating that weird "plof plof" sound.
In order to fix this, I decided to remove the driver from its housing, but that turned out to be totally unnecessary - it's possible to fix this without removing a single screw. But I had already done it, so this guide shows pictures of the speaker off of its case. Nevertheless, if one decides to take the speaker apart (in fact, it's easier to work on it this way), just follows these steps.
Time Required Min
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Time Required Max
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Imageid
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Difficulty
Moderate
Conclusion
Put everything back together, following the steps in the reverse order: gently pull the wire in the back of the housing (allow some loose wire inside the housing, don't let it too tight), put the driver in it's place and put the screws back.
Be patient and allow the glue to get dry, according to the instructions.
Hope it sounds better, now! Mine does.
Author
martins
Public
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  • small philips screwdriver x1 added.

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  • Contact glue x1 added.

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  • In Progress added.
  • Community-Contributed Guide added.

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