#85 Harley Benton HB-80R teardown & modding

Right, so i had been on the hunt for the cheapest way i could get a 1x12" or 2x12" guitar cab for a while now - mainly because i landed a toasted Celestion Greenback for free some months ago, and a recone kit is arguably affordable. Budget being a prime concern, i was compelled to look locally, and a couple weeks ago finally pulled the trigger on this thing.

#48 JBL Charge 3 Bluetooth speaker teardown

This JBL Charge 3 came in last week in need of a micro-USB (charging) connector replacement. First thing i did was to look up how to take apart the thing, and the good people at iFixit had a comprehensible enough guide.

The connector board is totally separate from the mainboard, so the "repair" part was trivial, and done within minutes. But the more interesting stuff lies deeper inside. Sure, my photography may never get to be quite as pretty as iFixit's, but on the other hand, you're not here (just) for pretty pictures, are you? You're here to see what makes things tick. Or at least that's the curiosity that drives me to take apart stuff like this.

#46 Tivoli Henry Kloss Model One teardown & repair

A client brought in this Tivoli Model One the other day, with symptoms of (lots of) noise. Once again, i went against the mantra of "don't turn it on; take it apaaaah't", but this time, for good reason - the thing isn't mine.

#40 Fake "Beats" Bluetooth speaker teardown & mod

I got this handed in by a local friend the other day. It was apparently bought in Singapore a good few years ago, hasn't been used in quite a while, and i guess(?) the charging cable (slightly less usual mini-USB) got misplaced or something.

#28 Active full-range surround speaker project (BN96-12832 & TPA3118)

Since the "unofficial" theme of this blog seems to be repair, recycling and repurposing (more or less), i finally got around to getting knee-deep into this idea, which i started devising quite a while ago - a pair of "slimline" surround speakers.

Disclaimers:
 - No, these are not meant (or supposed) to be "hi-fi". More just for a bit of "ambient noise", if you will, for movies with 5.1 soundtracks. That, and possibly alternative monitoring for checking mixes.
 - No, these are not meant to go terribly loud. Due to, let's call them, physical constraints, they'll be placed at the corners of my sofa (right up against the wall, opposite the TV and the "mains"), so no huge SPL's are required.