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shallimus's Avatar
Posts: 568 | Thanked: 969 times | Joined on Dec 2009 @ Toronto
#1
I bought my girlfriend a Nokia Play 360º (MD-50W) speaker for Christmas to replace some cute-but-broken laptop speakers she was using before. Sure, it's expensive, but it's also aesthetically pleasing, highly portable and has great sound* and surprisingly long battery life.

All was well until last night when the speaker went BASE jumping from the top of the fridge. Tragically it was unable to open its parachute in time, and it landed on the concrete floor with one of those expensive sounds that electronics often make when they decelerate too rapidly...

It still pairs with Bluetooth devices fine, but something is rattling around inside it (a screw? a bit of plastic?) and it feels/sounds as though the speaker cone is moving around inside the box when you move the unit. It still produces sound, but super-quiet and very sad compared to the glorious apartment-filling sound before.

As it still basically works, I'm wondering if it's just that the speaker cone has something in physical contact with it in a way which is preventing it from moving freely, i.e. I might be able to fix it myself.

Thus far, I have been unable to find:
  • any way of disassembling the device (no carefully hidden screws or whatever)
  • any repair/disassembly documentation or discussion on the web
  • any help from Nokia whatsoever; surprise, surprise, although when I called Nokia Canada, Option 1 was for if I had any question about the Nokia Lumia series (I did have some questions, but I decided not to ask as I don't think it was the polite type of question they're hoping for) Whoever took my call hadn't even heard of the Play 360º and kept referring to it as a phone even after I described it as a speaker/accessory. Disappointing, and yet utterly unsurprising.

Anyone have any ideas on how I could take a Nokia Play 360º apart without destroying it?


* great sound == it makes us happy and is good for listening to a few tunes; if you are an audiophile, please don't bother telling me why this speaker is worthless and only a tube amp can truly re-create the blah blah blah etc.
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Last edited by shallimus; 2012-02-15 at 15:51.
 
pelago's Avatar
Posts: 2,121 | Thanked: 1,540 times | Joined on Mar 2008 @ Oxford, UK
#2
It might be worth asking on a site like http://www.ifixit.com/, where there are people who are good at that sort of thing.
 

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coderus's Avatar
Posts: 6,436 | Thanked: 12,699 times | Joined on Nov 2011 @ Ängelholm, Sweden
#3
broken my MD-50W micro-usb port and wanted to repair it self.
so, just need to remove rubber pad, remove 4 screws and profit!
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Posts: 1 | Thanked: 4 times | Joined on Apr 2013
#4
Hey man!! I'm maybe getting here a bit late but in case you still want to repair your nokia play 360..:

I had exactly the same problem as you; my speaker fell down agressively to meet the floor. While the bluetooth device appeared to work perfectly, shaking it i realized that it sounded like the cone inside was detached. I tried to dissamble the speaker but couldn't find any hidden screws whatsoever... After surfing the web so much, I just found your post with no answers, and entered the despair, until... Yesterday!

So this it how it goes:

- You must first remove the black rubber square on the bottom of the speaker. You'll find the first screws right below.

- Once you take all of them off and open the case, you'll find another 6 screws there. Unscrew them, but don't try to dissamble the cone yet, it's not ready.

- Now, you must be very careful with this if you want to keep your speaker as incorrupt as possible: You have to lift the top cover of the speaker, the one with the black fabric, by slipping something flat and thin underneath. I used a screwdriver, but made a notch on the metal cover. Something in plastic may be more appropriate.

- You'll find another 4 screws below that cover. Unscrew them and you'll be able to pull off the cone from the whole case.

- As for the repairing itself, you'll probably have the same problem as me, which is that the plastic frame of the cone got broken in several parts. I used a two-component resine glue, suitable for plastics, secured it with the proper plastic grips, and let it dry for 24h.

- Depending on how many fissures you got and how accesible they are, I suggest you to unsolder the two wires that keep the cone still attached to the case., so you can reach and grip all of the cracks. (just remember to note which flap was for the black wire ans which for the red one.. )

- Now, rebuild and enjoy!!

Hope this gets to you in time and that you'll find it useful. At least my boyfriend is now very happy he won't have to spend another 100€ to console me for the loss

Take care!
 

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Posts: 1 | Thanked: 0 times | Joined on Oct 2013
#5
Great advice, Spiral! Something in my speaker got loose after I knocked it over my bedstand and I couldn't figure out how to open it up because there weren't any visible screws or slots to pry out the cover.

It turns out that one of the wires had disconnected itself, which was the source of the flapping sound it made when I shook it. Just had to reattach it quickly. Problem solved!

Last edited by vitaminC; 2014-08-27 at 02:38.
 
Posts: 74 | Thanked: 77 times | Joined on Mar 2012 @ Bavaria
#6
thx fo the instruction. although my md-50w is in a good condition, it's nice to know, where i can find some help =)
 
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