B&O Failed speakers - Fixed. Cheaply :)
 

This is a pain point for me.

Every D3 I've ever bought with B&O has had faulty speakers. It makes me wonder how many people are out there driving them thinking that to spend 5k on this upgrade would be lunacy because it sounds awful. Sigh.

Anyway, this D3 I recently put on the road had 3 faulty speakers. The usual centre speaker, and it turns out, both lower bass speakers in the front doors.

Further annoyingly, the bass speakers are manufactured by 'ark' and don't seem to be available separately, so you have to buy the whole Audi unit which includes the mid range for the way wrong side of £300 each.

I came to this conclusion after dismantling both doors and disconnecting speakers in turn until the awful rattle disapeared.

And this is the crux of it. When a speaker 'blows' it usually goes fluffy and incapable, but in the D3 they just basically start resonating badly at certain frequencies ruining the sound completely.....

Now, I fixed my door speakers, but failed to take any photos, but when it came to change the center dash speaker it turns out to be exactly the same issue, which I did photograph. Annoying as in the past I've changed it for a new one and thrown the old away, as previously documented:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1520549528

You see the orange membrane. Well, i strongly suspected that it shouldn't be loose. And in fact, if you tap the speaker, you get an awful metallic tapping sound much like the awful resonance.

So, I decided as I had nothing to lose, I'd superglue the orange membrane back to the metal chassis of the speaker, as I suspect it was supposed to be.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1520549528

And the superglued result was perfection.... I let it dry then tested it, rather, ah hem, thoroughly, and its spot bloody on. £2.75 I paid for the loctite superglue off ebay, delivered to my doorstep (including VAT and delivery)

Bargain of the century. Now, my £5000 B&O sounds exactly how it should do, and I suspect will last longer than the factory replacement speakers which would have cost me the best part of a grand to replace. <gulp>

#veryhappybunny.

#ifslightlydeafnow

+++

And that must be in the top 3 examples of why this forum exists!

Thank you

Great result Ian, a cheap fix is always an added bonus +++

Applying this knowledge it may explain why my sub woofer on the parcel shelf "rattles" whenever I get too enthusiastic with the loud button. It's got to be really loud and isn't noticeable at lower volumes so I'd like to see if the same has happened, and can it be fixed just as cheaply.

Anyone removed the parcel shelf from the D3? :)

Good, simple fix, Ian +++
Thank goodness I havent got B&O!
ummm :-(

That's a brilliant discovery Ian! This place is awesome! +++

Cheap repairs are always a bonus+++

Thanks! I definitely have a centre speaker problem so will give this a go.

My front centre does this and I was about the shell out for a new one, but I might try this first.

I thought it may have been the housing rather than the speaker, but this is a great tip. Thanks! +++

I can confirm after ~1500 miles of selfless ear drum bashing in the name of testing and science, that this fix seems to be holding quite nicely.... +++