David Hurst

UPDATED 28 August 2008

As I was relaxing on the sofa last night, I became aware of the general silence in the room. For the ordinary guy this might not mean anything, but when you are sharing the room with a 10 month old who’s just started walking, silence is usually a fair indication of a misdemeanor being committed. In this case, the little darling had pulled the cover of the front of my iPod HiFi and was busy prodding the middle of the speaker cone. Result: one deformed speaker cone, and one angry daddy.

So, I figured I would just dismantle the iPod HiFi and push the middle of the cone back out from behind. In fact, if I had thought about it for any amount of time I would have realised this is not possible as the center of the cone connects directly to the magnet, preventing any rear access. This is pretty much the case with all speakers, but I wasn’t focusing properly, and having decided to open the damn thing and got my toolbox out, then it was coming apart and that’s that.

As it turns out, opening up an iPod HiFi is not a simple task. I spent ages looking at it from every angle trying to figure out where the screws are. I eventually decided they must be under the rubber foot on the base of the unit, but after prising part of it off (it’s glued on), and seeing no screws I gave up on that notion. It took some extensive Googling, but I eventually found a Swedish website with a couple of photos that pointed me in the right direction.

So, here are my instructions. If you are suffering the depressed centre speaker malady like myself, please don’t go to the trouble of dismantling your iPod HiFi - it won’t get you anywhere.

Instructions to dismantle or open an iPod HiFi

WARNING: The plastic box of the iPod HiFi is soft and easily damaged. Dismantling your iPod HiFi using these instructions WILL leave marks on the white plastic. You have been warned, and I am not responsible if you cock it up.

• You will need a couple of thin edged flat tip screwdrivers - the wider the end, the better. It may work better with a strong and thin putty knife.
• Take the fabric cover off the front of the iPod HiFi.
• Take a look at the black front - you will see that it doesn’t sit perfectly flush with the white box. In fact this is just a veneer that is glued to the front of the iPod HiFi. It’s a piece of metal about 2mm thick and it hides all the screws and fixings.
• The join line is just beyond where the black edge meets the white box. It may be possible to prise this cover off from the edges around the speaker cones, but I was too scared of damaging a speaker to try this.
• You need to work your screwdriver or knife between the white outer box and the black speaker workings. Again, this WILL leave marks on the box - the plastic is soft - it would be a good idea to work on the bottom edge of the unit. The fabric cover will hide the marks.
• Once you have worked the screwdriver in a couple of milimetres, you need to lever case out a bit. Whilst you are doing this, you should be able to see the join line where the veneer is stuck on. Slide your screwdriver back towards this line and start prising it up.
• Use a second screwdriver or knife to widen the gap. Work along the edge a few inches until you can start pulling with your fingers. The metal will bend a little, but the glue is strong enough to stick back down afterwards. Still, it would be sensible to bend it as little as possible. You may need adhesive anyway.
• Once you have completely prised off the veneer, you will be presented with a number of screws which hold the iPod HiFi together.
• Fix / play / experiment at your leisure.
• If you pull the main works out, you will invariably pull the cables for touch controls and LED away from their connectors. This is because the cables are impossibly short, and you may spend significant amounts of time trying to re-connect these. The simple way to do it is to take out the centre speaker, and reassemble the box. You can now put your hand through the aperture and plug the cables back in. It’s easy to then plug the centre speaker back in and screw it back in.
• When the time comes to close it back up, you just stick the veneer back on and apply firm pressure all over the surface to ensure it’s stuck properly - it probably won’t stick properly, depending on how much you bent it, so you may need additional adhesive. I suspect this part was always designed to be throw-away.

Kudos to Apple for designing such a good looking and great sounding speaker unit. However, they have singularly failed to accommodate their customers or provide any kind of lasting support for the iPod HiFi. It has been discontinued, and there are very few spares or service options available. You can get new battery covers, fabric fronts, or clip-in iPod mounts, but that’s it. If your speakers die, you’ve had it.

Fair enough to discontinue a product, but to also eliminate all service options on a unit that is clearly very difficult to open without damaging it, is just poor. They could at least describe the dismantling process on their website so that third parties can offer service options.

I use Apple computers and have done for many years, and I always recommend that Windows users switch. I’m not one of those Apple devotees that think they can’t do any wrong though. They’re famous for this closed box - no support nonsense. It really is pathetic given how much you pay for their kit. Their laptops are getting harder and harder to service (try upgrading a hard disk on a Macbook Pro yourself), and this is the wrong direction to head in.

Anyway, I hope these instructions help somebody get their iPod HiFi working again.

Oh, and if you have a young son who has just dented the middle of your speaker cone, the solution lies in the humble household vacuum cleaner. Suck. Pop. Simple. It’s so frustrating that I now have little marks on my iPod HiFi yet I never even needed to open it. Just be careful that you don’t over suck and turn them inside out! You may need to fabricate a tube to fit precisely around the centre dome of the speaker cone to get the right amount of suction. You can easily cut toilet roll tubes and gaffa tape them into a suitable shape to fit both the speaker and your vacuum cleaner hose. Blu-tack makes an excellent sealer.