EntertainmentYou will see this often
Powered or Bluetooth speaker
Also called PC speakers, Bluetooth speaker, soundbar.
A speaker, an amplifier board, and a way to feed it. Keep those three together. The battery, if there is one, is the part that died.
A donor is the dead machine. The parts below are what is still worth removing from it. “Leave it” is a part that is physically in there and should stay in there: too dangerous, too worn, or only useful as part of a repair you are not doing.
A scrapped machine is a box of parts that failed at different times. The reason it was thrown out is often one bad piece. The motor, the cord, the supply, and the screws are frequently still good. This index says which is which.
Why it is in the trash while the parts are not
A dead battery, a lost brick, or hum from a dried-out filter cap.
Before you open it
Do this while it is still unplugged, cool, and not leaking. Unplug the brick. Remove the cells if it is portable.
Where the dead machine usually is
- Living room and entertainment stack — In the house
- Home office — In the house
- Bulk trash day — Curb
PC speakers are in every office cleanout, brick missing. The brick is 12 V more often than people remember; read the jack's sibling if you find it.
How it comes apart
The passive speaker is just a driver and a wire. The active one has the board.
Tools: Phillips, Spudger.
What to take
The table is the short version. The notes under it describe that part inside this machine, not only the general description.
| Part | Call | How many | How often | Where to look |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker driver | Prize | 1–2 | always | Each cabinet. |
| Amplifier board | Prize | 1 | usually | The active cabinet. |
| Bluetooth audio module | Worth pulling | 1 | sometimes | Portable speakers. |
| Cylindrical lithium-ion cell | Worth pulling | a pack | sometimes | Portable speakers. |
| Charger module | Bonus | 1 | sometimes | With the cells. |
| Switch-mode wall supply | Worth pulling | 1 | usually | The brick. |
| Potentiometer | Worth pulling | 1 | usually | Volume. |
| 3.5 mm audio jack | Worth pulling | 1 | usually | The aux input. |
| Enclosure | Worth pulling | 1 | always | The cabinet. |
Prize
Stamped impedance.
Each cabinet.
Unbolt.
Surrounds may be rotten on older ones.
Class D, supply printed on the board or implied by the brick.
The active cabinet.
Keep the input jack.
Hum means filter caps.
Worth pulling
Audio Bluetooth, sometimes combined with the amp.
Portable speakers.
Keep the button and the antenna.
Good if the battery was the fault.
18650s.
Portable speakers.
Test them. The pack is often the fault.
Mixed.
9–18 V are all common.
The brick.
Label it.
Often lost rather than dead.
Log taper, often with a power switch.
Volume.
Scratchy.
Mixed.
3.5 mm.
The aux input.
Keep it on the board.
Good.
Already the right volume for the driver.
The cabinet.
The best enclosure you will salvage.
Grills tear.
Bonus
1S or 2S charger.
With the cells.
Read it before you trust it.
Good.