Gigaworks T40 speakers parts?

[Motor T]

Does anyone know where I can purchase the inside circuit boards in a
Creative Labs T40 series II speaker? I tried Creative Labs websites
and support but that was NO help. The speaker emits nothing but static
and doesn't adjust volume at all. I blew the fuse on one of the boards
some time ago, (soldered a new one back onto board), and the volume
control has been shaky ever since. I think I'd just as soon replace
the guts rather than buy new speakers. The connections to my PC are
not the problem. If I retrieve any numbering off the boards is there a
site somewhere that I can buy replacements? Thanks for help.

 

[Flasherly]

Does anyone know where I can purchase the inside circuit boards in a
Creative Labs T40 series II speaker? I tried Creative Labs websites
and support but that was NO help. The speaker emits nothing but static
and doesn't adjust volume at all. I blew the fuse on one of the boards
some time ago, (soldered a new one back onto board), and the volume
control has been shaky ever since. I think I'd just as soon replace
the guts rather than buy new speakers. The connections to my PC are
not the problem. If I retrieve any numbering off the boards is there a
site somewhere that I can buy replacements? Thanks for help.

DealExtreme dotcom has a nice little amp on a board. The size of the
top of match box or pretty small. Power, input, and spkrs out -
stereo and a couple models for different powers. Well reviewed. Other
than pwr, a pot on the input to turn it down I suppose. Hongkong
paypal and watch it's shipped when due and not broke.

 

[Paul]

Does anyone know where I can purchase the inside circuit boards in a
Creative Labs T40 series II speaker? I tried Creative Labs websites and
support but that was NO help. The speaker emits nothing but static and
doesn't adjust volume at all. I blew the fuse on one of the boards some
time ago, (soldered a new one back onto board), and the volume control
has been shaky ever since. I think I'd just as soon replace the guts
rather than buy new speakers. The connections to my PC are not the
problem. If I retrieve any numbering off the boards is there a site
somewhere that I can buy replacements? Thanks for help.

Complete new speakers are $142 in this example.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836116044

Items like this are considered "use and discard", rather than
being repairable. While I fixed the computers speakers I'm currently
using here, it was more luck than anything else.

Some speakers have "famous" failure modes, and so many people
suffer from the same problem, sometimes home-brew electronics
people prepare "repair kits" for the victims. I don't see
this sort of thing for the T40. When I was using my search
engine, in fact discussions about failures on another Creative
model, were filling the search results.

Since you blew the fuse on the unit originally, something
inside it drew excess current. And that's what you'd be looking
for while doing a visual inspection. Examining the design to
see why it blew a fuse. The original T40 speakers, could work
with a 27VDC or a 20VAC power source. I couldn't find the
quick start guide for the Series II, to see whether it
had the same flexibility. If it did, there might not be
a lot of good reasons for a fuse to blow (i.e. you could
connect AC or DC without worrying, up to some limit on
maximum voltage, before smoke comes out).

What you could try, if you still want to work on them,
is use your digital camera, take a picture of the one
or more circuit boards inside, then upload the picture(s)
to imageshack.us or similar. Then post the URLs here, and
we can have a look at it.

Paul

 

[Motor T]

Complete new speakers are $142 in this example.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836116044

Items like this are considered "use and discard", rather than
being repairable. While I fixed the computers speakers I'm currently
using here, it was more luck than anything else.

Some speakers have "famous" failure modes, and so many people
suffer from the same problem, sometimes home-brew electronics
people prepare "repair kits" for the victims. I don't see
this sort of thing for the T40. When I was using my search
engine, in fact discussions about failures on another Creative
model, were filling the search results.

Since you blew the fuse on the unit originally, something
inside it drew excess current. And that's what you'd be looking
for while doing a visual inspection. Examining the design to
see why it blew a fuse. The original T40 speakers, could work
with a 27VDC or a 20VAC power source. I couldn't find the
quick start guide for the Series II, to see whether it
had the same flexibility. If it did, there might not be
a lot of good reasons for a fuse to blow (i.e. you could
connect AC or DC without worrying, up to some limit on
maximum voltage, before smoke comes out).

I foolishly plugged the wrong power cord into the back of the speaker
just after purchase. Blew the fuse. Had to try soldering a new one on.
It worked semi-ok.

What you could try, if you still want to work on them,
is use your digital camera, take a picture of the one
or more circuit boards inside, then upload the picture(s)
to imageshack.us or similar. Then post the URLs here, and
we can have a look at it.

Paul

http://imageshack.us/g/1/10370173/
Thanks for your help. You can make out my solder repair on left of
'intake' board.

 

[Paul]

I foolishly plugged the wrong power cord into the back of the
speaker just after purchase. Blew the fuse. Had to try soldering a new
one on. It worked semi-ok.

http://imageshack.us/g/1/10370173/
Thanks for your help. You can make out my solder repair on left of
'intake' board.

In one of the pictures, I can see a four legged device
that looks like a full-wave bridge rectifier. And that
should allow working with AC or DC (as well as providing
polarity protection for the DC). What I can't figure out,
is whether the fuse is upstream or downstream of that point.

It's possible the speakers tried to run off the lower
voltage, and drew more current. But at the time, if the
volume control was turned down, the only current would be
the inrush to charge things up.

In any case, I don't see anything visually that looks
damaged. That doesn't mean anything, other than an
easy diagnosis won't be happening right away.

On the input board, I don't see anything to buffer the
inputs. Some of the small capacitors, should be
present to AC couple the line level input signals. The
pots attenuate the input signal, while the amp runs at
a constant gain. That's just a guess. That's how my
home-made amp works.

If no signal is coming out, maybe it means the amp
portion is damaged.

Many of these audio products, they don't have fancy
regulation for the supplies feeding the amp output
stage. If the voltage drops too low, the amp simply
cannot deliver a lot of power into the speakers. That's
how my home-made amp works. Running off +12V, it's
pretty gutless, and gets a bit better at around +16V.
If I run it too much higher, eventually you get to
the breakdown voltage of the amp. So running your
product off the lower voltage supply, to me I don't
see why it did what it did.

Maybe there's some chip that is a preamp for the
inputs, but I don't see it in those three pictures.

Paul

 

[Flasherly]

http://www.amazon.com/INSTEN-Folding-Stereo-Speaker-Black/dp/B000FDTNZK

Less than $10 bucks. Been sitting around for ages & just recently
tried them out. Another amazing amazon user-reviewed product.

Wildest part is the PC talks to me now - I can hear everything going
on, besides, through the USB bus. HD transfers, ramped-up CPU cycles,
etc. Sport of a low-latency variable hum in static once the speakers
are turned up. I like hearing it, though some might not.

Mainly for dotcom site-to-telephony land/cell applications, where the
speakers understandably pull their weight. And, finally, a decent USB
use for other than flashsticks. Rec/out/usb - all three inputs at the
front case get used.