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Unread 01-20-2014, 10:20 PM
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Default Infinity Home Subwoofer Audio Jack Repair

After reading thought Kevin's short-wave radio restoration I had to go dig up some pictures I took of my work repairing a subwoofer. Hopefully it might help someone who might have the same problem with theirs.

Something like this is bound to happen to anyone with home stereo components. The audio cables tend to get bumped around whenever things are moved. At the same time someone moved my 12" Infinity self-powered subwoofer it magically stopped working. I knew good and well that the audio jack got bumped and broken. The power light was on so it wasn't dead. When I would move the RCA cable on the back I would get some crackling noises so that pretty much told me that it was loose on the inside. Considering the amount of money this speaker cost me I chose to fix it. This speaker has worked perfectly for years and years & I'm sure the newer units are of less quality.

This Infinity Sub puts out so much more bass than I need. I'm not concerned with volume but more so with the depth of frequency. It gets it done. A handy 12v impact makes quick work of many Phillips head screws below.

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Unread 01-20-2014, 10:26 PM
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With all the screws out finally we can see the guts connected to the back panel. Make sure the power cord is unplugged from the wall before you get into the back of your subwoofer. Once I unplugged the actual speaker from the amplifier board I was off to the garage to throw it on the bench.



A good soldering iron will last you a lifetime and save you a whole lot of money during your repair work. My SA1000 unit has paid for itself many times over. The control and concentration of heat is awesome. I can't believe how many years I had to put up with lesser irons.

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Unread 01-20-2014, 10:30 PM
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Here is the main panel showing the functions and connections. With any audio component such as an amplifier or equalizer, the RCA connections are always the most vulnerable components. This is especially true with car audio units. They always get beat up.



The knobs pop off the volume and frequency dials and then just a couple of screw remain. Unplug the power plug that connects the power board with the amp board and remove it for the soldering operation.

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Unread 01-20-2014, 10:39 PM
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There are just a couple of large pins that connect the RCA jack with the sound board. Luckily there is plenty of space isolating any of the RCA jack terminals for the soldering. One of the terminals poking through the board was definitely loose from the RCA cable being hit. This is such a common problem and not my first time repairing such a thing. To fix this broken solder connection you simply apply flux to the broken solder and, if needed, add just a touch of fresh solder on top of it while the heat is being applied to the existing solder. With the flux the old and new solder should form quickly when the heat is applied. It only takes a few seconds and the connection should be even stronger than the original one.



The solder connection was covered with a drop of yellow flux and "re-floated" with just a bit more new solder. The older the electrical component - the more room and more success you will have with the larger circuitry. Reassemble the power and amp boards to the access panel and screw it all back together. All done, nice and easy.

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Unread 01-21-2014, 02:28 AM
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Good pics, thanks for posting this. Were the solder lugs the only thing holding the RCA jacks to the circuit board? I just did something similar with my wife's laptop - the power socket required re-soldering.
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Unread 01-21-2014, 09:09 PM
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There is a screw that goes through the metal cover into the white RCA jack housing but that didn't stop my girl from whacking it when she was shifting things around in the living room. Yeah this is a super common thing with laptops. I lost count of how many laptops I have repaired because of people abusing the AC jack and cord. I love Apple laptops - they have the magnetic AC cords! Have you seen those? It is the most genius thing to hit laptops since the track pad was unveiled! When the power cord gets pulled or bumped it simply disconnects. Simply amazing.

Funny thing about the AC jacks and power supplies. The older high performance laptops used desktop type processors requiring massive power. The old style processors couldn't be throttled back by the operating system like the ones we have today. That amount of power required would eventually heat up the connection to the AC jack so much it would practically ruin the board! I even used high temp solder on one and it STILL melted the adjoining conductive material. This was when laptops started out at $1,500 for anything that was bearable. What junk.
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