Hi, i've seen a lot of request for a raphael speaker hardmod and also tried to find one myself, well.. As you thought, no luck.
So I decided to make one of my own, and yes, it works!
So here's what i've done (every piece makes it a bit better, so, choose the ones you wish to do, or do all of them like i did!):
1. Cut the back cover to look similiar to the original desing from htc (Picture 1)
Just throw the first metal grill (the one on the back cover) to garbage, that's what i did As the speaker has a cloth on it, you don't need those grills.
2. Make some room for sound to echo inside the back cover (Picture 2)
I did 1. and 2. with normal household scissors.
3. Prevent the sound from the front of the speaker going to the back of the speaker and thus undoing some sound. Try to insulate the back a bit (Picture 3) I did it with 2-sided 1mm thick tape and left the protecting layer on the tape (green) so it doesn't stick to the back cover.
4. Open up the phone (Help to disassembly here), lift the speaker and the.. uh.. thing on top of the speaker off from the back housing carefully (2-sided tape keeping it in place) so you wont break it. Time to throw away the second metallic speaker grill! Use scissors to carve the speaker hole bigger (see speaker in picture 3), use the tape that kept the speaker in it's place as a guide to how big to carve the hole, but don't cut any tape off, the hole becomes too big if you do that!
Video 1 : Results of the mod, you should hear the difference clearly! Too bad i didn't have a video of an original Raphael, but i think you do have one there as you're reading this.
Video 2 : Comparing the results with and without the back cover. This shows how big difference does the "sound echoing space" inside the back cover (Whatever) do!
And last side note before you begin, i will not take responsibility of ANY damage etc you manage to do to your precious phone. I've broken one already, did the mistake to grab the speaker wires and the speaker stopped working as the wires cut off.
Also, be VERY careful with this mod, you're working with the interior of the phone! Please don't do this if you don't have any experience disassembling/reassembling mobile phones.
Hope this helps you as much as it did me! It actually sound better live than on the vid, too bad my camcorder saves the vid to some ****ty format when recording to SD.
(Did i rickroll you btw? )
My apologies to the OP, I inadvertently merged this thread with my Q&A's thread. Enjoy this speaker fix.
is it just me or am i not hearing any sounds at all in those videos? (unless it uses a special type of codec..)
id love to hear the difference
Is the speaker volume really to quiet to justify a hardCORE mod that could ruin your phone?
Rottis said:
Hi, i've seen a lot of request for a raphael speaker hardmod and also tried to find one myself, well.. As you thought, no luck.
......format when recording to SD.
(Did i rickroll you btw? )
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GR8 work!
it's nice to see you can fix the very low system volume.
I was especially amazed from the echo box effect on the rear housing.
thanks!
ndda said:
Is the speaker volume really to quiet to justify a hardCORE mod that could ruin your phone?
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Initially, I was not going to reply to this, but it seems to me that you may be in the process of buying a Fuze and this may be very important for you to know.
No, the system volume is not that low, and frankly speaking, it is an issue which exists in some phones, not all. And, if it's possible for you to take a look at the phone at an AT&T store, do so, and decide for yourself (take a look at more than one Fuze).
@Rottis: Would you disagree that the low volume problem does not exist on all phones?
incisivekeith said:
Initially, I was not going to reply to this, but it seems to me that you may be in the process of buying a Fuze and this may be very important for you to know.
No, the system volume is not that low, and frankly speaking, it is an issue which exists in some phones, not all. And, if it's possible for you to take a look at the phone at an AT&T store, do so, and decide for yourself (take a look at more than one Fuze).
@Rottis: Would you disagree that the low volume problem does not exist on all phones?
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I didn't know that the volume problem exists on some phones. I own a HTC Touch Pro by Vodafone with no issues related to the volume (other annoying issues though).
I thought that the phones should be technically similar only with different brandings.
Do they use different hardware?
incisivekeith said:
Initially, I was not going to reply to this, but it seems to me that you may be in the process of buying a Fuze and this may be very important for you to know.
No, the system volume is not that low, and frankly speaking, it is an issue which exists in some phones, not all. And, if it's possible for you to take a look at the phone at an AT&T store, do so, and decide for yourself (take a look at more than one Fuze).
@Rottis: Would you disagree that the low volume problem does not exist on all phones?
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Click to collapse
No, not all phones have the problem. I had an Sony Ericsson P1i before this raphael, and its speaker was truely amazing! And you could make it even better with a softmod.
That's the main reason i did this mod, as I have gotten used to a good quality speaker.
@Giannis86: try to install FFDSHOW (google for it) and it should work. Do not use Windows Media Player though. Sorry, i don't know the codec it uses for sound, but it should be some popular one, i didn't have to install any codecs for it (Using ubuntu btw).
@ndda: Yes it is, have you ever heard it? Or if you have, have you ever compared it to, for example the P1i?
If you ask me, the mod was worth it!
@ndda: Sorry, i missed a part in your message, yeah, i think they DO use the same hardware, it wouldn't make any sense if they didn't.
Well, the sprint version is different, but that does make sense.
I've done something similar to this with my old Dell Axim x5 to fix a touch-screen issue, but I did this knowing my Axim was worth only $50. I think it would have been more helpful if you showed a picture of the speaker wire and the connector, because I had to deal with that with my Dell and it wasn't as delicate as you describe the one on the Raphael.
Here's some pics of the speaker, it's wire and connector as requested.
The pics I took from the Raphael service manual, sorry for low quality.
Pic 1 (MB Connector)
Pic 2 (Speaker connected)
Pic 3 (Speaker + wire)
Btw, as said here earlier, the service manual can be easily found from the internet
None of your links go through any more... could you post new links for the mod pics & vids please?
gdbnet said:
None of your links go through any more... could you post new links for the mod pics & vids please?
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That must have been a temporary problem, as they all work perfectly fine at the moment. Please try again
Hi all,
I've recently had a crash - my N1 fell out from my pocket while climbing (stupid, I know..) - cracked screen, all that.. I've managed to replace the digitizer without big problems, but I have a more serious issue: the main (built-in) microphone stopped working and now I have to use the headset for every call
I've sent it to HTC service and they said the motherboard needs replacing and wanted me to pay 300$ for it..
Since it's quite a lot for a microphone, before buying the new one (at least 200$ for tho mobo alone) or sending it again to the HTC guys for repair, I'd like to ask you if there is anybody who had anything to do with those microphones or issues similar to mine.
The microphone itself is a small gold rectangle-shaped thing glued to the motherboard, but I cannot make out any markings on it (there seems to be something written on it, it's just not readable any more). It seems to be exactly the same as the noise-cancelling one near in the upper part of the phone. Of course, before cutting or soldering anything I'd like to know as much as I can..
So.. the questions are:
Has anyone repaired a thing like that or managed to replace a microphone on Nexus One motherboard? How could this be done?
Does anybody know where I could buy a microphone that would match?
I know it's a long shot (and a long post ), but I figured it's worth a try to look for somebody who might have some insight.
Thanks in advance,
Kuba
P.S. Could anyone move this question to Q&A, please?..first post gone wrong..
you could just buy a new one for under 300$ on ebay or a used one for less than 220 for everything new If something like that is messed up its not worth fixing, too much work
hitmanre,
thanks for the reply, but...
As I said, I figured the part on buying another mobo (or a broken N1 for parts) on my own.
I was just curious - from a DYI perspective - what's going on on the board and what's actually broken around the microphone.. If it was only the microphone then it should be easy enough to replace - but if it's a crack somewhere in the inner layers of the board, then bummer..
In fact, I opened my N1 again yesterday and cut the mic out...curious thing is that there seem to be only one connected soldered part between mobo ant the mic.. Could anyone explain how a microphone could work with a single connector? there doesn't seem to be any ground connection anywhere..
If I have some time, I'll post photos - but no sooner than in a week - going on vacation
See you,
Kuba
I have the same problem, and I live outside the service coverage area. I've had my Nexus One since May 2010, so it was more than one year old. It's really sad to quit such a really nice phone just because it can't make phone calls. It seems that nobody here in Lima know how to repair a N1. And I'm so afraid to open it...
I have seen 2 of these phones with the same issue. one mine and second a customers. and I have tried replacing the mic headset jack (headset jack can short out audio) and still nothing. mic works with loudspeaker but not in normal mode with earspeaker.
ok today I was able to get my hands on a working nexus. and swapped the upper flex and that fixed it.
the only thing is that we ordered this part from one of our sources to fix a power button (which is on the same part) and it had this issue. so I had to replace it again
blevinski said:
ok today I was able to get my hands on a working nexus. and swapped the upper flex and that fixed it.
the only thing is that we ordered this part from one of our sources to fix a power button (which is on the same part) and it had this issue. so I had to replace it again
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I also have a problem with the mic suddenly not working and working again suddenly. So it must be a damaged flex since the phone has a dent on the upper left part of it.
So the ear speaker in my Q is broken . Can anyone tell me is there an option to replace this part from different Motorola phone? Since there are no Photons in Europe I'm forced to buy this part from US, but maybe other Motorola phone has the same ear speaker?
And another question: this speaker is soldered to the board or it's plug&play?
Maybe here?
I was looking at this one
etradesupply.com/oem-motorola-photon-q-4g-lte-xt897-ear-speaker.html
I broke mine replacing the screen and this looks to be the exact same one.
Just a general question about replacing parts in the One X. Have one phone where i'm replacing the ear speaker, and another i'm replacing the rear camera.
Is there anything that needs to be done to get the phone to "recognize" these new parts, or are they just plug n' play?
I've replaced the ear speaker in the one phone, but it still doesn't work. I'm thinking maybe a defective ear speaker. ??? So, i've ordered another. But thought i'd ask in case i'm missing something.
Thanks!
Hi, I recently got my A7 and this one thing is bothering me since day one. For some reason my right earpiece is louder than my left one. I am not using the included headset but rather Apple Earpods as they have a better bass, which is kind of important to me. I checked Adapt Sound before any of you ask, I have the default profile enabled. Is there a way to make both the earpieces be on the same lound level? Thanks
Interesting. I also seem to have the same problem. I wanted to have my left ear checked by a doctor for this .
No idea why this is the case though.
hhadi said:
Interesting. I also seem to have the same problem. I wanted to have my left ear checked by a doctor for this .
No idea why this is the case though.
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yeah I had the same feeling until I realised that if I put my left earpiece to my right ear it was the same level as if it were in the left ear.
Also for me this only happens when I have in-ear heaphones, over-the-ear one's sound normal