Fuzzy Sound From a Singled Solo Pulse Speaker Bulb

My Bluetooth speaker bulb* began to produce a distorted sound I would describe as fuzzy. I suspected rust or dirt on the small speakers inside. This Instructable will show how to access the speakers, or the LEDs. It can be used to clean the surface of the speakers, or even to replace failed LEDs or install a new speaker.

*This is a Singled Pulse Solo Bluetooth Speaker Bulb. It was purchased at least ten years ago.

No supplies are needed. A Phillips screwdriver and a knife or a spudging tool are all the tools necessary.

The translucent lens snaps onto the top of the bulb assembly with four snaps easy to pry loose so the lens is removed.

This photo shows the top of the bulb with the lens removed. The lens has four snaps, but be careful. they are not equally spaced. Rather, if the top of the bulb were a clock face, the snap tabs would be at about 10 and 2, 8 and 4.

A mesh in four parts covers the speakers and the remainder of the bulb's top and sides. One can see the ring of LEDs to produce light. It is fairly easy to see the silver colored speaker through the mesh on the side of the bulb. Use a light if needed. The other speaker is more difficult to see because it is black.

Notice the two sections of cast metal at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions. The speakers are mounted on these. Remove the two Phillips screws for each piece of mesh covering one of the two speakers. The screws are at the 11 and 1, and the 7 and 5 o'clock positions.

Use a knife or a screwdriver gently to lift the mesh sections covering the two speakers. Pull each toward the top of the bulb and remove. In the second photo one can see the outline of the silver colored speaker.

If you look closely you can see dark spikes of metal filings standing up on the silver speaker cone. Remove these. I used my fingers, but care needs to be taken that the metal filings are removed and not just rearranged. Some moved to the gray circular surface around the speaker and I needed to make a second attempt at removing them. (I do a lot of work with metal and fine filings somehow came to be near to the speaker bulb.)

The photo shows an old fixture hanging on the wall of our garage. In the foreground you can see our NordicTrack ski machine. I have a holder on the ski machine for a drink cup and my smart phone. I have an audio Bible on my phone and I listen to it while using the ski machine. The light fixture is placed near to my ear so noise from the ski machine does not block out any of the audio.

When ready, slide the mesh screens into place. Install the Phillips screws and tighten them. Properly align the snaps on the lens with the receiving holes and snap the lens into place.

After cleaning metal filings from the speakers in my Bluetooth bulb the sound is much better. It is still not perfect. If more metal filings later find their way to the speakers inside my bulb, I will try to do a more thorough job and find any filings I missed.

Update: The reason sound was not better after cleaning is that the plastic film cone on one of the speakers had begun to tear. I may order a 1 inch 8 Ohm 1 Watt speaker through eBay and replace it, but the speaker bulb serves my needs well with only one speaker functioning.