Replacement of the iMac G3 internal speakers - I recently took on this project, which had been needing done for quite a while. Figured I'd document it here in case it is helpful to others in the future.
My iMac's speakers had rotted out pretty badly; they sounded terrible and were falling apart (as is typical for these nowadays). I didn't want to go with OEM parts since they'd be just as prone to the same issue, so I ordered these replacement drivers instead (which, despite coming all the way from China, somehow arrived in less than a week). These are direct slot-in replacements and there is no soldering required.
Removing the speaker assemblies from the iMac was the hardest part of this; they are held in place with a retaining clip (part of their acrylic housing) that you can't access and can barely even see. I eventually figured out that you have to pull the assemblies outboard (away from the center of the iMac) a bit, to bend the clips and allow them to release much more easily. This is the *opposite* of what many of the online guides tell you to do, but thanks to a few helpful folks on FB for suggesting this. You can then pry sideways with a screwdriver against the central chassis and they eventually come out. What a terrible design, lol.
After that, getting the new drivers installed into the housings wasn't too hard. Getting the flanges/tabs on the new drivers to slip into the slots on the two halves of the housings while reassembling them was a bit fiddly but using some hot glue to hold the drivers in place helped. The spade connectors were extremely difficult to remove from one of the speakers for some reason, so I had to cut the tabs off and use two pairs of pliers to yank them out. Some isopropyl alcohol helped remove the sticky remains of the old surrounds from the housing bezels. Be sure to re-route the wires through the housing as they were originally.
The original drivers have a metal shield and magnet glued onto their backs, which I couldn't see a way to remove. The new drivers work fine without them. Would be interested to hear if anyone has experience re-using them with new drivers.
Very happy to have an iMac that sounds great again (especially when paired with the iSub!) and no more sticky green mess. It's given me a bit more confidence to tackle a re-surround of my G4 Cube speakers and standalone Pro Speakers sometime in the future. I understand those do require soldering but otherwise a fairly similar job.
Original rotten driver
Original (left) vs. new part (right)
Refurbished speakers ready to be reinstalled into the iMac
Sounds great now - especially with the iSub hooked up!
My iMac's speakers had rotted out pretty badly; they sounded terrible and were falling apart (as is typical for these nowadays). I didn't want to go with OEM parts since they'd be just as prone to the same issue, so I ordered these replacement drivers instead (which, despite coming all the way from China, somehow arrived in less than a week). These are direct slot-in replacements and there is no soldering required.
Removing the speaker assemblies from the iMac was the hardest part of this; they are held in place with a retaining clip (part of their acrylic housing) that you can't access and can barely even see. I eventually figured out that you have to pull the assemblies outboard (away from the center of the iMac) a bit, to bend the clips and allow them to release much more easily. This is the *opposite* of what many of the online guides tell you to do, but thanks to a few helpful folks on FB for suggesting this. You can then pry sideways with a screwdriver against the central chassis and they eventually come out. What a terrible design, lol.
After that, getting the new drivers installed into the housings wasn't too hard. Getting the flanges/tabs on the new drivers to slip into the slots on the two halves of the housings while reassembling them was a bit fiddly but using some hot glue to hold the drivers in place helped. The spade connectors were extremely difficult to remove from one of the speakers for some reason, so I had to cut the tabs off and use two pairs of pliers to yank them out. Some isopropyl alcohol helped remove the sticky remains of the old surrounds from the housing bezels. Be sure to re-route the wires through the housing as they were originally.
The original drivers have a metal shield and magnet glued onto their backs, which I couldn't see a way to remove. The new drivers work fine without them. Would be interested to hear if anyone has experience re-using them with new drivers.
Very happy to have an iMac that sounds great again (especially when paired with the iSub!) and no more sticky green mess. It's given me a bit more confidence to tackle a re-surround of my G4 Cube speakers and standalone Pro Speakers sometime in the future. I understand those do require soldering but otherwise a fairly similar job.
Original rotten driver
Original (left) vs. new part (right)
Refurbished speakers ready to be reinstalled into the iMac
Sounds great now - especially with the iSub hooked up!
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