Waste Makers Rule! Why the Service Techs have Vanished. Lousy Design and Zero After Sales Support.

[highfigh]

Hard to tell. There are numerous serious post advising what you said in jest, as a remedy for this problem.

Right, but those were responses to other people, not you, and you're the one who is trying to repair this sound bar.

If you find that you can't repair this one, the Sonos site shows that refurbished Play Bars are available.

This was their first sound bar and the Beam has an HDMI port, but IMO, it sounds terrible. Sonos really doesn't care what anyone else thinks, they do what they want. Their product training staff follow this to the letter and ignored any recommendations or ideas we offered.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Same idea as Mark brought up but taken up a few notches of insanity:

 

[TLS Guy]

Same idea as Mark brought up but taken up a few notches of insanity:

Yes, this is going on all over the place. Horror stories abound now. Cost to insure electric vehicles are going through the roof in Europe where this BS has been going on for a while and there are more of them. Now dealers can't shift them.

 

[TLS Guy]

So, this story does not end well.

I received the "part" last week, a bag of five optocouplers. A bad sign was that there was no number on any of the optocouplers in the bag.

So I spent three hours disassembling this POS, and I can tell you it is just that. Absolute junk not designed to be repaired.

Anyhow I get the board out, and the pin out of the Chinese optocouplers is not remotely similar, and can not be installed.

The broken removed part is on the left, and one from the bag of five on the left. They are not remotely similar and in no way can be fitted on the board as you can see in the photograph.

So that unit is a bin job, and off to the recycling center.

So now you know why their are only vintage repair guys left. That includes myself now. That is the last time I get involved in modern junk.

Avoid sound bars, and if you must buy the absolute cheapest.

Now you know why I have so much vintage gear, and keep it in use wherever feasible, and keep modern gear to the minimum.

Current design practices and the whole home electronics industry needs an absolute shake up.

There should not be 2,500 optocouplers available in the parts suppliers. I can't see why we need more that six and could probably do with less.

 

[lovinthehd]

Planned obsolescence is at the heart of capitalism....

 

[TLS Guy]

Planned obsolescence is at the heart of capitalism....

Well is it damn wasteful and will destroy the planet.

 

[lovinthehd]

Well is it damn wasteful and will destroy the planet.

Yes, it is said capitalism is doing that.

 

[isolar8001]

Avoid sound bars, and if you must buy the absolute cheapest.

There's nothing I dislike more than outright waste....These POS soundbars are misdesigned from the get-go.
Throwing away speakers that work is just criminal...but when they are useless without the shoddy electronics they are tied to, there is no choice.
Just shameful that every 100 to 3000 dollar soundbar system is going to end up just like that one, and sooner than they should....all of it totally useless.

What a world, what a world.

 

[TLS Guy]

There's nothing I dislike more than outright waste....These POS soundbars are misdesigned from the get-go.
Throwing away speakers that work is just criminal...but when they are useless without the shoddy electronics they are tied to, there is no choice.
Just shameful that every 100 to 3000 dollar soundbar system is going to end up just like that one, and sooner than they should....all of it totally useless.

What a world, what a world.

You are absolutely correct.

When this was brought to me, I expected it to be a straightforward repair, and it should have been.

Then to find there are none of those optocouplers in the country was the first surprise. I figured that having to order from a Chinese seller would end badly, and it did.

Anyhow the thing was real piece of work to open up. This because some cosmetic designer with zero knowledge of electronics wants the "sleek smooth look". So no screws of fixations devices must be seen anywhere. Those types all need pink slips, and instead we need designers with an eye to serviceability. To have to junk a $700.00 unit because you can't replace a simple input connector is just plain wrong and insane.

 

[lovinthehd]

You are absolutely correct.

When this was brought to me, I expected it to be a straightforward repair, and it should have been.

Then to find there are none of those optocouplers in the country was the first surprise. I figured that having to order from a Chinese seller would end badly, and it did.

Anyhow the thing was real piece of work to open up. This because some cosmetic designer with zero knowledge of electronics wants the "sleek smooth look". So no screws of fixations devices must be seen anywhere. Those types all need pink slips, and instead we need designers with an eye to serviceability. To have to junk a $700.00 unit because you can't replace a simple input connector is just plain wrong and insane.

Twas a noble repair effort in any case. Fighting the price point/tier/seasonal product mentality....good luck.

 

[Eppie]

What until this hits the automotive industry. Instead of scrapping a $700 sound bar, you'll be scrapping a $10,000 vehicle because they used proprietary chips no longer in production. That's the price we pay for much lower production costs in audio and much higher fuel efficiency in cars. Drives me crazy when I have to discard something over a broken 50 cent part. I hope more states and more countries implement right to repair legislation. It may lead to slightly higher production costs but the waste right now is ridiculous.

 

[highfigh]

So, this story does not end well.

I received the "part" last week, a bag of five optocouplers. A bad sign was that there was no number on any of the optocouplers in the bag.

So I spent three hours disassembling this POS, and I can tell you it is just that. Absolute junk not designed to be repaired.

Anyhow I get the board out, and the pin out of the Chinese optocouplers is not remotely similar, and can not be installed.

The broken removed part is on the left, and one from the bag of five on the left. They are not remotely similar and in no way can be fitted on the board as you can see in the photograph.

So that unit is a bin job, and off to the recycling center.

So now you know why their are only vintage repair guys left. That includes myself now. That is the last time I get involved in modern junk.

Avoid sound bars, and if you must buy the absolute cheapest.

Now you know why I have so much vintage gear, and keep it in use wherever feasible, and keep modern gear to the minimum.

Current design practices and the whole home electronics industry needs an absolute shake up.

There should not be 2,500 optocouplers available in the parts suppliers. I can't see why we need more that six and could probably do with less.

I have sold very few sound bars, mainly because it wasn't difficult to convince my customers that they're not the best way to go and also, because the systems I have designed had updating and repairing in mind, rather than get in, get out and count the money. I have had very few customers where I only worked for them once and it was either because AV isn't a major factor in their lives so going all out wasn't going to happen or because they moved away.

Your experience would probably cause me to box it and ship it to Sonos with instructions to "FIX IT!".

The link shows where Sonos has stuffed their heads and I don't think they can see sunlight-

Why don't Sonos offer a repair service? | Sonos Community

Sonos are no longer a young start up, that has not had time to think about repair. Sonos, like all electronic products, occasionally one goes wrong. Your products are expensive to buy, and you could set up a repair workshop and repair them (or even contract it out). I'm sure this could be a...

en.community.sonos.com

 

[highfigh]

You are absolutely correct.



Anyhow the thing was real piece of work to open up. This because some cosmetic designer with zero knowledge of electronics wants the "sleek smooth look".

But the Sonos logo is legible whether it's installed laying flat or vertically. That has to count for something.....

 

[TLS Guy]

It took me less than 5 minutes to find this:

5PCS Audio Fiber socket Terminal DLR1160 | eBay

5 x DLR1160. You will receive helpful and practical solution through the communication between us.

www.ebay.com

If you follow the rest of this post, you can see why I was reluctant to use a Chinese vendor, and won't again.

Those optocouplers are not correct. When I got the damaged one out, it was nothing like the one in the picture. The one pictured is not what it says it is.

 

[cpp]

What until this hits the automotive industry. Instead of scrapping a $700 sound bar, you'll be scrapping a $10,000 vehicle because they used proprietary chips no longer in production. That's the price we pay for much lower production costs in audio and much higher fuel efficiency in cars. Drives me crazy when I have to discard something over a broken 50 cent part. I hope more states and more countries implement right to repair legislation. It may lead to slightly higher production costs but the waste right now is ridiculous.

True that.

 

[highfigh]

If you follow the rest of this post, you can see why I was reluctant to use a Chinese vendor, and won't again.

Those optocouplers are not correct. When I got the damaged one out, it was nothing like the one in the picture. The one pictured is not what it says it is.

Now that the original part has been removed, have you tried to remove the tip since it's much easier to handle?

 

[TLS Guy]

Now that the original part has been removed, have you tried to remove the tip since it's much easier to handle?

No getting the broken part out. It is wedged in hard. Anyhow, I would not have used it, because I would not have gone to the trouble of putting it back together with that component. I have better things to do.

Sonos really could have designed that better. The electronic are on the bottom. They could have easily made this so that the bottom could some off with the electronics and the speaker wires unplugged. There was zero provision for service access. Absolutely abysmal internal architecture and a severe failure of design. They should have picked common components and not one offs. Sonos in my view is now a brand to be avoided.

The Chinese vender has refunded my money, so I am just out the shipping.

 

[highfigh]

No getting the broken part out. It is wedged in hard. Anyhow, I would not have used it, because I would not have gone to the trouble of putting it back together with that component. I have better things to do.

Sonos really could have designed that better. The electronic are on the bottom. They could have easily made this so that the bottom could some off with the electronics and the speaker wires unplugged. There was zero provision for service access. Absolutely abysmal internal architecture and a severe failure of design. They should have picked common components and not one offs. Sonos in my view is now a brand to be avoided.

The Chinese vender has refunded my money, so I am just out the shipping.

I might be tempted to contact the FTC- making something difficult to service is one thing but manufacturers were required to provide some level of support for their consumers and providing refurbs at their discretion doesn't seem like a good method, to me. I know that others do it, but since this wouldn't be a warranty item, the cylindrical shaft with helical groove reference comes to mind.

Nobody designs products to be serviced, they just want to push boxes out the door.

 

[3db]

Capitalism and greed have always held hands.

 

[highfigh]

Capitalism and greed have always held hands.

So, what's your alternative system?