LM recall, plug-in amp or not???

[Phil Rose]

A short time ago a lister asked me if there was a way to determine if
the rear Bose speaker had the plug-in (or soldered) amp
board--without removing the speaker. At first I said "no", because
that was what I had been told by the dealer tech, this morning. Of
course the technician gets paid for removing speakers and just
looking (0.3 hrs paid if amp is found to be soldered, and no further
work is done).

But just a few moments ago I went out to the car and found that it
was possible to reach behind the speaker (i.e., between the speaker
unit and the seatback) and to slide my hand/fingertips up to the very
top end of the amplifier section, which is *vertical* and faces
toward the front of the car. The amp board lies below a steel shield
(cover) that is easily felt, and the wiring harness (6 wires) enters
near the very top of it.  The wires can be felt as they bend pass the
edge of the steel cover and head down towards the amplifier board.
Presence of a connector should be evident by feeling along the wire
bundle as it bends toward the amp, the edges of the plastic connector
can be felt (around the wires) at a point just about even with (or
slighly below) the steel plate. With the soldered-on wiring, the
wires simply curve inward until they reach the surface of the PC
board.

It turns out to be quite easy to place an inspection mirror in that
area and to see this--much more readily than doing it by feel. I used
my flex-lite for illumination**. The white plastic connector is
_very_ easy to spot. With the soldered wires you can see nothing
except 6 wires that dive directly to the surface of the pc board.
Possibly some foam insulation in the way, too. In my car, the steel
cover over the plug-in amp has a large rectangular cut-out (opening)
near the top edge where the wires/connector enter, whereas the
soldered unit's cover plate has no significant opening at the top end.

If I could borrow my proctolgist's camera, I could provide photos. :-)

Phil

**Flex-lite is an indispensible gadget (Pep Boys, Sears, ...) and one
of the best 15-20 bucks you'll ever spend on a tool, IMHO.
--

Phil Rose
Rochester, NY
mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net