Blown Speaker on 2017 MacBook Pro 15-inch

[Peacock22]

Hi everyone,

I have had my MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) blow one of its speakers, and temporarily damage another on two separate occasions.

It seems semi-reproducable: plug in genuine wired Apple EarPods into the headphone jack on the laptop, play some music in Apple Music, then unplug the EarPods WITHOUT continuing playback or ANY audio whatsoever (charging sound, notification sound, etc...), quit Apple Music, wait about 10 seconds for the audio server connection to close, then close the lid so that it goes to sleep. Leave it overnight. Next morning, open the lid and open Safari, go to YouTube and play any video. As soon as the audio playback initializes, you may hear a loud "POP" noise from one or both of the speakers. One or both of the speakers might be blown at this point, or temporarily damaged. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS ON YOUR OWN MACHINE AS IT MIGHT DAMAGE IT LIKE IT DOES ON MINE!

This has happened twice to me, both times happening after doing the above. A year apart. Different macOS versions. The first time, my right speaker completely blew out, producing only a buzzing static sound. Nothing fixed or improved it besides replacement (top case replacement done by Apple for keyboard issue which had the side-effect of replacing my speakers). The second time happened this morning. Same exact thing - POP, the left speaker became muffled and distorted.

The left speaker is now permanently physically damaged and you can noticeably hear the static noise it emits whenever any audio is playing. It sounds broken in any OS (Windows, Linux, macOS) and resetting SMC/NVRAM does not help. Sound is still perfectly fine through the headphone jack.

Has anyone else had this experience before? I can't get it fixed for free since it's out of warranty.

I wonder if this is a hardware defect, maybe there's a hardware relay mute feature that is misbehaving and causing a massive spike to be sent to the speakers after being left overnight, as if it builds up static? Weird...

 

[Macdctr]

Strange you mentioned blown speaker because I have never experienced having a blown speaker until just recently when my right speaker blew while watching a show on Paramount plus. My computer is an Early 2013 15-inch MacBook Pro and until then I had no issues with my speakers. I ordered replacement speakers for my laptop and replaced both speakers (replacing my left one as a preemptive measure) and could see on my right speaker after removing it how bad it was blown. This is the first time I have ever experienced having blown speakers. Replacing them on my 15 inch was an adventure as I was required to completley remove my logic board in order to remove both speakers. It was not a simple remove and swap . . .

Looks like in your case you will have to remove your logic board to replace your right speaker based on this picture... the ifixit guide is great reference for doing the repairs yourself (make sure you have the right tools, having them makes a huge difference on the difficulty level of repairs)

MacBook Pro 15" Touch Bar 2017 Logic Board Replacement

Use this guide to replace the Logic Board in your MacBook Pro 15" Touch Bar 2017. Don't forget to clean and re-apply thermal paste if you remove...

www.ifixit.com

 

[Peacock22]

Strange you mentioned blown speaker because I have never experienced having a blown speaker until just recently when my right speaker blew while watching a show on Paramount plus. My computer is an Early 2013 15-inch MacBook Pro and until then I had no issues with my speakers. I ordered replacement speakers for my laptop and replaced both speakers (replacing my left one as a preemptive measure) and could see on my right speaker after removing it how bad it was blown. This is the first time I have ever experienced having blown speakers. Replacing them on my 15 inch was an adventure as I was required to completley remove my logic board in order to remove both speakers. It was not a simple remove and swap . . .

Looks like in your case you will have to remove your logic board to replace your right speaker based on this picture... the ifixit guide is great reference for doing the repairs yourself (make sure you have the right tools, having them makes a huge difference on the difficulty level of repairs)

MacBook Pro 15" Touch Bar 2017 Logic Board Replacement

Use this guide to replace the Logic Board in your MacBook Pro 15" Touch Bar 2017. Don't forget to clean and re-apply thermal paste if you remove...

www.ifixit.com

Hmm... the repair for my machine doesn't look too bad except for the adhesive - I find that that stuff can get messy and "not quite perfect" when you attempt to repair it yourself.

Strangely, my left speaker has "healed" itself somewhat (no clue how, maybe it re-popped back into place or something?). It now sounds about 80% of how it originally did, although the static is still there depending on volume, and it is still slightly quieter than the right one.

It doesn't bother me enough at this point to replace it, although I might do it when I take the machine apart to clean it out sometime.

 

[hugojacomeandrade]

Hi everyone,

I have had my MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) blow one of its speakers, and temporarily damage another on two separate occasions.

It seems semi-reproducable: plug in genuine wired Apple EarPods into the headphone jack on the laptop, play some music in Apple Music, then unplug the EarPods WITHOUT continuing playback or ANY audio whatsoever (charging sound, notification sound, etc...), quit Apple Music, wait about 10 seconds for the audio server connection to close, then close the lid so that it goes to sleep. Leave it overnight. Next morning, open the lid and open Safari, go to YouTube and play any video. As soon as the audio playback initializes, you may hear a loud "POP" noise from one or both of the speakers. One or both of the speakers might be blown at this point, or temporarily damaged. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS ON YOUR OWN MACHINE AS IT MIGHT DAMAGE IT LIKE IT DOES ON MINE!

This has happened twice to me, both times happening after doing the above. A year apart. Different macOS versions. The first time, my right speaker completely blew out, producing only a buzzing static sound. Nothing fixed or improved it besides replacement (top case replacement done by Apple for keyboard issue which had the side-effect of replacing my speakers). The second time happened this morning. Same exact thing - POP, the left speaker became muffled and distorted.

The left speaker is now permanently physically damaged and you can noticeably hear the static noise it emits whenever any audio is playing. It sounds broken in any OS (Windows, Linux, macOS) and resetting SMC/NVRAM does not help. Sound is still perfectly fine through the headphone jack.

Has anyone else had this experience before? I can't get it fixed for free since it's out of warranty.

I wonder if this is a hardware defect, maybe there's a hardware relay mute feature that is misbehaving and causing a massive spike to be sent to the speakers after being left overnight, as if it builds up static? Weird...

Seems so familiar to me, I've experienced that twice in the left speaker, seems not an uncommon issue, and always the left speaker involved:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...macbook-pro-16-inch-2019-model-a2141.2363585/