Database Users

[MOD] Speaker hole enlargement

Hey all, watching some flash videos today made me notice how poorly the N1 puts sound out the back speaker, even compared to my old G1. I remember back in my Blackberry days that people used to mod the backs to "let more sound get out", and so I started looking into this...
First off, the speaker is GINORMOUS in relation to the slit. If you look inside the back where the speaker is, you can see a little internal grille, and the small slit for sound to escape. There's also a TON more room where that grille isnt attached to the back (same shape as the slit, only about 5x the size) that could be milled out pretty easily, and still retain the "keep crap out of the back" feature of the grille.
So, this leaves me with a few questions:
Where can I get a replacement back, in case my mill catches a bit more than I anticipate?
Anyone else interested? I figure if I set up to do one, I might as well bang a few others out instead of setting up multiple times.
Once I get a second back, I will be going at this with pics and hopefully notable improvement in projecting sound into my hand, and back toward my face!
I might not be a software hacker, but when it comes to this sort of thing, I figure its the best way I can give back to the community!

Give HTC support a call and tell them your cover doesn't line up properly(I don't think any of them do) they'll send you out a replacement. If they don't they can sell you one for ten bucks I think.
Hope to hear good results from your mod, might do it myself.

I actually think the small slit does something to amplify the sound..
Take the back off, play music, put it on. Notice it gets louder when you place it back on..
I don't know though, but I'll be following this thread!

Wisefire said:
I actually think the small slit does something to amplify the sound..
Take the back off, play music, put it on. Notice it gets louder when you place it back on..
I don't know though, but I'll be following this thread!
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Yea, I think the OP should test and see if there's even a noticeable difference without the back cover. I would think not...

Try removing the cover, sounds WAY worse.

Yes, I completely realize the back sounds bad off, its acting as a resonator, or isolating front from back waves of the speaker, which causes phase cancellation. Thus why im not removing the cover, just making the one hole bigger. It SHOULD not lose the "low end" that it has with the back on (if you want to call it that.
Either way, Im hacking at least one up, Ill post results!

Do it. (poor phone!)

I would suggest to replace the speaker with a Desire one, some people who have both phones pretend it's way louder on Desire, and yes it's the same form factor and size so it should fit

It is quite a bit louder without the cover but sounds bad due to the lack of resonance.
Shouldnt be too bad with just an enlargement, make sure you put something to block out dust. Let us know how it goes.

I've found that attaching one of these to the back quite useful...

or try a vuvuzela

I think the engineer who designed that whole was well aware of resonance qualities. If you make that whole and turns out better, you should apply to HTC job hehe...

@Hummeroid
Good idea ...
What about drilling mini-holes arround the "slit" ?
Instead of making ONE BIG hole ...

Very Interesting mod idea...I think the small drilled holes would be an effective test.

Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.

I looking for the out come of this.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

mrbkkt1 said:
Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.
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hah, I've never seen anyone else do it, but I do this all the time if I'm showing people a video or am in a noisy setting (ie. party)

clickwir said:
hah, I've never seen anyone else do it, but I do this all the time if I'm showing people a video or am in a noisy setting (ie. party)
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Nah, everyone does it.. I mostly do it when I want to listen to something quiet, I can turn it down and redirect the sound towards me.

I actually have a really good pair of earphones. I prefer that the main speaker is in the back, instead of in the earpiece like some phones. Prevents earspeaker blowout and call quality is damn good with this phone so far.

mrbkkt1 said:
Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.
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I try to put it up against a wall. Your hand can work to absorb sound waves, thus deadening sound and lowering overall quality; but drywall bounces the sound waves back nearly impeccably. Desks, etc, any hard surface should do the trick.

Case to "fix" the low speaker volume issue

Everyone here is probably familiar with the DHD speaker volume issue.
The GSM Hero also suffers from a similar problem except that hardly anyone complains because the battery cover acts as a passive diaphragm which amplifies the audio from the tiny speaker. Removing the cover makes the Hero sound just like the DHD.
That got me thinking... a properly designed or modified case may be able to do the same for the DHD that the battery cover does for the Hero.
I'd be interested to hear feedback especially if someone has a DHD case that they think would make a good candidate. Mods might include patching the speaker hole and etching a speaker port.

if you have the design and wanted to make it happen. Why don't you try kickstarter? I am sure there are a lot of DHD owner will support you (if your case really works)

I've experimented with several materials but am unable to reproduce the effect seen on the HTC Hero. My best guess is that the Hero's plastic body transmits speaker vibrations efficiently to the large battery cover diaphragm whereas the DHD's solid unibody construction dampens vibrations needed to produce sound from a case.
Another solution may be to build a larger case with a thin film speaker via the headphone jack. A juice pack and kick stand might be cool too.

Has anyone noticed it is twice as loud when laid on its back on a hard surface, like a table? Probably the same idea of reflected sound that Bose engineers dine out on.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

It's made to be placed screen down when using the speaker, for music anyway.

I use Tasker to turn off the notification sounds at night when phone plugged in (so I can sleep).
I too have very low/bad speaker sound but noticed something weird yesterday and today, if I remove the power (therefore automatically reverting notification volume to 100%) BEFORE dismissing the alarm then the alarm temporarily got very much louder (for maybe a second).
This makes me think the issue is actually software/firmware, particularly as some people seem to think the speak volume is OK. I've tried turning off pocket mode etc, so far no good

Yes, I too observed the same. if i start any game, the initial sound for may be 2 secs is very louder and then fades away to usual self. It might be a firmware issue, but no one from HTC seems to be acknowledging this or trying to provide a fix.

This hasn't got anything to do with the 'make my phone louder when it's in my pocket ' setting has it? Perhaps it knows its on your desk so doesn't crank up the volume?
Just a thought ......
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I actually places the speaker on the table to bounce the volume up. It works somehow.

Just thought I'd add that I've been watching videos in bed lately. I prop it up by making a dip in the covers, which bounces the sound back. The sound, especially in dolby, goes from being awful to being really good. In fact I find it better than putting it on a hard surface...

MisterBuggie said:
Just thought I'd add that I've been watching videos in bed lately. I prop it up by making a dip in the covers, which bounces the sound back. The sound, especially in dolby, goes from being awful to being really good. In fact I find it better than putting it on a hard surface...
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Any picture?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

just use a custom rom they have increase the volume...
or wait for offical GB that will maybe increase too.
i think 1.84... has an boost?

Droid X Earpiece Issue -- HELP!!!

Okay, well, I've tried multiple custom ROM's, I've sbfed, I've done literally everything I can possibly do to try to get this issue to go away, but it still remains.
Basically, if I am on a phone call, I hear a static like noise in the background. It almost sounds like the camera shutter is moving around when I'm listening to what the person on the other line is saying... its nowhere near terrible, but it is a slight annoyance as I do not have crystal clear calls like I usually do (I had crystal clear calls on my D1, and my brothers phone has crystal clear calls, too, so I know it's not my signal thats causing it).
I am still within my 30-day return window... but that ends on 12/22/10 and I am currently on a custom ROM for 2.3.340 so I can't sbf back to stock android.
What should I do? Get a replacement? Can a baseband update fix my problem? HELP!!!

Looks like hardware issue. Not software. Send it back and get a replacement.

Won't VZW notice that my DX is rom'd and rooted?

May be a shot in the dark, but you may want to uncheck Enhanced Audio under Sounds, Media Audio Effects, Phone Speaker. It seems plausible to me that the settinngs for your phone speaker are used for the earpiece as well. I know I was having problems with the wired connection using Enhanced Audio and would get a slight background static noise when using it. Again, just a shot in the dark, and anyone is welcome to inform me if I am off base...
Also, you can always just use TBH .340 files with RSD to put your system to stock .340 if you have to return it.

If you blow hard into the earpiece (reccomend a can of compressed air) does the sound lessen or go away? If so, its hardware.
Either get a replacement, or shoot more compressed air into the earpiece like myself and many others have. Reccomend you replace it, I'm just lazy.

I had this same exact problem a couple days ago. It sounded like the earpiece was rattling around when people talked, and even the ringer was buzzing a lot. As you know, its very irritating and upsetting considering how expensive and praised the X is. I was within the 30 day window though and I went and exchanged it. Call quality on this phone is now perfect with no buzz whatsoever, even at full volume. Go exchange! You deserve a working phone .
Also interesting, the first phone I bought already had the battery in it out of the box, the new one didn't. And the top of the lcd had rounded edges instead of square which I though was peculiar...
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

Also interesting said:
Maybe Verizon got infiltrated by the Chinese and their DroidX knock-offs? LoL
You can't say it is not possible.
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jeftep said:
If you blow hard into the earpiece (reccomend a can of compressed air)
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+1 to this and if it doesn't work, one of my ex's is the best blower I've had.

Try this: http://www.breakandmake.com/2010/07/15/how-to-increase-droid-x-call-quality/

A possible fix to low in-call volume

Recently I found my Z3c had a dramatic drop in earpiece volume. I could barely hear the caller's voice when in a quiet surrounding (like office or home), and impossible to follow the talk when outside. This was quite annoying, because it's a phone and making calls is one of its essentials regardless of whatever extra functions added to it. So I did a lot of work trying to bring the volume back. I rooted the phone (eventually), tried some sound mod, and even worked on the mixer_paths.xml directly. None of these gave me any luck. As the problem seemed irrelevant to the software flaw at the stage, I was thinking about possible hardware cause.
The first thing I did was to open the top side flap, which covers the micro SD and USB. Then I made a call to my voicemail and compared the voice I heard from both the flap opening and the top speaker. I could tell immediately that the sound was much louder and clearer from the flap opening, while the sound from the top speaker was distant and isolated. Wait a sec...
From my research on posts, I was told that there is a film lying on the speakers to make the Z3c dust proof. You can see them through the speaker cuts. To allow the sound goes through it, the film has to be perforated. Could those tiny holes be blocked after spending time with dust, water and soap (yes I did wash my Z3c frequently, thanks Sony for the water proof!). A user did mention the volume on both speakers were much gained after removing those films. I don't want to go extreme, but that did give me a hint.
So I used a pair of tweezers, with pointed tips. I slightly scratched them on those films. Immediately the color changed from dark black to lighter gray. I kept scratching them and made the grey evenly, and made another call to the voicemail. Guess what...the earpiece volume was noticeably increased! Then I airbrushed those films and tried again, this time I could not tell the improvement, but the sound was loud enough that I could hear the voice even from a distance. Now the sound coming from the flap opening would also match with that from the top speaker. I would call it a success.
To summarize: what I did was simply cleaning those meshed films on the speakers, by scratching dust off them. These films can be penetrated if you pushed too hard, so please be gentle. And I'm not sure if this trick would work for others, I'm just sharing my experience, with a good wish that this could work for others who are also bothered by the low in-call volume as I was. Still, try those software fix as well, as the cause to the same phenomenon may be different.
Thanks for reading. Let me know your comments/thoughts/tricks and treats (Happy Halloween!)

Thanks for sharing, I have same issue --- did you test its waterproofing if it still works after cleaning the speaker's mesh?

Has anyone issue with the lower speaker? I actually tried to touch it, its very hollow --- are all units like this? Thank you.

Shizuwi said:
Thanks for sharing, I have same issue --- did you test its waterproofing if it still works after cleaning the speaker's mesh?
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Had it showered once, nothing wrong so far.

today-g said:
Had it showered once, nothing wrong so far.
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done, so far great improvement with sound, i can hear the other person on the phone better --- but not sure about my bottom speaker, its very hollow.

This was one of the reasons why I'd sent in my phone. I thought the speaker was broken. Seems they've just cleaned or replaced that mesh because the volume works well on the returned phone.

Thanks for sharing :good::good:

I push chewing gum in to the grills and mic to clean them out.
Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

wow.. it realy works... thanks a lot bro ... !!!

Thx for sharing I'll try it

How does such a thin layer of perforated material manage to block so much sound?

You're my hero!!!!!
I was about to send it back cause of the awfully low earpiece volume. Now that I have cleaned it it's even too loud!
Thanks mate I really appreciated it
Cheers:good:

Great tip bro. Immediate improvement to volume level. However I guess I pushed it further that the sound is now cracking at high volume when the phone rings.
But am still happy that I can hear the other party.
Good job man.

Those of you who are claiming this works, could you please go into your service menu (*#*#service#*#*) from your dialer and run the stereo speaker test? Do both speakers have the same volume output or is one significantly louder than the other?
Sent from the only flagship phone that actually fits in my hand... The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact

So, I'm almost embarrassed to report that I had no issues with my earpiece, but thought I'd give this method of "cleaning" it out a try. I used a piece of chewing gum to remove any dirt from the screen and almost immediately noticed a drastic DECREASE in output from that speaker. Now, calls sound hollow and tinny, and the stereo speaker affect is nearly gone because the top speaker is so much quieter.
I'm afraid that I somehow caused my top speaker to produce less sound by trying this method. I've tried to wipe away any sticky residue caused by the gum, but nothing seems to help. I can't send my phone back to Sony because it's been rooted and they wont honor the warranty. I can't believe that thin piece of speaker grill would actually be able to block sound. What now?

I managed to get higher volume by cleaning the upper speaker with a chewing-gum but my operation removed the thin grey layer. Do you think I've lost waterproof?

zar69 said:
I managed to get higher volume by cleaning the upper speaker with a chewing-gum but my operation removed the thin grey layer. Do you think I've lost waterproof?
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No you haven't. Speaker attached to the lcd panel by a plastic staff so water can't goes inside.. I removed the speaker cover too but i admit without that cover phone looks ugly

2russell said:
No you haven't. Speaker attached to the lcd panel by a plastic staff so water can't goes inside.. I removed the speaker cover too but i admit without that cover phone looks ugly
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OK, thanks.

Has anyone tried replacing both speakers with Z3/Z3 dual/Z3+ ones? I was looking at the pictures of spare parts and it might be possible to put some of those in our Z3c, since the sound on Z3c is really low by default, and the ones on Z3 do sound quite louder.

I had same problem, could barely hear a phone call. I scrapped off the black material protecting the speaker now I can hear through the earpiece. I'm guessing now the phone is not water proof..

In call volume grrrrrr

So I saved up an got Nexus 6P hoping to keep it for 2-3 years. Exactly 14 months, you guessed it no warranty left, the volume while I am on a call is really really low. I can hear someone when I am in a quiet room otherwise it is not possible to make out what the other person is saying. While driving a car, in even a slightly noisy room I have to turn on speakerphone to make a call.
I tried putting a tape on the back mike, not using protective cover, someone suggested I hard reset. All tried to no use :crying:
I am running stock and at this point desperate to find a fix. can't afford another phone and this one is no good other than in my bedroom :crying::crying:
Someone is saying replace the top speaker. I don't want to resort to that unless you guys think that is the only option.

VoltaB said:
So I saved up an got Nexus 6P hoping to keep it for 2-3 years. Exactly 14 months, you guessed it no warranty left, the volume while I am on a call is really really low. I can hear someone when I am in a quiet room otherwise it is not possible to make out what the other person is saying. While driving a car, in even a slightly noisy room I have to turn on speakerphone to make a call.
I tried putting a tape on the back mike, not using protective cover, someone suggested I hard reset. All tried to no use :crying:
I am running stock and at this point desperate to find a fix. can't afford another phone and this one is no good other than in my bedroom :crying::crying:
Someone is saying replace the top speaker. I don't want to resort to that unless you guys think that is the only option.
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We can be friends. I have the same problem. Don't bother changing the speaker. I did and it makes no difference. Did you install any sound mods like I did? In all probability, it's something to do with the sound chip in the motherboard. God knows I've tried everything. This might sound crazy but I'm about to get a second hand unit. I haven't finished with this phone and can't do without front facing speakers unless I'm prepared to pay a lot for the pixel 2. It feels like someone has taken away your half finished dinner.

You can try this if on MM or Nougat. Worked pretty good for me. https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/general/mod-boost-call-handset-volume-t3329419/page7

Bluetooth headset or some cheap headphones with mic.

Finally got back my top speaker. I took the phone to a repair shop and the guy unblocked the speaker grill. He said it's basically an accumulation of dust, sweat or maybe spillage. He used some type of solvent. Now it's back to normal. So, nothing to do with speaker if anyone else has this problem. I tried compressed air previously but it's not effective.

Had this issue
tropical cactus said:
Finally got back my top speaker. I took the phone to a repair shop and the guy unblocked the speaker grill. He said it's basically an accumulation of dust, sweat or maybe spillage. He used some type of solvent. Now it's back to normal. So, nothing to do with speaker if anyone else has this problem. I tried compressed air previously but it's not effective.
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I had the same issue, along with my voice being muffled on the other side off the call. I used an air compressor and that works perfect for me. It was like night and day. it's a pretty powerful air compressor so maybe that's why it worked for me and not you. Or maybe you had gunk that needed a solvent. Either way it's worth a try to use an air compressor. I would be careful not to use too much pressure cuz I'm sure that could cause some damage at a certain point.

chacedj said:
I had the same issue, along with my voice being muffled on the other side off the call. I used an air compressor and that works perfect for me. It was like night and day. it's a pretty powerful air compressor so maybe that's why it worked for me and not you. Or maybe you had gunk that needed a solvent. Either way it's worth a try to use an air compressor. I would be careful not to use too much pressure cuz I'm sure that could cause some damage at a certain point.
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Thanks for the input. My gunk couldn't be removed even with an electrical compressed air gun (don't know the term). A friend tried earlier. Really glad I came across this repair shop. Was ready to buy another 6p.