Introduction

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    • Disconnect any power to the speaker and wait a few minutes for the capacitors to fully discharge.

    • Flip the speaker upside down.

    • There may be a rubber foot covering the bottom screws (not included in picture). Remove this by pulling up from one of the corners using a spudger.

    By the time you actually reached the motherboard the capacitors will already be discharged sufficiently to a safe level, so just go ahead there's no need to wait in this step.

    That said, be careful once you have the motherboard out and decide to test it on your table. The two large capacitors are directly behind the full bridge rectifier that's connected to the mains, so without load they carry the peak voltage. In Europe with 230V that means 325V, in 110V countries that means 156V (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternatin... for more information about RMS and peak voltages).

    Erik Mouw -

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    • Remove eight 10mm Phillips #2 screws

    • Remove the bottom panel by pulling upwards.

    • Be very gentle with the ends of the three antennas. They are very fragile.

    NB: in the photograph, two antennas of the three soldered on the antenna PCBs are broken: You can see one standing upside down towards the center-right of the photograph

    Toni -

    On my model, only 6 of the 8 screws hold the bottom panel. Looking at the picture above, where the screws are circles, the bottom row of 5 screws, the second and fourth screw are threaded for nuts, as opposed to the other six, which are threaded for plastics. These two screws can be removed once the bottom panel has been removed.

    Toni -

    Like the previous poster said: in this step it is sufficient to remove the second and fourth screw cause these hold the front panel. Removing the front panel takes a bit of force and it is better to have the fragile WiFi antennas protected by the bottom panel.

    The remaining six screws can be removed just before step 13 (which also misses a step, see my comments over there).

    Erik Mouw -

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    • Flip the device so that the grille is facing up.

    • Locate the line on the right side of the speaker where the grill and the plastic meet, and place your plastic opening tool in the gap.

    • Run the spudger along the gap, loosening the grille from the plastic. Repeat this process on the left side as well.

    • Gently pull up on the grille, removing it from the front panel.

    might be worth mentioning there are two strips of industrial velcro running along near the top and bottom that simply have to be pulled apart

    Adam Tibbalds -

    Run the plastic opening tool under the grille to remove to pull the velcro apart. In that way you avoid bending the grille. Be careful with the speaker cones, though.

    Erik Mouw -

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    • Remove the six 8mm Phillips #2 screws.

    • Remove the two 10mm Phillips #2 screws.

    In my unit the top two screws marked in red had a rubber plug in the hole as well. I had to remove them by sticking a knife in and carefully pulling them out.

    Adam Tibbalds -

    I had the same issue but no problem getting them out.

    clarkal2000 -

    I pulled them out using the corkscrew method: I drove a screw about 10mm deep into the rubber plug, then pulled up the screw. This method created way less damage than other methods i have tried.

    Toni -

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    • Locate the line on the right side where the front panel and back panel meet. Place a plastic opening tool in the gap, and run it along the gap. Repeat this on the left side.

    • Use the opening tool to lift the front plate. If a plastic tool is not providing enough leverage, use a metal opening tool.

    • Gently pull up on the face plate to ensure it has been detached from the enclosure.

    • When pulling on the face plate be cautious because it is still connected by wires on the back of the plate.

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    • Lift up the front panel, forming a 90 degree angle with the back panel. Locate the locate ten pin connector shown. This is the wire that connects the front panel to back panel.

    • Press down on the small tab located on the connector. With the tab firmly pressed down, pull the connector out from its socket.

    • The faceplate assembly is now fully detached from the rest of the speaker.

    my unit didn’t have the tab in the middle of the connector. It simply had to be prised apart (I used a plastic spudger to separate the two parts of the connector) and then reconnected carefully (I used the plastic spudger again between the pcb and the case to support the pcb as it was flexing)

    Adam Tibbalds -

    My unit has a white gasket between the front and back panel. It was stuck to the front panel when I opened the unit. When rebuilding the unit it was easier to remove the gasket and put it in the small ridge of the back panel.

    Erik Mouw -

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    • Remove the ten pin connector.

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    • Flip the device over on its front side.

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    • Remove six 5mm Phillips #0 screws.

    • Remove two 7mm Phillips #2 screws.

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    • Flip the device on its back.

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    • Remove the grey and red antenna connectors by lifting them away from the board.

    • Pull cords away from the board.

    Hi! Great guide. These three cords have been ripped away on my second-hand-unit. Where do they connect?

    Thanks again!

    Martin Lindström -

    Instead of these following steps, I unsrewed the 4 nuts, lifted the controlboard up, and kept the antennas connected, then I could remove the Powerboard with antenna connections intact…

    Flera Brev -

    The antenna connectors were hidden on blobs of yelliow glue, so I did the same as previous poster: unscrew the four nuts and lift the controlboard out instead.

    Erik Mouw -

    Hi,

    Because the connectors were glued I broke one of the connector from the board. Is that fixable? If I connect directly to the internet with a cable, do I need the antenna? Thanks

    maartenvlug -

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    • Remove the yellow antenna connector by lifting it away from the board.

    • Pull cord away from the board.

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    • Remove circuit board by lifting it straight away from the rear plate.

    One step is missing…you also have to disconnect the cable to the top circuit board with the volume buttons and led…

    Flera Brev -

    Are you referring to the 10 pin connector in Step "Motherboard"?

    Toni -

    On my model, the motherboard is held in place with another six (i think) screws which go in the steel posts that support the motherboard. This step is completely missing in this guide. Interestingly enough, in the bottom panel removal step, the photograph does not show the screws, as if somebody had removed them: i honestly don't think that in any revision Sonos would leave the motherboard secured only by the screws on the back, where the connectors are, because the motherboard would rattle with music.

    Toni -

    What previous poster said, and in line with my remarks at step 2: there is a missing step. The motherboard is screwed to the bottom with six screws. You have to remove these screws before you can take out the motherboard.

    Erik Mouw -

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    • Lay the two connected boards so that the power board is facing upwards.

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    • Unscrew four Phillips #2 bolts.

    • These bolts will not come out, but will pull out of the nuts on the other side of the board.

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    • Flip boards so audio board is facing upwards, as is shown in picture.

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    • Lift control board up and away from power supply board.

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    • The larger of the two boards is the power supply board.

    mine was destroyed by a spike in line voltage 380V instead of normal 240V. Have you any idea which part/fuse could I try to replace? I suspect it is only a power supply board problem

    suma -

    The small brownish round part left behind and very close to the (black) powerplug connector is a 3.15A 250V PCB mount fuse.

    Mine was blown.

    Replaced it with a new one (eBay 6 of them for just $2) and my Sonos works again!

    Eric -

    Told a friend I repaired my Play5 when I said he had one which didn’t do anything anymore fo quite a while.

    Sure enough the PCB mounted fuse was dead.

    Checked the bridge rectifier first before replacing the fuse and it turned out that 1 of the diodes was conducting in both directions..

    Told him there was chance that the circuitry behind it was killed by the AC voltage.

    After removing the bridge rectifier I put 30V DC on the circuit with a power supply on which I can limit the current.

    Hardly any current so I assumed that at least the circuitry behind the bridge rectifier did not cause a short circuit.

    Eric -

    To replace the bridge rectifier I first had to remove the 100uF 400V capacitor.

    As they put a kind of silicone on the power supply part of the PCB this wasn’t easy…

    During removal of the bridge rectifier I slightly damaged the connection between the + side of the bridge rectifier and the PCB.

    I ended up by connecting the + side of the bridge rectifier with the + side of the other capacitor (next to J27706 on the backside of the board).

    Replaced the fuse, connected the board to the mains and the fuse did not blow.

    Reassembled the Play5 et voila, it works again!

    I do not understand why they don’t use a separate power supply board!

    Eric -

    Hi! Do you have the model of the rectifier diod and the fuse you ordered? I have the same problem!

    Flera Brev -

    OK, I see the fuse, but what is and where is the “bridge rectifier?” I am supposing that it should conduct in only one direction, and that it has to be off the board to test. Is any of this correct?

    Paul -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Warren Willingham

Member since: 20/02/17

996 Reputation

9 comments

Great guide but where can you get replacement boards from, if at all?

Mark Molloy -

Yes good question, where to get a replacement board SONOS P/N: 170-00236?

Model: JB Power Board

B. Buil -

Does anyone know the specs on the five electrolytic capacitors that are arranged vertically (on the left side of the last image above)? I have a couple failing on one board, and I think that’s what is causing the amp to ‘click’ once it warms up.

T C -

We replaced the parts listed in the description of this clip, and the unit came back to life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8hKdGT...

The procedure is a bit unclear in the clip, suggest following the ifixit-procedure, or both.

Roger Bratseth -

Thank you for your work here. Youtube video also useful.

I needed to purchase quality solder iron plus tips, solder wick, and review how to desolder capacitors. Taking out the bad fuse and the rectifier were relatively easy, but the capacitors were covered in silicone, then the old solder on its terminals proved very difficult to melt. In the end, even with temperature of tip at 340, little progress was made, so I disassembled capacitor in situ, and finally with more heat the remnant of it and the two terminals popped out. Again ,I saw this technique on YouTube.

So, having had a live chat with sonos who told me I had no warranty and it was unfixable, and that the new sonos5 is not compatible with my current Generation 1 system, I got the thing working, with next to no initial knowledge.

Cost

£90 in tools- solder iron, tips, quality electronic pliers

£10 in components from Farnell

And about 6 hours disassemble, doing the biz ( the learning curve of desoldering, removing caps, fuse, rectifier) then reassembling

Gordon Mckenna -

Trying to fix a board for play 5 which is flashing white any suggestions?

Tibor -

Just to add a “me too” comment. My problem was that the bridge rectifier had shorted, which had, in turn blown the red cylindrical fuse.

To test whether your bridge rectifier is duff, use a multimeter to check continuity between any and all of its 4 legs. There should be none at all, mine was beeping when I bridged two of the legs.

I had to remove the big capacitor in front of the rectifier in order to access it, but that was no problem (just make sure you put it back in the right way round).

About £1.50 worth of parts to save £350 on an “upgraded” unit from Sonos. It helped that I already had a soldering iron.

C Wheatland -

I followed this guide and the Youtube video. It turned out the cause of the failure in my unit was a real life bug. Somehow a mosquito managed to get into the unit through one of the bass reflex ports (see pictures in step 10) and cause a short between two pins in the connector that connects the audio board to the motherboard. After cleaning up and reassembly the unit came back to life.

Erik Mouw -

I cannot see well enough to make these repairs myself on my Play 5 Gen 1. Is there anyone out there that offers repairs on these units? Thank you!

Randy -