iFixIt: the HomePod is very hard to open, but is so tough it’s ‘bulletproof’

The gang at iFixIt, which tears apart tech gadgets and look at their innards so you don’t have to, have offered a teardown of Apple’s HomePod. They find that the wireless speaker is “the world device ever to open,” but is bulletproof, meant to withstand intense vibration and minimize buzzing components.

iFixIt’s HomePod Teardown highlights include:

• The seamless 3D mesh was designed to be acoustically transparent while protecting the HomePod’s insides from dust and debris. Sandwiched between the net-like layers, iFixIt found tiny wiry coils that allow sound waves to travel through the fabric with little to no reflection.
• This bot was built for bass. To produce deep, dramatic bass notes a speaker needs to move a lot of air. Traditionally, that’s done by increasing the loudspeaker’s diameter, but Apple increased the travel of the voice coil instead. Now, the speaker diameter stays small, but it can still move enough air to effectively bass your face off.
• The vents on the sides of the voice coil bobbin and the four holes at the rear of the tweeter prevent air pressure from building up and distorting both the music and the dome as it moves several thousand times a second.