I chose to tear down a pair of Bowers and Wilkins headphones! here I included an image of them brand new from online because I got too excited to rip it apart and forgot t0 take a before picture. here they are 🙂
Tools and Techniques
I found that I used my hands for most of this process but used a few tools to aid in taking things apart. Looking back the only tools that I used were my hands, an x-acto blade, and the smallest screw driver I could find. My goal was to separate the headphones so every thing I removed was one single piece, and I wanted to do so without having to break anything.
Because I was able to use my hands for most of this demolition most of my technique was really pulling on things to see if they would come apart.
I started off almost immediately by using an x-acto blade to seam rip the stitching on the leather that covered the headband. After that it became much easier to deconstruct what was inside the headband. After that I worked on it piece by piece and when I got stuck I moved onto a different section. Usually taking apart one section ended up helping me break free another piece
The only part that I used the screw driver for was inside the ear cushion and the ear cups themselves. In here, there were parts of plastic that were screwed down to hide the battery and the motherboard. Other than that I worked through the whole thing using my hands and the x-acto blade to pry things apart. This is a small timelapse of me working and moving around a lot from part to part. After trying to get the whole headphone wire out I realized it was much further in than I thought and then my screw driver was too big. It was a lot of trial and error but I really did enjoy the process
Materials
headband:
- leather
- foam
- metal headband base
- headphone cable
- rubber
ear cups:
- motherboard
- metal
- wires
- battery
- plastic
- screws
- speaker
- foam
- leather
- magnets
- rubber
Manufacturing Techniques
There are a few steps in the manufacturing process of over the ear headphones
Selection of materials
- Plastics are used for the outer casing due to their lightweight and moldability
- Metals such as aluminum and stainless steel are for structural components, providing strength and durability
- Foams and Fabrics are for ear pads and headbands to ensure comfort
- Magnets and Voice Coils are key components in the drivers that convert electrical signals into sound
Manufacturing the Components
- Driver Assembly: The driver is the heart of the headphone, consisting of a diaphragm, voice coil, and magnet
- Molding and Casting: The plastic and metal parts are molded and cast into the required shapes using injection molding and die-casting techniques
- Circuit Board Production: The electronic components, including the circuit board, are manufactured and tested
Assembly
- Drivers are carefully installed into the ear cups
- Internal wiring connects the drivers to the audio jack or wireless module
- The outer casing is assembled, and ear pads and headbands are attached
- Each unit undergoes rigorous testing for sound quality, durability, and functionality. This includes acoustic testing, drop tests, and stress tests
https://app.t2.world/article/cly2xko3f96701520mcbiqsjtvc
Knolling
This was by far my favorite part of the process. After I finished tearing the headphones apart I dumped the pieces out of my bag and got to work!
Design Elements
One design element I really liked was that the leather ear cushion and plastic ear cup each had strong magnets that allowed them to stick together well but also be pulled apart fairly easily if needed. I have never owned a pair of over the ear headphones before so I don’t know if this is a common feature but I’ve seen other headphone users have to peel off the cushion to get it off, which makes it harder to put back on in my opinion. I think Bowers and Wilkins made it this way so that the leather could be easily replaced when it wears down and the inside mechanisms could be easily accessed if the headphones need repairs.
Another design element that intrigued me was the metal engraved indication of the left and the right headphones. On most headphones now a days it is written somewhere on the cushion or cup but these had a tiny separate metal piece on the metal base that said L and R. When taking it apart I thought it was interesting that these were two cylinders that could be separated from the whole form. The reason for the left and right indication is so the user can hear the stereo properly. The sound is frequently captured with two or more microphones, each of which captures a different segment of the audio, so you need the headphones on the right way otherwise all the sounds will be reversed.