Dumpster find: Marley speaker demo store display

[edy]

I found this in the dumpster next to my office which services a number of stores, including a consumer electronics store. Seems they were clearing out the old display demos for the new models. I plugged it in and found 3 buttons that when pressed play music (about 10-15 seconds of contemporary stuff) out of the corresponding speaker next to the button. There are also 2 volume buttons (left and right) near the front centre to change volume.

I will make a video on YouTube later (I wonder if the music is copyright and if YouTube will flag it) to show it but in the meantime trying to figure out what I can do with it and what is missing. The speakers obviously work well, the entire display is extremely heavy. There is an amp in there and some sound source programmable to play when the buttons are pressed. There are 3 different tracks that play, so each speaker gets different music. That may be one board running everything, or 3 different boards that work both to amplify and generate the sound.

I also don't know how complete each of the speakers are. For example, when I press the "buttons" on the speaker, I feel something clicking but not sure if they are dummies (they don't do anything obviously). I'm assuming there are no batteries in any of these speakers, and they may be missing all the electronics and just have their audio fed in directly from the external display stand amp.

So at the end of the day, I may be able to just separate out the speakers and amp and make a little computer or television sound bar (if I can hack into the audio input and play my own rather than use the demo sound loop). It will be interesting tearing this thing down and showing the innards.




Any ideas from someone who has gutted one of these before? I don't think it is made by Marley. There are companies around that apparently specialize in making store display demos for other companies. For example, the closest I found was this image from Google from a company called GPAGLOBAL:



This is in their portfolio:  https://www.gpaglobal.net/en/portfolio/house-marley/

[edy]

Ok, so I opened it up just to look as I was curious. Here's the back panel where you can see the audio board and connections (3.5mm stereo phono jacks) leading off to each respective speaker. That's a good sign, it means that I can play audio through the speakers just by running the audio to them using these jacks. The only question is, what sort of levels are coming out of the board? Are they already amplified? Is there anything going on in each speaker or is the board driving it to the full power?




Close up view of the board. Some custom job likely meant for this type of application. You can see the buttons wires leading in to the unit along with the stereo outputs. Seems the board supports more buttons and more audio outputs for larger displays. There is also an SD Card in the slot which I happen to view on my computer. There are some TXT files in there which set up the system (includes information on the audio files, what the buttons do, how long to play the music, time out numbers, etc).... and a bunch of WAV files. I will post the contents of the SD Card in a future posting if anyone wants to view it and reverse-engineer what it is doing. I'm sure I can hack around with the data and set it up to do different things. The TXT files seem to be used to configure how many buttons there are, what the buttons do, depending on where they are plugged on the board they are assigned a number, and also the number of the audio outputs.




Now the bottom of the display is interesting as well. As you can see the audio and power leads to each of the speaker hook up there. What I didn't expect was that there were actually 3 separate "wall warts" connected to a power bar! Each has a different type of connector that goes to the respective speaker. For example, while the larger speakers use some kind of regular round center-pin plug, the smallest speaker has a micro USB connection. Each necessitates its own transformer.




You can see the wires leading to some of the buttons, as well as the power bar and the transformers for each speaker.




One final close-up look. The good news is, it seems that I can separate out each speaker independently and it comes with it's own power source as well as audio input. It also means that the levels going into each speaker (from the main board) are probably normal line levels and that the amplification is happening within the speakers themselves.... Otherwise, why the need for the power to each speaker? There must be an amplifier in each speaker but it may be "hard locked" to a certain setting since the buttons on the speakers don't seem to do anything to adjust audio levels. I will have to dig into each speaker eventually and see what is going on in each. But at the moment, it appears I should be able to separate them out and simply hook them up to the audio output of my phone for example and hear it play no problem.

[don.r]

Awesome find! The good news is now its perfectly legal to light up and listen to Marley.

[edy]

Awesome find! The good news is now its perfectly legal to light up and listen to Marley.

Yes! I wonder if they use hemp in these speakers to fit in with their "Eco" image. 

Here is the video I promised... this was taken before I opened it up. I'll be making some more videos once I open it up and test out what is inside this thing, and will also provide a dump of the SD Card that I found in there so you can try to figure out how the board program is set up. Too bad I have no idea who made this thing and no documentation on the text format/code used, although some of the text files actually have comments in them with the various settings (as you will see):

[edy]

Ok, so I transferred over the contents of that SD Card.... see attached ZIP file. You will notice a bunch of text files, and a few WAV files. I have MODIFIED the wav files so I could attach them to this post without being over the size limit. The ones I changed are basically these:

10.wav
11.wav
12.wav
13.wav

These are the 4 songs (originally ~5 MB each) which I cycle through when I press the buttons on the display. What I did was just copy the file 09.wav (which is small) and substitute it for 10-13.wav files. But otherwise you can use whatever files you want there, they are the songs.

I don't know what 09.wav and 99.wav are supposed to do.

The other wav files I substitued that were on the SDCard you will see are...

v10.wav
v11.wav
v12.wav

These are around ~2-3 MB each. They are additional music but I did not hear this when cycling through the tracks. Maybe they were there before? Maybe they are extra tracks used for another display? Maybe they are from a previous version? In any case, to save space in the ZIP I just replaced v10-v12.wav files with copies of 09.wav (which is small).

Otherwise, the entire file structure content of the SD Card is there with all the configuration files (txt files) and all the WAV files according to the naming... only difference is that the larger music WAV's I've shrunken to fit in the ZIP. So we can figure out what is going on with this thing and if there is any way to hack it for other purposes.

[don.r]

Looks like Data Display Systems is the maker. https://www.dd-usa.com/audio-players/

[edy]

Looks like Data Display Systems is the maker. https://www.dd-usa.com/audio-players/

Thanks! I somehow didn't find anything when I searched for the "Data Display Phil." but it may have been drowned out by lots of other hits since the words are so generic. I doubt they would provide me any more info on their board programming as it seems to be internally used for them to make these systems. Alternatively, they might order it from another OEM to their spec and they give them the programming instructions. Perhaps even a software tool they have to set up all the text file codes and clip music, or they have lots and lots of "packages" vendors download periodically to refresh their SD Cards with newer tracks or different styles of music depending on the type of store/demographic.

My next step is to detach all the speakers and wires and I should be able to have 3 separate speakers, each with a power adapter and 3.5mm phono jack input. I've already tried plugging my phone in (instead of from the board) and was able to play music amplified to each speaker. It looks like volume is maxed on each speaker, I have to control volume from the phone which works fine (buttons on speakers don't do anything).

That could mean they gutted the Marley speakers and put their own amp in each and drive the speakers that way. Alternatively there may be some mod that can be applied to the Marley internals that locks them into some input always on max volume state (demo state), but I doubt that. I think we will find different amps in each, as they all take different voltage/amp power adapters, and drive speaker directly and nothing else.

You then wonder how accurate does this represent the product being sold? Sure we can hear the speaker but what about the differences in the electronics and signal processing? Surely if they are using their own amp to drive the speakers directly, we are hearing the characteristics of their amplifier which will not necessarily reflect how the Marley handles sound input, the frequency response, saturation, etc.

[amyk]

What are the ICs on that board? I see what looks like two microcontrollers (labeled like ROMs, but ROMs are usually not in such skinny packages), a bigger QFP below them (DSP?) and three smaller ones below that (amplifiers?) It's a lot more than I was expecting, a single media-player SoC and some NAND flash would've been my guess.

[Cyberdragon]

Looks like a main CPU/microcontroller and 3 4-channel DACs as SMD. The center socketed chip is probably a MUX chip (or micro functioning as such) for the IO (hence ctrl for control) but I'm not sure about the red chip, it could be the SD card reader or a video driver (there are larger connectors which could be for a simple display unit).

[edy]

I've taken some close up images of the various chips.... Here is the VLSI chip. VS1011E N5M1498 1550 R. Some info is here: http://www.vlsi.fi/en/products/vs1011.html. Seems to be an MP3 and WAV decoder but the SDCard contains WAV files. I wonder if I substitute MP3 files for the WAV files on the SDCard if i will still play? Hmmm... something to try!




Next we have 3 of these "BSG TI 45W Z53M" chips. It is most likely this TI headphone amplifier chip:
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpa6130a2.pdf





Next we have a couple of ATMEL ATTINY's.... I removed those stickers on top. One seems to be ATTINY861A PU, and the other is hard to read but it looks like ATTINY461A - PU. These seem to be on this datasheet here:
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/devicedoc/8197s.pdf

This could be what is reading the SD Card text files to get the button and sound configuration scripts, and running the whole show. That would explain the "ctrl" part of one of them. Not sure what the other one does.






Finally, here is the whole thing gutted and sitting on the ground without the heavy metal display stand. Everything is plugged in and working as before.




I'm having a VERY HARD TIME trying to figure out how to open up the speakers now. Other than the power and audio cables leading into each the base, I see the charge ports, audio inputs, USB, and all the buttons still there on all 3 of these speaker units. Somehow all of this was bypassed. I want to open up the speakers and see what they did inside.... BUT HOW? Without damaging them?  I can't see any obvious point of leverage, any screws, anything that would hint at a way of opening any of them!!! Argh! Anyone have any ideas?

[NOTE: Will try to debug some of the TXT configuration files, see if I can add any more tracks and will dump a few MP3 on there too to see if I can manage to have it play MP3 and not just WAV, as it seems that VLSI will support it].

[edy]

I found a bunch of YouTube videos which explain how to get inside. Either way it looks like it is partially destructive on the smaller ones, as it involved removing some rubber glued-on rings that probably will not stick on again. That sucks. Will be interesting to see if any of the original speaker electronics is there and how they patched in. Is the battery still there? Can the speakers be "severed" from the demo patch cables and still work? All will be determined soon...

[edy]

Ok, so I managed to pull apart all the speakers and disassemble the entire store display. I'll post a few videos later showing this. First thing I did was crack open the speakers to see what was in there. It turns out the largest speaker ("Get Together" model) had a dedicated amplifier board that was put in there by Data Display. I will show this in a YouTube video later. For now, I've posted a screenshot from my video here (I've attached both zoomed and larger photo showing the amplifier board in the largest speaker below):



So those buttons on top of the speaker do nothing, the buttons basically all seem to connect to the ground plane. I've noticed this also with the ports at the back of the speaker... just a PCB with everything either shorted or completely open when necessary (to prevent someone from plugging in a power adapter and shorting it).

From what I gather, the micro's on there are as follows:

TAS5709 5AW G4 APXQ (20 Watt Digital Stereo Amp): https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tas5709.pdf
AKM 5358AET 4S610 (A/D converter): https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/AKM%20Semiconductor%20Inc.%20PDFs/AK5358A.pdf
ST 78259 ... PHL 619 Y  (ST Micro): not sure what this part is

My guess is the A/D converter takes in the 3.5mm phono input and converts it to digital, since the TAS5709 will accept only digital input. Then it gets amplified and fed to the speakers. I'm not quite sure how the STMicro part fits in with this, maybe someone can explain.

I also opened up the Chant Mini BT and found that it contains the original Marley PCB!!!! What Data Display did was just connect 5V microUSB across the battery terminal pads where the battery would be... and soldered the 3.5mm audio cable in to the PCB on the pads that are for the 3.5mm input (female) phono port. But something is up with the firmware or they disabled something else.

I can power it by using the actual microUSB input port on the unit since it connects to the PCB itself, so I was able to get rid of that extra power cable running out the back. Same goes for the 3.5mm" line in... I can use that on the PCB itself. I also get a Bluetooth detection up and my phone is able to see it but it won't connect when it tries (fails with some error). Also the power button doesn't seem to turn it on or off (it is on the minute I plug it in). As well, when pressing the bluetooth button, no LED flashes, there is no light at all... nothing, no sign of life. So this PCB seems to a modified or crippled version of the original PCB..... UNLIKE the PCB that was found in the largest speaker ("Get Together") which is a dedicated amplifier-only board made by Data Display.

I haven't bothered opening up the middle size speaker (Chant). I doubt I will get any further with it and I don't want to ruin it. However, I did find a neat trick.... because the Chant Mini has the audio cable (male end) just hooked in parallel with the audio input port on the PCB (female), I am able to "daisy chain" the Chant and Chant Mini and have them play the music together! I plug the MALE cable from the Chant Mini into my phone, and then plug the MALE cable from the Chant into the female "input" port (which is now acting as an output)... Hence the single source is now feeding both Chant Mini and Chant speakers! 

I will have to show this in a video at some point. Anyways, not a complete disappointment. Nice speakers, but no bluetooth functionality, no battery. Just monitors basically with no volume control (maxed out). I can plug into any mains source, plug in any sound source via the 3.5mm phono and away it goes. I could try to add extra features... for example, it would be trivial to install a radio, MP3 player, and other stuff inside the case of the "Get Together" to give it many other selectable sound sources. Perhaps even a battery/charger circuit. Fun project for another day.

[oPossum]

I think the ST part is a STM8 family microcontroller.

https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm8s003f3.html

[edy]

I think the ST part is a STM8 family microcontroller.

https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm8s003f3.html

Thanks! I am still not sure what the purpose is. I see the chip features a number of different functions, including an ADC, timers, memory. Could it be a place to store EQ settings for the TS amplifier chip?

I finished uploading a few videos... here they are. The first shows the beginning part of the teardown (I posted photos earlier) just removing the covers and seeing the wiring inside. I was surprised that it had so many power adapters and simple audio input connections... but that is a good thing, which means I was able to use all of the speakers very easily independently.




In the second video I took everything out of the display and managed to hook it back up again, and tested it out to show it still works ok. A little discussion on the main board, what it does, and the various components on it.




This last video may be the most interesting to see. It shows the board I discussed in my last post, with the dummy buttons and basically just purely amplifying the source audio input (it uses a 15V 2.0A supply wall wart). The 3 chips can be seen, the layout and those 4 large what look to be surface mount ?inductors? (with the number "150" written on them) at the far right end. So if this is trying to showcase the "Get Together" speaker, is it really a true Apples to Apples comparison? You have a dedicated most likely very high quality amplifier board, nothing else inside the speaker to affect the sound quality or resonance, no hum or hiss or other potential sources of interference. I'm sure it is trivial but wouldn't it have been nice to see a House of Marley board in there, at least we know the audio/amp chips are all the same?

[Someone]

I think the ST part is a STM8 family microcontroller.
https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm8s003f3.html

Thanks! I am still not sure what the purpose is. I see the chip features a number of different functions, including an ADC, timers, memory. Could it be a place to store EQ settings for the TS amplifier chip?

The amplifier chip requires quite a bit of configuration to do anything at all, in most systems there would be a processor that would just take care of that so the micro is probably just there to set a few I2C registers at boot.

[amyk]

I also opened up the Chant Mini BT and found that it contains the original Marley PCB!!!! What Data Display did was just connect 5V microUSB across the battery terminal pads where the battery would be... and soldered the 3.5mm audio cable in to the PCB on the pads that are for the 3.5mm input (female) phono port. But something is up with the firmware or they disabled something else.

It could've been a defective one, hence why it was used for this display.