Repairing a Bose ControlSpace

In this post, I show you how I performed a budget repair on a Bose ControlSpace Sound Processor.
Model: ESP-88c

This device is not cheap, especially when you have to buy a new one... Even on the second-hand market you still pay a lot.
I'm not a professional, I just like to save money and repair devices myself. If there is a better way and or if you have anything to add then just send a mail to bosecontrolspacerepair(at)seppdroid(dot)com.

What broke?

No power normally means that there is something wrong with the power supply. Power supplies fail over time, especially when operating full-time. So how did it happen? Well, some workers accidentally disabled power to the wrong section when performing maintenance to the power grid. I can't really remember the full story but the result was that multiple devices were hurt during this mistake.
The fusebox connected to the servers and routers had switched off after the power came back. That goes to show how unstable the mains power was at that time.

One amplifier and the Bose ControlSpace would turn on anymore. So I got to work and removed the ControlSpace and start diagnosing it. Since it was the most expensive one...

Diagnosing:

First, I visited the "googles" for a service manual, luckily I found one for this model.

I don't have it saved anymore otherwise I would've uploaded it to this page...

So I opened up the device and started measuring the voltages from the power supply. And just as I suspected the rails were close to 0 volts, I did notice that the AC fuse was still intact. So I think the surge was the final nail in its coffin.

Removing the power supply and turning it upside down revealed the issue...

So it had to be replaced, but that was easier said than done. I searched online for an hour and couldn't find the same model. Well, I did find one that had a different model number and looked a bit off, but the seller was asking 399 euros for it.

Yeah right, not going to happen.

The repair:

I noticed that the powerlines looked a lot like ATX PSU standards. So I grabbed a mini ATX PSU and connected it to the ControlSpace's mainboard. (In a not-so-recommended way).

And it started working again, ATX power supplies are quite safe, and newer ones are very advanced & protected. So I decided that the ATX power supply would be a better fit than any other hacked PSU. So I built it in, with the limited tools I had at the time.

It's been running great ever since! The upside is that it is a digital processor and not an analog audio processor. Analog and power are a nightmare to work with.