Best place to repair Bose A20 headset?

Maciej

Maciej

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Maciej
Took one of my friend's out on a flight yesterday and had a great time, unfortunately as he was getting out of the plane (Diamond DA20) he used his left hand to push himself out of the seat and pressed against the headset plug managing to partially crack one of the plugs. I'd like to get this fixed as soon as possible as it's my headset. Any suggestions on the least expensive way of repairing it?
 
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Well, the cheapest way would be for you to buy a new plug and do some light electrical work (wire stripping and soldering). If it's the phone plug then it's a standard size and you could buy a replacement at Radio Shack (if they're still around). If it's the mic plug you'd have to order it from Spruce or somewhere. Note that this option will not look as good as the factory (but might look okay depending on your level of handiness), but you asked for "least expensive", and this fix could be just a couple of dollars.

If you're not handy with electrical stuff, I imagine any avionics shop could do the same thing for you.

You could probably order a whole replacement cord from Bose.

Of course, you could send it to Bose for repair. If it's under warranty, it will probably be free except the cost of shipping to them. Even if it's not, they might still do it for free. All of the major headset manufacturers seem to be pretty good on free repairs. Plus, they will likely throw in new ear seals, maybe a new head pad, mic muff, etc., while they're at it (they did for me).

Alternately, if you're going to Oshkosh this year and can wait that long, just bring it with you. They will likely fix it right there for free.
 
Like Russ said, you can probably replace the whole plug. I know you can on the Bose X. A buddy gave me a set that had the single plug. I believe it cost me around $150 a few years ago to get a new cord with the dual GA plugs.
 
RussR said:
Well, the cheapest way would be for you to buy a new plug and do some light electrical work (wire stripping and soldering). If it's the phone plug then it's a standard size and you could buy a replacement at Radio Shack (if they're still around). If it's the mic plug you'd have to order it from Spruce or somewhere. Note that this option will not look as good as the factory (but might look okay depending on your level of handiness), but you asked for "least expensive", and this fix could be just a couple of dollars.

If you're not handy with electrical stuff, I imagine any avionics shop could do the same thing for you.

You could probably order a whole replacement cord from Bose.

Of course, you could send it to Bose for repair. If it's under warranty, it will probably be free except the cost of shipping to them. Even if it's not, they might still do it for free. All of the major headset manufacturers seem to be pretty good on free repairs. Plus, they will likely throw in new ear seals, maybe a new head pad, mic muff, etc., while they're at it (they did for me).

Alternately, if you're going to Oshkosh this year and can wait that long, just bring it with you. They will likely fix it right there for free.
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Thanks for the quick reply! I'll probably just contact Bose, seems like the easiest option.
 
If you don't get any help from Bose, send it to me. I'll fix it.
 
Not sure if that kind of damage is covered under their warranty, but if it is less than 5 years old, I'd certainly start there.
 
Can someone PLEASE tell me what wires of the Bose A20 GA PHONE plug I need to tap into to replace the plug?

The original plug broke off so I bought a replacement plug thinking I could simply replace the plug...however when I cut open the cable leading to the plug it has six colored wires (ORANGE/GREEN/ BLUE/ YELLOW/ WHITE/ BLACK) and the braided shield and three of those wires are supposed to be soldered on to the replacement plug (Neutrik NP3X) and it has three lugs (tip/center/ring)

I cut off the old phone plug and was expecting to find three wires and a shield but there are actually six colored wires (ORANGE/GREEN/ BLUE/ YELLOW/ WHITE/ BLACK) and the braided shield…

SO I took the old plug and dug into the molded on plastic plug end so as to find the colored wires however when I broke the plastic molded end off there were only three conductors soldered to the plug lugs and sadly the colored wire insulation came off with the plastic.

OK so fine...I went "high tech" and stripped all six wire ends and used a 1.5 volt battery to see if I could hear the headset speakers when the wires were touched to the battery hoping to find the mystery three wires.


Instead, only when the black and green wires are touched together will both speakers click. No matter what other combination of wires are touched together there will be no sound at all out of the speakers...so I was not clever enough to figure it out...

Why would a plug that has only three conductors have six wires routed to it?

So I do know the business end of a soldering iron and now I just need to know what color wires to solder.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
 
I cannot tell if my post went through because there is a scary red error message telling me I need to have 5 posts before I can insert a link...however my post did not contain a link so who knows...

OK...so I will play along...here is post 2
 
Post 5...hopefully it will get rid of this red error message...
 
Pilot 101 -

1) Suggest you call Bose, and/or see if they'll fix it for you under warranty or just to have good customer service. Don't get if you don't ask!

2) Don't cut the red wire! Don't go under 55 MPH!

upload_2020-4-30_10-54-6.png
 
WDD said:
Suggest you call Bose, and/or see if they'll fix it for you under warranty or just to have good customer service. Don't get if you don't ask!
Click to expand...

He said Bose, not DC. Try writing your request on the back of a crisp $200 bill and sending it in.
 
GeorgeC said:
He said Bose, not DC. Try writing your request on the back of a crisp $200 bill and sending it in.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: Yes, I guess there's that. But why not just try. You'd be surprised what you can get if you ask nicely. Might get lucky.
 
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