why would you block the sound from travelling up? Up, down, sideways, where ever the sound can get out is a good thing on this tiny speaker.

You haven't even done this mod, yet you are commenting on how it is better stock and the "proper" way to drill the holes. Actual experience trumps your theories.

Yep, I noticed the sound issue on my unit when I got it. With the cover on i get distortion cause of vibration, especially when the moving the phone, say swinging my hand with it. With the cover off, no distortion. I hear much better levels and what not, not so much more volume but a clearer sound when the volume is high.

My way to kill it was the stop the vibration of the cover was to tape a lil pad under to the cover, like the one already there that put extra tension when the cover snaps into place so it wouldn't vibrate. It helped.

(So every scientist who ever has a hypothesis should shut up because they can't prove there theories? Just because i prefer the sound to come from the top doesn't mean i can't advise on the mod. I have modded hundreds of things from laptops, cars, and xboxs... )

You must have a reading comprehension problem. Maybe you should take an English class. If the hypothesis was disproved based on fact, then YES, said scientist or whoever should STFU.
Drill the holes then talk. It doesn't matter what you've modded in the past. You have no experience with this particular one.

That's not my point, we whom have experience with tools and have dealt with the hazards of drilling are NOT who I was addressing.

IMHO if a person is asking where to get a drill, etc. they have no business drilling their BB cover. There's some post in another thread where noobs to tools cracked their covers or scratched the surface.

I am sure to us this task could be handled with any number of devices, with eyes closed. So I don't think we should be telling the mechanically challenged to go buy a drill and have at it.

Some of those people are the same ones who could not apply those skins that cover the Pearl.

And to put it bluntly, most people do not have, as you say, common sense when it comes to use of tools. Most people I know have to search high and low for a screwdriver or hammer.

haha... i see your point

Just did the mod. I think the sound is more crisp and clear.

wow you must just be a dick!

i should stfu? argh!!!! you buttpirate!

Wouldn't be surprised to see someone make what you did and try to sell it.

Just noticed this - very cool...

I used a heavy duty 18volt drill and everything went just fine. just remember not to put all the drills weight on the cover while drilling or it will crack!!!!

I just marked mine for drilling and it looks great! I put the scotch tape over the plastic as directed and once I get home from work, I'll break out the dremel kit.
I'll let you guys know/see how it turned out.

Nice sig.

My bad phungy.....had to get a start somewhere. I'll change it up real soon. Hey...at least I didn't color my T.

Hey guys.....I did the back cover mod and boy what a difference in sound quality!! It was like a muffled analog compared to a now loud, crisp stereo sound. The people who haven't tried this and are giving their 2 cents.....It's proven to be true that this little speaker puts out great sound when the enclosure is ported.

I'm just playing. I wasn't the first to have the sig anyways. Keep it the way it is.

You must have a reading comprehension problem. Maybe you should take an English class. If the hypothesis was disproved based on fact, then YES, said scientist or whoever should STFU.
Drill the holes then talk. It doesn't matter what you've modded in the past. You have no experience with this particular one.
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ok both of you grow up! second dont even bother with someone with a screen name like nigletstlz come on please. Dude dont waste the key strokes and 3# i believe your right i would take someone who has done mods on other things before some one that from what I see is just learning about BB's

the MOD helps the highs and MIDS come out of the back of the phone i have drilled many holes in mine not caring about looks because I care about hearing my phone ring and emails come in. I live in NYC where its loud every place I think RIM should have done this MOD for us or atleast make after market back covers that have them pre drilled so if we want we can just snap it in place.
please remember these are my ideas and thoughts if you dont agree I dont care you have no impact on my life or if im getting laid tonight so huess what again I dont care go whine some place else

lets get back to the point wich is this is what you can do to make more sound come out of the back of your BB

also to address what can handle such a task as to drill through 7mm of plastic I used my bare hands and just twisted the 1/32 drill bit through by hand and it came out wonderfull so you can use what ever you want when ever you want to each there own enjoy your OWN pearl and do what you like

Ok....now that I've successfully completed that one mod. Anyone wanna share more?

Wow, I'm really glad to see all the new ideas and improvements that came from my simple idea. I'm especially diggin' the BB logo hole pattern :D

Unbeleivable Difference! Thanks Man!!!!!

I did that pattern too but I made the holes a wee bit too big compared to the pic on page 1.

For those of you who are good at drilling holes on the battery cover, maybe you can start a business by selling well-placed speaker holes on the replacement covers. I am not good at doing this and am willing to buy one if available.

Dude, whatever... you sound like a douchebag.

This is just one of the many things people have to remember when doing what appears a simple task. That is why I say the mechanically challenged [is that how we are supposed say things nowadays?] should not attempt to mod their Pearls.

For example, I can see some nimrods failing to remove the cover before drilling. [I'd like to see some end result pics of this].

Or not holding the cover firmly while drilling thereby turning the whole thing into a fan until the cover flies off the drill bit with a 2" crack in it.

I did the mod but I regret doing it. Yes, it did improve the highs but it doesn't focus the sound as well as it did before when in my pocket. Overall I don't think it actually helped me make the sound louder either when watching movies. Before I could sort of cup my hand near the top of the speaker to help redirect the sound and focus it more toward my ears. Now that technique isn't near as effective and I tend to annoy more people around me unless I decide to use my headphones.

For me the trade-off isn't worth it, YMMV. The only way it is better for me is if I keep the back of the phone facing me and then the highs are better and crisper. If I do that then I can't watch videos. I did a sample recording through Windows and a microphone and the amplitude of the sound waves (therefore volume) did not increase with this mod when I have the phone laying on its back or in my pocket. If I had time I'd track down a decible meter and try and measure it more accurately but if you are doing this mod don't expect a dramatic improvement.

Are you going to buy another battery door?

I guess I must have trailer trash hearing because I can't analyze my Pearl's speaker with terms like highs, lows, amplitude, decibles (sic) and performance in theater-like surroundings.

I guess the only thang I noted was when I was playing a video on the john yesterday the Pearl sounded louder than before I drilled the holes.

I taped it up for now.

I would like some people to think through this a bit so they understand where the benefits might lie. High frequency sounds are more directional, you MUST be in front of the speaker to hear them and they tend to have more on-axis response. In other words, the further you are from a direct line of sight directly to the speaker, the higher frequencies will attenuate (get quieter).

Where this mod can help is if you are directly in front of the BACK of the Pearl where the speaker is "firing". I noticed that the high frequencies are better with the modded cover IF I face it toward me. The highs are then louder but it seems like the lower frequencies have rolled off a bit (gotten quieter). It may have been unintentional but perhaps the back cover is acting almost like a folded horn ala Klipsch and is somehow tuned to enhance certain frequencies. Think of how how you setup the volume of your subwoofer enclosure to work best with your subs.

I don't have access at the moment to a spectrum analyzer where I could run a test across all frequency ranges to see if in fact this is more of a mental mod for most people than a real increase in sound output. My quick test of recording the output did not show any apparent increase while recording under Windows of the same song and volume level of the Pearl with the mic the same distance from my Pearl. This does not break it down by frequency and is a crude test but it is at least emprical data.

If you think it works better for you then great. I plan to take a different tact. I plan to try and seal off around the speaker within the case to make sure more sound energy is exiting from the case rather than going to other areas within the case. This will change the effective volume around the speaker and I can make sure the energy does get funneld out its little port. I am looking at making sort of a tuned port enclosure but on a smaller scale. I plan to use a little clay and mold it around the speaker itself but only on the sides and bottom and not top. I will then try it without my tape over the hole I put in for the original mod. I think this will be more effective than just the original mod itself.

Well I made the mistake of doing this "mod" because the invisible shield covers up the holes. :(

so just drill some small holes in the shield and you should be all set? I am starting to think about MOD'ing the top part of the speaker you notice how on the orginal back cover the sound should have come from the top but it seams like they blocked the small opening where the speaker is. SO what if you take a small grinding stone or high speed cutting wheel and cut a small hole there and have a straight line for the sound comming straight up anyone else thought about this?

I don't have the dremel anymore. I can live without the sound mod.

I would like to see a picture of the holes you drilled. Also, I see you mentioned that you used to "cup" your hand near the speaker port and this allowed some of the sound to redirect.... try "cupping" your hand around the back of the phone, just behind the speaker. This makes a huge difference to me. It doubles the sound output IMO.

don't know if someone posted this yet - but they are selling replacement Battery Doors at shopblackberry dot com....just search for Battery Door for the Pearl.

It is 14.99

Yep. $15 but what's shipping? I'm scared to know. I may be selling Battery Doors soon, I'll definitely sell them cheaper than shopblackberry.com too.

Well heck....I have a leather case covering mine and it still sounds a lot sweeter than stock. You must work around a lot of anal folks for them to get that annoyed at a small speaker. I appreciate quality sound even if it's from a tiny speaker, so the mod is definitely for me!

Anyone who has done the speaker mod and screwed it up, this Member has a good deal on the covers. Just got mine yesterday and am very pleased.

So if your battery cover now looks like it was strip mined or used by a schizophrenic with long finger nails, get a new one here.

http://www.blackberryforums.com/buy-...tml#post363391

hmm you kids are crazy, I think the faint distortion some of you hear is from the sound vibrating the door... I just put a thin lil strip of adhesive back'd foam on the door... added tension and no more vibration. Made a difference for me.

I mean holy bb door batman.. man that was sad

Ok, I Drilled mine too, but I didn't realize you had to take the cover off the phone before drilling... now what?



I kid, I kid,

Nice mod though, I love the idea of putting a small metal mesh on the inside.
I might even try and experiment with different patterns instead of just some holes.