So I've owned a set of Logitech z4 2.1 desk speakers for about five years now, ever since a good friend of mine effectively gave them to me because they couldn't fit in his car. They remain one of the best speaker sets I've ever had the pleasure to own or use. The sound clarity is exceptional, especially considering how thin and tiny the actual uprights are; the bass can be a little dull, but fits my music tastes pretty damn well and can fill a room. Basically, I've been very lucky and I couldn't imagine how I would ever replace them. So when, just after Christmas, it seemed the connector for the right upright suddenly blew, it was at a loss. I couldn't quite pin down what was wrong, but basically no (or very little) sound would come out the right speaker; swap over the outputs and it would be the left that wasn't working. Seems like a connection issue, right?

Since then I've "made do". Even one speaker down, the sound quality remained better than most other options in my house, albeit a little flat. Listening to new music, however, was becoming increasingly frustrating. Highs felt dampened, lows never quite hit and no matter how I positioned the one "good" speaker the end result remained painfully mono. In exasperation I had started looking for either a replacement or, as it became increasingly apparent that the Z4's were even more special for their price range than I had realised, a means of repair.

So I was clutching at straws last night when I came across this archived forum conversation which appeared to show that I wasn't alone in my troubles and presented a highly dubious solution. What possible logic could infer that turning off the volume controller, rotating its various knobs and dials a few times and (I quote) "tap[ping] the knob" after each full revolution would result in fixing a connection issue? But still, a handful of people had stated that it worked for them so why not? A couple of twiddles and taps later, everything plugged back in and, somehow, I'm now the proud owner of two fully functioning speakers! I still have no idea what I did (indeed, I don't think the person who originally shared this piece of arcane knowledge understood it either) but it worked, so I guess if you're having similar issues then give it a shot - it might just work for you too.