After reassembling a 2017 21.5" retina iMac (the one where there is a single mic at the bottom of the display, as opposed to previous generations which had 2 mics near the iSight at the top), and being careful that the adhesive strips on the bottom don't block the mic, I noticed the microphone was extremely muffled.
The delicate mic cable was a little bent, so I decided to order a new one.
Unfortunately, the iFixit tutorial for the 21" iMac microphone is missing, and the teardown isn't that specific when it comes to the mic.
I did find this photo of it on their site.
![2017-imac-mic-bottom.jpg]( "2017-imac-mic-bottom.jpg")
But I'm not sure of a few things:
The delicate mic cable was a little bent, so I decided to order a new one.
Unfortunately, the iFixit tutorial for the 21" iMac microphone is missing, and the teardown isn't that specific when it comes to the mic.
I did find this photo of it on their site.
But I'm not sure of a few things:
- The orientation of the mic (is it supposed to fold and wrap around the lower support chin strap bracket?)
- Is the gold part supposed to touch the aluminum of the iMac chassis?
- How to adhere it to the aluminum?
- How does the sound even get through this thing if there's a piece of glass in front of it, and adhesive on either side of the glass? (I know to make sure that the adhesive strip doesn’t obstruct the mic, but I still don’t understand how the sound gets out clearly)
