If you own a MacBook Pro and have experienced some issues with the speakers, then there is a good chance the issues were caused by Adobe Premiere CC if it is installed on your device. Many users have reported blown MacBook Pro speakers recently due to a software issue with the latest version of the PDF-editing software.
What’s causing the blown MacBook Pro speakers?
The issue was first highlighted on Adobe’s support forums and then on social media platforms like Twitter. According to the complaints, Adobe Premiere CC suddenly triggers a loud, unpleasant sound through the MacBook Pro’s speakers. The sound could permanently damage the speakers.
Got the same! Right speaker is blown up
— Sebastien Lintz ? (@SebastienLintz) February 6, 2019
Many users claim the MacBook Pro speakers don’t function properly or appeared to be blown after the sound. One user even claimed the speakers were unusable.
“I was working on a project, macbook [sic] volume was about on half, when suddenly an audio bug occurred with really loud screatching [sic] noise and not letting me pause it. After it stopped, the speakers were really quiet, and after the next restart they’re clearly blown,” one affected user said on Adobe’s Premiere CC forum.
As of now, the root cause of why the Adobe Premiere CC is triggering the sound is not clear. However, based on the many complaints, the issue seems to surface when users edit the audio settings in a video clip.
Users with both versions of Adobe Premiere Pro CC (13.0.1 and 13.0.2) are reporting blown MacBook Pro speakers. Additionally, the issue is primarily affecting the 15-inch MacBook Pro models released in 2018. The problem does not appear to be widespread for now, but some of the complaints on the Adobe support forum date back to November. There are about a dozen such complaints on the forum.
How to protect your MacBook Pro
If you are also using Adobe Premiere CC and want to want to avoid the problem causing the blown MacBook Pro speakers, you should be careful until Adobe or Apple releases a fix. Until the fix arrives, you should avoid tweaking the audio settings in video clips.
Affected users also say an Adobe representative recommends turning the microphone off when using the audio tools. To turn off the microphone, go to Preferences > Audio Hardware > Default Input, and change the setting to “No Input.”
It is recommended that you take both these preventive measures because getting your MacBook’s speakers repaired could cost you a fortune. One user told MacRumors that a Genius Bar representative quoted them $600 to fix the blown MacBook Pro speakers. The high repair cost is because the MacBook Pro’s entire top case assembly has to be replaced to fix the issue.
Another $600 flaw with the MacBook Pro
Owners with a 2016 MacBook Pro or newer may get hit with another $600 repair bill due to an inherent flaw in the laptop’s design. According to DIY repair website iFixit, the issue is with the “delicate” ribbon cables which connect the screen with the display controller inside the device. The repair website says that opening and closing the clamshell case causes the ribbon to eventually wear out.
“These cables wrap over the board, where they’re secured by a pair of spring-loaded covers — and they’re subjected to the stress of bending with every opening and closure of the laptop. Within a seemingly short time, those cables are starting to fatigue and tear,” Taylor Dixon from iFixit explained.
Due to this extra wear and tear, the backlight cable fails, leading to a “stage light” effect which many also refer to as “Flexgate.” iFixit explained that the ribbon cables are part of the screen, so they can’t be detached. When they wear out, the only way to fix the issue is to replace the entire screen, which turns “a $6 problem into a $600 disaster,” Dixon says.
Moreover, the issue which causes the ribbon cables to fail could show up in other MacBooks as well. For instance, the MacBook Air, which came out last fall, features the same basic design. So far no MacBook Air users have raised the issue, but that could be because the laptop is still relatively new. However, once the ribbon cables start to wear out, we could hear similar issues from MacBook Air users as well.
One user named Louis Rossmann has launched a petition on Change.org asking Apple to extend the warranty program to cover the MacBook Pros affected by the so-called “Flexgate” issue.
