After slicing and prying our way into this fortress of a speaker, we reach the final obstacle: a threaded ring.

We're forced to conclude that—at some point—the HomePod was able to be unscrewed to separate the control/woofer component and the tweeter/power supply unit.

But we don't feel too bad about getting hacky: judging by the adhesive you can see on the lower face of the tube, the threads aren't meant for the consumer—this thing was glued shut.

No wonder Apple's repair price is 80-85% of the device itself—this ain't easy. But if we got it wrong, by all means, share the magic procedure!