Speaker design is often very magical ;-} Sound can travel through the air from the cones but some sound is also transmitted through the speaker cabinet its self, in this case the plastic shell of the speaker this transmission needs to travel onto the case without being dampened which I think the Tesa tape is doing!
If you look at the IFIXIT teardown you’ll note the adhesive Apple used is not a double sided tape its a thin film of adhesive thus its more transmissive than the Tesa tape which is two layers of adhesive on a piece of stock (sandwich).
* [http://eng.soomal.com/edoc/10100000172.htm|Apple MacBook Pro 13 with Touchbar Review: Audio] “When using the laptop normally, the bigger "voice cabinet" spread sounds downward to the table, and the sounds will get reflected.”
I think the Tesa tape is the issue here.
Speaker design is often very magical ;-} Sound can travel through the air from the cones but some sound is also transmitted through the speaker cabinet its self, in this case the plastic shell of the speaker this transmission needs to travel onto the case without being dampened which I think the Tesa tape is doing!
If you look at the IFIXIT teardown you’ll note the adhesive Apple used is not a double sided tape its a thin film of adhesive thus its more transmissive than the Tesa tape which is two layers of adhesive on a piece of stock (sandwich).