Stan, I had already started to disassemble the player when you had asked for pics, I will attempt to add and explain. The first pic shows the Buck converter with the power going to the left side to power the MP3, the red and blue on the right side are the wires that had powered the amplifier, the Buck was adjusted to put out 3.8v. The red and black on the right side of the MP3 went to the amp. I disconnected to try going to the speaker.
The long red and black in the second pic went to the speaker, the red and black directly above the cap was the power input to the amp from the Buck 3.8v., and the red and black farthest to the left was from the output of the MP3. Do you see anything that I might have messed up here?
Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.
Ray