Bluetooth is not pairing with JBL Flip 2 speaker

I have recently started having problems with pairing my JBL Flip blue tooth speaker with my Mac Mini running Sierra 10.12.2. I have been using this speaker without problems for almost exactly one year.

Initially when using it with an application called MuseScore, the sound started off OK and then after a minute or two it would stutter and crackle and the whole system would slow down. The Mac Mini also seemed to get much hotter (to the touch) at the same time. Today, it ran as described above until a few minutes ago when it stopped making any further sound. I disconnected and reconnected it a number of times as well as rebooting the Mac and restarting the various sound producing applications but failed to get it started again. I tried it with other Apps including iTunes, Safari, and an MP4 player. In each case with there was no sound. However, when I disconnected the speaker I noticed that the song or video being played by these apps would stop as well. Is this related to the problem in this article or is it something new and should I take it up with Apple?