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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / July 2009Speakers for Mac Pro Dilemma
Good grief I have had such bad karma this week. Two sets of JBL Duet III speakers and neither worked. Before trying another brand, I just want to be sure I'm not missing something. The Duet IIIs are powered speakers. I don't need any kind of card or other equipment for ordinary speakers do I? Surely I don't need an amplifier... that's what the TOS port is for, right? I just want simple analog speakers. When you plug them into the audio-out port, shouldn't the device show up in the System Profiler or the Sound Preferences? I called Apple to see if I was doing something wrong and the help guy told me to plug them into the analog audio-in jack (as opposed to audio-out). Yes, audio-in. Needless to say, that did not work. Harman Multimedia thought it was the speaker power plug that wasn't working. I even tried them on my iPod. Nothing. I just loved my Apple Pro speakers that I used with my Quicksilver but those won't work on the Pro. Any suggestions? Am I missing something? Madeleine > Good grief I have had such bad karma this week. Two sets of JBL Duet > III speakers and neither worked. Before trying another brand, I just [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Madeleine Just for grins, have you tried the audio headphone jack in front? I have some Bose Companion 3 in my rear audio out port, but I did have to go into the control panel and set it up. In article <aa532677-adba-4ded-ae0c-e34e89f9fe45@j32g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, > > Good grief I have had such bad karma this week. Two sets of JBL Duet > > III speakers and neither worked. Before trying another brand, I just [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > have some Bose Companion 3 in my rear audio out port, but I did have > to go into the control panel and set it up. Yep. I have three different headphones that work fine in the headphone jack. And I didn't have to open the audio prefs to do anything--- not that would mind. They were just recognized. It's incredible that I would get two sets of of the same model speakers, highly reviewed btw, and neither one worked. I'll look at Bose.... thanks. Madeleine > In article > <aa532677-adba-4ded-ae0c-e34e89f9f...@j32g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > > Madeleine I did have to go to Sound Prefs to make the Bose work on the back Audio Out port.. Have you tried that yet? Go to System Prefs, click on Sound, then the Output tab. Select Line Out. In article <5b086d51-ac20-48a8-92c0-a0b2603f188e@y7g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>, > I did have to go to Sound Prefs to make the Bose work on the back > Audio Out port.. Have you tried that yet? Go to System Prefs, click > on Sound, then the Output tab. Select Line Out. Absolutely. All our headphones work just fine. They show up in the sound prefs in the same way the speakers should. So, even if the rear analog audio-out port was DOA in this new Mac Pro, the speakers should have worked from the front headphone port. > In article > <aa532677-adba-4ded-ae0c-e34e89f9fe45@j32g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > > Madeleine I have used a set of Klipsch Pro Media computer desktop speakers for several years, with several different model Macs, all the way from my Sawtooth G4 tower, to my current Mac Pro tower, and they have been just excellent. The sound quality is good, and they have never given me trouble in all these years. Highly recommended: <http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/promedia-2-1-overview/> (Unlike the one pictured, the model I have has four satellites snd one sub woofer.)  SignatureSend responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me. E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts. JR > Good grief I have had such bad karma this week. Two sets of JBL Duet > III speakers and neither worked. Before trying another brand, I just [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > them into the audio-out port, shouldn't the device show up in the System > Profiler or the Sound Preferences? The JBL Duet III speakers take an analog input, not digital optical. After plugging the speakers' miniplug into the Pro's analog audio line out (speaker icon) port, go to the Output tab of the Sound preference pane and choose (highlight) "Line Out" in the device selection box. > > Good grief I have had such bad karma this week. Two sets of JBL Duet > > III speakers and neither worked. Before trying another brand, I just [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > The JBL Duet III speakers take an analog input, not digital optical. Yep, I am aware of that which is why I said the TOS port is for an amp or receiver. > After plugging the speakers' miniplug into the Pro's analog audio line > out (speaker icon) port, go to the Output tab of the Sound preference > pane and choose (highlight) "Line Out" in the device selection box. Yes I know that. Did I not say I plugged them into the audio-out but they are not recognized? > Did I not say I plugged them into the audio-out but > they are not recognized? Analog speakers don't communicate with the computer and aren't "recognized" by it. You have to specify Line Out in the preference pane. > > Did I not say I plugged them into the audio-out but > > they are not recognized? > > Analog speakers don't communicate with the computer and aren't > "recognized" by it. You have to specify Line Out in the preference pane. Of course I did that.... good grief how silly. > Good grief I have had such bad karma this week. Two sets of JBL Duet III > speakers and neither worked. Before trying another brand, I just want to [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > audio-out port, shouldn't the device show up in the System Profiler or the > Sound Preferences? I have two sets of external powered speakers that work find with my MacBook Pro when connected to the earphone port. The one thing I've noted is that they don't show up until they, the speakers, have been turned on. My recollection is that after being turned on they are automatically switched to so that they, not the internal speakers, are the provider of sound. SignatureJames Leo Ryan ..... Austin, Texas ..... taliesinsoft@me.com > > Good grief I have had such bad karma this week. Two sets of JBL Duet III > > speakers and neither worked. Before trying another brand, I just want to [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > recollection is that after being turned on they are automatically switched to > so that they, not the internal speakers, are the provider of sound. The JBL Duet 3s have no on switch. Instead, they have a transducer atop the speaker that, when you drag your finger either clockwise or counterclockwise, either raise or lower the sound volume. They can be muted by touching both simultaneously. Neither of mine worked, however. As far as I could tell, there was no indication as to whether the speakers were even getting power. I read a post that said the Duet 2s have a soft green light on the right speaker but neither of mine had that. Do you mind me asking what model speakers you have or are they not made anymore? [responding to my preceding posting in this thread] > Do you mind me asking what model speakers you have or are they not made > anymore? The speakers I have are.... Cyber Acouostics CA-2022R Altec-Lansing Powered Audio VS-4121 Both have external AC power and both connect to my MacBook Pro via the earphone plug. Both will respond to the volume control on the MacBook Pro and both have their own independent volume control, the maximum setting of which is controlled by the volume control on the MacBook Pro. SignatureJames Leo Ryan ..... Austin, Texas ..... taliesinsoft@me.com > [responding to my preceding posting in this thread] > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > both have their own independent volume control, the maximum setting of which > is controlled by the volume control on the MacBook Pro. Thank you! I'll have a look. > Good grief I have had such bad karma this week. Two sets of JBL Duet > III speakers and neither worked...... Fortunately, this week seems to be going better. I sent both sets of JBL speakers back and, paying just 30% more, bought a pair of M-Audio AV40 speakers instead--- a vastly superior product. In the stores around here, most of the speakers are USB but I wanted powered speakers that perform well across the entire audio spectrum in contrast to most of the "game" speakers. The AV40s are heavy for their small size (14# total) and come with acoustic pads for the bottom of each enclosure. These are, by several orders of magnitude, the best small speakers we've ever had. And they are shielded too. The left speaker has a built-in power supply (and amp of course) so it has a regular, heavy power cord instead of those spaghetti-thin cords with a heavy transformer on the end of it. On the back is a power on/off switch and a red switch you must set for correct type of current before you power on. Mine came pre-set for AC. There are also various inputs, a bass boost switch and spring-clip terminals for connecting the two speakers with the supplied, quality speaker wire. The left enclosure front has a volume knob with a blue LED (no gimmicky transducer like the JBLs), a headphone out and an aux input for iPods or other audio sources. They supply a cable for that as well as the mini to RCA cable for connecting to your computer. Set up was super easy. And the sound is simply awesome for this price range. These are nicely balanced, delivering a smooth, rich audio experience. I've tried them out with a wide range of music and voice and they perform beautifully. They even did well with the extreme range of Arvo Part. Ashokan Farewell never sounded as beautiful. By the way, these significantly outperform the Bose Companion 2s. If you are looking for moderately priced, quality "computer" audio without a separate amplifier/receiver, I recommend the M-Audio AV40s. Madeleine |
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