Connecting with Logitech x-540 speakers

The mini has a headphone jack/optical output.
That is all.
You will not get 5.1 surround sound using those speakers.

Does it work with just the green plug?

Yeah,

Since those speakers are 5.1 analog, and while they don't have a single headphone jack, you do have a problem.

I think Dell used to supply a 3-way headphone jack splitter to bring speakers like yours into a single jack, for those systems that didn't have Dolby decoding or 3-jack sound cards. But a 3-way splitter may be hard to find, and the sound is probably poorer for it. You may be able to try to take two very cheap (about a buck a piece on eBay) 2-way splitters and gang them together to consolidate into one headphone jack, just to see if it is possible or acceptable to you, sound wise.

But, if you don't want to get some 2.1 analog speakers or some 5.1 digital speakers (both will connect to the Mini via one cable), you may do better to just buy an M-Audio Sonica Theatre. That's a USB sound card dongle that will bridge your three headphone jacks into your Mini, and it will give a good deal of sound adjustment to your speakers.

I don't know if the Sonica Theatre is still in production, but many new ones are undoubtedly for sale at eBay for under $80, I would think.

I still use one on a PPC Mini hooked up to an HDTV and 5.1 Dolby system, via its additional digital coaxial connector.

Please let us hear how it goes.

Peace to you,
C. Livingstone

Well,

It does seem to, yes.

The PDF manual, on page 7, shows the three jacks for a speaker system like yours. The volume buttons are reportedly non-functional on Macs, not that it matters.

So, that may do it for you.

One more word about analog 5.1 speaker systems. It's not true Dolby decoding. Which is not a bad thing if all you're going to be doing is listening to music, because virtually all music is not Dolby encoded anyway, and a good "surround sound analog" system will sound great for music. But it will not produce the sound effects found on DVD movies played with a 5.1 Dolby or DTS "digital" sound system. But, a true Dolby system still only plays music as a "surround sound" effect, usually through a "ProLogic" schema.

So, please let us all hear how it goes.

Peace to you all,
C. Livingstone

From the manual:
** Notice: Under the Mac system, the volume buttons of the adapter are not
functional and there is 2-channel playback only


Does not seem like it does 5.1 on the mac.

Message was edited by: Johnathan Burger

Well, if we are going to recommend outdated and discontinued stuff-I will mention the griffin firewave.

I picked one up on clearance for $19.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave

If you can find one, it works well. (just did search-amazon sells it for $29)

Message was edited by: Johnathan Burger

Johnathan,

That Firewave is a winner too. I didn't realize it actually has a Dolby decoder in it, too. And the price is good.

Outdated and discontinued stuff seems to have its place with those 5.1 analog systems.

Peace to you all,
C. Livingstone

Yeah,

From what I remember from some years back, none of the external Creative sound cards were Mac-supported.

But, that doesn't mean they can't work to fan out the channels. Cyberpundit's speakers apparently have a "Matrix" button that switches from 2.1 to 5.1 analog, as desired. All sound under a certain frequency is undoubtedly directed to the SW.

Peace,
C. Livingstone

So even though nowhere does it state on creative's
site that the xfi 5.1 is mac compatible-it is?