G4 Cube speakers not working with Studio Display/Mac mini

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Level 1

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G4 Cube speakers not working with Studio Display/Mac mini

Hello,

I have Apple pro speakers for my mac. I just bought a Lacie stack hard drive. Because the mac mini has only one firewire port, i had to pull the speakers to plug in the cable for the Lacie. When I plugged the firewire cable back in, they made a hight pitched squeel noise. Now they don't work. It's makes this noise everytime I plug and unplug them. SO I thought I blew them... well I just bought the G4 Cube speakers with the USB port to replace them. They are supposed to work with the Studio Display USB ports on the back, (which is what I have) but they're not working! Any clues as to why? They make a slight tick noise when i plug them in but thats it. The only sound is coming from the internal speaker in the Mini. Thanks for your suggestions.

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Feb 2, 2006 4:27 PM

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Answer 1

iSMH

Level 5

4,310 points

Feb 2, 2006 8:52 PM in response to Silverman23

The Cube speakers will only work with a Cube. The Mini (or any other Mac) only has sound going through the headphone jack.

iSMH

PS - Welcome to the Boards!!

EDIT:

I just saw this; may be good to look at:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic2/index.php

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Answer 2

Feb 2, 2006 10:33 PM in response to iSMH

The Cube is not the only mac that is able to route sound through the USB port.

My Cube speakers work with my Powerbook but at a lower max sound level than they do with the Cube.

I can't explain why the Cube speakers work at reduced sound level on the PB but I know you can use sound via USB on other Macs.

My Harman /Kardon sound sticks sound terrific on my G5.

When you have the Cube speakers plugged in to the mini what choices do you show in the Sound Output selection screen in System Preferences?

You should show the USB speakers and may be able to get them to work fine by just selecting them and turning up the level.

Dual 2.3 PM Mac OS X (10.4.3) 3.5 GB RAM

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Answer 3

AndyO

Level 6

17,064 points

Feb 3, 2006 4:39 AM in response to Rick Prather

I can't explain why the Cube speakers work at reduced
sound level on the PB but I know you can use sound
via USB on other Macs.

If I'm not mistaken, the Cube has extra voltage on the USB ports specifically to drive the amplifier in these Cube compatible speakers. When the speakers are plugged into any other Mac, the extra voltage isn't present, so the amplifier in the speakers doesn't function (or functions at a much reduced level) and thus the sound level is significantly lower.

You can indeed use USB ports on many Macs for outputting audio, though typically a device such as the Griffin iMic is needed.

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Answer 4

Silverman23 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 3, 2006 7:25 AM in response to AndyO

Thanks Rick! Your question about selecting USB caused me to plug them back in and check because I had no idea a second optioned appeared once they were plugged in, and that did the trick. Thanks a million 🙂 BTW... they sound great without any extra amplifier - probably because they are plugged into my Studio Dipslay and not my mac mini.

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Answer 5

iSMH

Level 5

4,310 points

Feb 3, 2006 8:34 AM in response to AndyO

If I'm not mistaken, the Cube has extra voltage on the USB ports specifically to drive the amplifier in these Cube compatible speaker

Ah.....

iSMH

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Answer 6

Spire

Level 4

1,300 points

Feb 5, 2006 12:15 AM in response to AndyO

AndyO had it exactly right.
The Cube contains no analog circuitry, the sound output is digital through the USB. So to drive both the digital-to-analog converter and the Speakers without an external power source they had to juice up the USB ports to power it. On any other Mac the Amp will work but be quiet as it don't have the power it needs from a standard USB port.

--Spire

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Answer 7

Trinity

Level 4

2,870 points

Feb 5, 2006 2:56 AM in response to Silverman23

Cube speakers work also with USB ports of early PowerMac G4 towers, and Studio Displays ADC.

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