External speakers don't work

The computer won't recognise the speakers as such if you're connecting them to the headphone socket. If you want to play audio through them, connect them up then press the 'option' key and click on the speaker icon on your menu bar. Under 'output device' select headphones, the audio should play through the speakers. The computer would only recognise them if they were USB or bluetooth speakers.

tHE OUTPUT FROM THE MAC IS BASICALLY A LINE LEVEL OUTPUT, you will need a pair of powered speakers, or a power amp to get the umph you are looking for. Just connecting a pair of "plain" speakers will not really work as the mac does not have the power to drive them.

Post any questions, as pro audio is my main gig.

I had a similar problem a while back. The issue was with the speaker jack plug and the macbook phone socket. For some reason the jack plug was not a good a fit, as say the jack that comes with the iphone ear phones. A few tiwsts and turns of the speaker jack plug and it eventually became a snug(ish) fit. Have a look on you tune. There are a couple of videos on there that might help if this is not the issue.

You do need powered speakers; the line out cannot drive anything more powerful than headphones.

Are the external speakers self-powered?

The speaker jack plug on my Bose external speakers has worked flawlessly for two years, so I really doubted twisting on the jack would fix the problem, but....IT DID! So much easier than replacing software. Thanks so much ally100!

Do you get sound from the internal speakers? What about headphones?

What is make and model of ext speakers? How are you connecting, headphone socket or USB?

I have the same problem as the original post; even though I select "Headphones" and plug the external speakers into that jack, they do not play. I recently had to remove the Quicktime plugin because it was causing beeping, but I have other media players on my computer that should be taking over for Quicktime--correct? What else can I try? Thanks!

tHE OUTPUT FROM THE MAC IS BASICALLY A LINE LEVEL OUTPUT

Surely that's incorrect, as a line level output is unaffected by the device's volume control whereas the headphone socket is most definitely controlled by the MBP's volume control. Refer to this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level#Line_out

Hi all i guess i find the way to fix this **** problem, try this steps:

1- Open this apple link to figure out what to do.

2- Then before restarting your device do this:

A- Run your iTunes.

B- Plug your device in.

C- In the top press help then run diagnostics and follow the steps till the end.

It's work on my device IOS 5.01.

Best luck....

Hi all i guess i find the way to fix this **** problem, try this steps:

1- Open this apple link to figure out what to do. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1630

2- Then before restarting your device do this:

A- Run your iTunes.

B- Plug your device in.

C- In the top press help then run diagnostics and follow the steps till the end.

It's work on my device IOS 5.01.

Best luck....

i have the same problem......