SoundSticks I and G4

Hi Laurence,

I can't help you much but we can talk sound cards. I don't know about SoundSticks and how they work with a G4. But I'm a learning curve here since I'm trying to upgrade my speakers from the "active" tin cans I've been using. I bought some speakers from a European company called ednet. Notebook speakers from Ebay. Plug and play USB 120 watt speakers. But no woofer or mid range speakers. But they design is cool and matches the Graphite G4 architecture perfectly. However neatly they got that they look(ed) much better than they sound. And they replaced the AC powered "tin cans", the ugly beige boxes but which work fine with a headphione jack and actually have more power than the new USBs. I paid a total of $7 with shipping so no loss there. They're going straight back to Ebay.

Right now there's a wide variety of surround sound speaker units out there with subwoofers and satellites that have become very affordable lately. In the $39-49 starting range for the low end and up to $300 for the full monty which sound great from the online customer reviews I've read. Namely from Logitech, Labtec and the best there is, Creative. JBL has some nice "space age" systems and Harmon Kardon is made for Mac. Are your sticks the kind of stacked speakers I'm thinking of with a subwoofer? Further reading of your post it looks like the ones I've seen on Ebay. Not cheap.

But there are some systems out there from all of the main manufacturers that offer a 5.1 Theater Sound. A 35 watt subwoofer and 5 satellites. Plus DTS which requires a Dolby Sound Blaster card. Now we all know Windoze PCs allow you to upgrade your sound cards with Blasters that enable the Dolby sound to be created in your speakers. Which is why gamers choose PCs over Macs 3-1. Or 5-1.

I'm not sure what you can do with a G4 in the 400MHz-1GHz range. Apple's system profiler doesn't list what kind of sound cards you have. Only graphics cards. I went to Ebay tonight to look for any kind of 3D or Dolby sound card. Nope nothing. I see no way to upgrade my G4 sound through high end speakers. But maybe we don't need to I don't know. There are some 2.1 and 4.1 systems outhere that don't require sound card upgrades, i.e., for PC. And since these are PC/Mac compatible sound systems they are designed with PC as the default system, also usable by Mac users. But I'm confused when you are offered a Dolby Surround Sound system and can't put a Dolby PCI card in your G4 to get that theatrical sound. It would make DVDs and even iTunes sound so much better.

** I have tried listening to the same tracks via some good quality Sennheiser headphones, and it sounds perfect, so the problem seems to lie with the SoundSticks. **

Right your headphones are using the audio jack which feeds right into the sound card. Your SoundSticks are being powered by USB. My pair of cheapo USB Notebook speakers have no frequency range whatsoever but they do work independent of the audio jack incase I want to plug in my Sony headphones.

You say you've used them for "many years". It could be that the mid-range tweeters are just shot. Worn out. Maybe you need to think about getting some new speakers.

And what do you know about upgrading a G4's sound card?

Rob

G4 AGP 400MHz 40GB 512MB - G3 B&W 300MHz 3GB 512MB - iMac G3 400MHz 10GB 320MB Mac OS X (10.3.9)

What application(s)? Look at your Audio/Midi settings. Your Sennheiser's should sound much better than properly working sticks.

Regards,