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Do you have external speakers hooked up to your Mac?

  • Yes

    Votes: 95 82.6%
  • No

    Votes: 20 17.4%

Do you have external speakers hooked up to your Mac?

21K views 94 replies 58 participants last post by  Sugith 
#1 ·
Do you have external speakers hooked up to your Mac? If so, which ones? (Please provide linky to speaker website, photos if possible!?)
 
#3 ·
Here are my speakers

Hey,
I have the Logitech ones that also have a 4 usb hub incorporated.
Here is a picture of them. They fit right underneath my 30" monitor.
And they were very inexpensive.

 
#4 ·
Set of JBL Creatures. Not the greatest but they provide background noise while I'm editing. Head & shoulders above what they replaced, some generic 3 speaker thing...
 
#5 ·
I run an Akai receiver/amplifier with a set of custom built Phillips stereo speakers (woofer-tweeter-crossover) - great sound. Very helpful when doing audio editing, or for blasting sound through the house.
 
#6 ·
I've had a set of JBL Creatures hooked up to my G5 Dualie since I got it in 2003; they're passable when needed, but I rarely use them. Most of my casual listening & work in Logic Express involves a good set of headphones.

Whenever I get my next machine, whether a 27" iMac or perhaps a Mac Pro, I'll continue using headphones most of the time, but I will add some basic monitor speakers for occasional use, likely something like these.
 
#7 ·
But of course... I run a full fledged hi-fi home theatre set up in my office. No TV just my monitors (the living room has a second set up).

I run the digital optical out of the Mac Pro to a Yamaha receiver and have a 5.1 speaker set up. NanoSats by Mirage.

This is a sweet little setup. It rivals it's big brother in the living room for sound quality (another Yamaha/Mirage set up, just a different line of Mirage speakers and a titanium receiver).





 
#8 ·
The speakers built in to the old eMacs were a good deal better than many of the newer models, also I tend not to crank up the volume too much so I don't suffer any dancing display effects.
 
#21 ·
+1 on the audioengine a2's! i have a hi-fi background with a crazy hand-built all tube stereo system in the living room, and after listening to lots of what's out there decided the audioengines had the most natural sound for the least amount of money. having said that, they don't sound good sitting on a desk-they either need to be tipped up at you (audioengine sells a holder for that purpose) or put on stands (and i've never been able to find a nice stand that was reasonably priced)...
 
#71 ·
Uh-oh. Do you still have your receipt/warranty information for those? You'll want to hold on to that for your own protection. Going by personal experience* and the anecdotal reports on the M-Audio forums as well as other forums, M-Audio speakers in general, not just BX5as, seem to have reliability issues.

*In once facility I was working in, BX5a speakers kept dieing! Each time one would die out of warranty, it'd be thrown out and the good kept in the spare pool to form a working pair the next time an out of warranty BX5a would croak. I was asked to investigate an audio quality problem in one place and the left BX5a was blaring with 120Hz power supply hum from failed filter capacitors and the other one had a blown woofer. Right into the garbage. Barely over a year old and just out of warranty. Yeah, I could've fixed the one with the power supply hum but it wasn't worth the cost of my time being spent on that vs. other projects I was needed on.

On another occasion when I was building a setup that included a pair of BX5a speakers, I found out that the built in power amplifiers have a DC offset somewhere, so that when they get switched off and the DC is suddenly removed, it creates a hell of a nasty transient that violently kicks the woofer's cone to the end of its travel, making a loud pop. Every BX5a I've encountered does this, so it wasn't a one off problem with that pair of speakers and I'm convinced the shut off transient is responsible for a large number of the blown woofers I've encountered with them. M-Audio, on the forums on their website, recommends that their speakers be shut off when they're not in use. I disagree with this and recommend leaving them on because it avoids exposing the BX5a's drivers to the risk of being damaged by the transient that occurs when they're switched off.

From the response of the volume control on the back of the BX5as I've had to deal with, I suspect it's a linear pot instead of a proper, audio-use log tapering pot. You use log tapering pots in audio because the human ear's sensitivity to sound pressure levels isn't linear, it's logarithmic (also why sound levels are measured in decibels - the dB's a logarithmic scale).

Sorry for the rant but I've been burned and seen too many people burned by M-Audio speakers including a fair number of BX5a specifically and as an electronics engineer, I'm disappointed in their design and build quality.
 
#22 ·
With 3 Airport Express units, I'm hooked up to lots of speakers....

Full home theatre setup in basement. Mini-stereos elsewhere which run ceiling speakers. Yep, I have a whole house system. With my iPod Touch as a remote, it equivalent to a Sonos, but at a much lower cost.
 
#25 ·


Harman Kardon's SoundSticks II three-piece speaker system produces high-quality stereo sound for Music, MP3's, movies and gaming experiences.
SoundSticks II encourages consumers to step out of the ordinary speaker world and offers sound in an original and unique package. The system, described as curvy, sleek and sexy, provides consumers with sound that is loud and clear.
SoundSticks II employs a new computer-optimized multi-band parametric equalization and Harman's unique "capacitance touch" control buttons on the right satellite allow for direct access to volume control.
:love2::love2:
 
#26 ·
JBL

Two-piece speaker system
The JBL® Duet™ multimedia system provides smooth and accurate sound for any portable music player or computer. With its incredibly easy setup and use, the Duet system is a sophisticated approach to achieving great two-channel sound. It uses JBL Tangential Strain Relief ™ transducer technology to deliver extra bass and lower distortion as a result of controlled linear excursion of the speaker. The neodymium magnet creates more power and sensitivity. The Duet system also utilizes proprietary JBL Adverse Pressure Gradient ™ port design, which greatly enhances the bass performance.
 
#28 ·


Bluesky Mediadesk with 5.1 expansion kit in the studio

Klipsch Synergy 7.1 with Pioneer Elite SC-27 hooked up to the mini in the living room





my setup is identical to this pic, except i only have 1 set of the B2 bookshelves that i use as rear surrounds..for the side surrounds i have the S2 model, which is designed to be wall mounted and which have tweeters that fire fore and aft rather than directly at the listener..

i also currently only have 1 Sub 10, but just saw them go on sale so i think my santa present to myself is going to be another one of those...
 
#30 ·
My setup hasn't changed much since I took this pic:



Except I've swapped out the external DVD burner for a scanner for a project.

My speakers are just a basic Logitech unit w/subwoofer (not pictured) that look like this:



I don't recommend them, they're poorly shielded and aren't by any stretch of the imagination good speakers. They are decent at best and were a) cheap and b) black to match the setup. :)
 
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