Hi.

I'm going to switch to a Mac soon and have pretty much settled on the
eMac. Since it'll be my primary music computer, I'll want to use
better speakers than what is built in. Can the eMac accomodate my
Creative Labs 4.1 speakers? They use the standard front and rear line
outs on a PC soundcard. If not, what are my options? Can the eMac
accomodate any 2.1 speakers? Or will I need to get a USB soundcard and
upgrade it out of the box?

Todd

mtbagg01[at]netscape.net (Todd Baggarly) writes:
>
> I'm going to switch to a Mac soon and have pretty much settled on
> the eMac. Since it'll be my primary music computer, I'll want to use
> better speakers than what is built in. Can the eMac accomodate my
> Creative Labs 4.1 speakers? They use the standard front and rear
> line outs on a PC soundcard. If not, what are my options? Can the
> eMac accomodate any 2.1 speakers? Or will I need to get a USB
> soundcard and upgrade it out of the box?

The audio output of an eMac is a headphone jack.

This means 4.1 speakers are a waste of money. In order to use all
four speakers, you'll have to bridge front to rear. Surround is out
of the question.

Any 2.1 speaker system that attaches to a standard headphone jack
should work fine, however. My PowerMac is currently using a set of
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers (attached to the headphone jack). I'm
extremely happy with them.

You can use USB speakers as well if you like. I personally have a
thing against USB audio (something about the possibility of bus
contention causing audio glitches and wasting a perfectly good
on-board sound chip) but that's just my opinion.

-- David

mtbagg01[at]netscape.net (Todd Baggarly) writes:
>
> Well, since I already have them (they are in use on my Windows box
> as we speak), I'd like to use them for when I watch DVD movies on
> the eMac. Does anyone have any experience with a specific USB
> soundcard? If you have a recommendation, I would appreciate hearing
> it.

If you already have a set of 4.1 speakers, you can use them. Just
take the input wire for the front pair and connect it to your
headphone jack.

If you want to hear sound out of the rear speakers, get a Y adaptor
(available from Radio Shack) and connect both input wires to that
jack. Front and rear will be identical, but you'll have sound out of
all four speakers.

I assume you're asking about a USB interface because you want actual
surround. Otherwise, the headphone jack is a pretty good quality
interface.

> I was leaning towards the M-Audio Sonica Theater as it was given a
> good review by MacAddict in their August 2003 edition. I did see
> some user reviews on GoogleGear.com regarding the Line-In port not
> working correctly that concerns me, although they were all PC users
> so I wonder if it may be driver related so wouldn't affect me. I
> cannot imagine a company not noticing that their produce just
> doesn't work at all before shipping it.

I don't have personal experience with this card, but I know that
MidiMan (the manufacturer) has been in the business (especially for
pro audio sound hardware) for quite some time.

According to the spec sheet:
http://www.midiman.com/products/consumer/sonicaTheatre_page1.php

It is compatible with MacOS 9.2.2 or later. 10.1.5 or later is
required for Dolby Digital passthrough.

-- David