Old Apple speakers on a new Mini

[minusten]

Can anyone tell me if there's an adaptor that will make the old classic Mac 'bauble' speakers (I got mine about seven years ago) work in the Mac Mini speaker socket? If so, where's the best place to buy in the UK?

 

[Scarlet Fever]

You'll need a Griffin iFire, but at $199 (presumably USD), it's not a cheap exercise. To my knowledge, that is the only way to get the to work.

 

[minusten]

Other options

If adaptors are expensive, what new speakers can you recommend that will definitely work with Mini? In simple terms, why are the sockets different?

Ideally looking for something that looks a little bit like Apple might have made it (but not essential if that comes at a high price)!

 

[Scarlet Fever]

If adaptors are expensive, what new speakers can you recommend that will definitely work with Mini? In simple terms, why are the sockets different?

Ideally looking for something that looks a little bit like Apple might have made it (but not essential if that comes at a high price)!

I'm assuming you're talking about the Apple Pro speakers;

Any other speakers with a 3.5mm minijack socket will work fine.

 

[minusten]

What type of jack do the Apple Pro Speakers come with? Is the headphone and speaker slot on the Mini essentially the same thing - ie would speakers work from the headphone socket and vice versa? What are you other Mini users using?

 

[savoirfaire]

What type of jack do the Apple Pro Speakers come with? Is the headphone and speaker slot on the Mini essentially the same thing - ie would speakers work from the headphone socket and vice versa? What are you other Mini users using?

The Apple Pro speakers had a special connector that provided both power and audio, which is why they wouldn't work with a regular 3.5 mm jack even if the plug actually fit. Speakers will work fine from the headphone socket, but you will need to amplify the signal. Pretty much all computer speakers will have a built-in amp. (If you don't need to plug it in, it probably doesn't have an amplifier.)

 

[CubeHacker]

As savoirfaire stated - the Apple Pro Speakers came in two forms : the first kind shipped with the G4 Cube and were USB audio based. Thus, the "soundcard" and amplifier was technically built into the speakers themselves, and the speakers received power through the USB port. However, the G4 cube was specially made to provide higher watts through its USB ports to power the speakers. These would technically work, but since most "normal" usb ports don't provide that much power, the volume wouldn't be very loud.

The 2nd release of the Apple Pro Speakers were some special 2.5mm (i think?) plug which required amplification from the system itself. There were made to work in the iMac G4 mostly (and I think some Powermac G4's - Digital Audio version?). Again, totally different plug and will not fit in a standard 3.5mm jack.

Just about any multimedia speakers you buy today will work fine on your mini's 3.5mm headphone jack.