Perhaps a bad speaker? G3 desktop Macintosh

[NickNick]

Hi there. Was wondering if anyone has heard of Macintosh speakers going bad. I have a G3 desktop Macintosh with the oblong speaker in that beige casing. Anyways turning the volume up makes it sound bad, almost like the voice coil is blown but I hear no rubbing from the speaker by manually moving the diaphragm of the speaker. I don't really wanna cut the cord from it as I have another speaker that size but with a bigger magnet and different ohms. It wont fit into that beige casing if I do so. Anyone else have one and can comment on the sound of the G3? Its the flat one that the case slides off.

Thank you so much.

Nick.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Well, I'm not sure how great it's supposed to sound to begin with. Does the boot sound still sound okay?

 

[NickNick]

Hi there, and thanx. It is always very soft no matter what setting it was at last. Compared to other macs, it is not too clear sounding either.

I've never really used this type of g3 before...briefly at the beginning of college, then the clear g4 ones with grey.

 

[Macdrone]

The internal speaker is crap, was never meant to do sound well.  I mean games are in stereo and monitors came with speakers attached so really was only meant for testing and start up sound I would guess.  You could replace it but why not just plug speakers into the mini jack?

 

[XBHS1997]

Make a short video, that's easier than describing a sound.

 

[Schmoburger]

It's probably functioning normally... the speaker in my G3 minitower is appalling, and the ones in the blue and white and graphite towers were not a great deal better, just a bit louder and more meaty. Still sound like ass though by comparison to even the speaker in my 22 year old IIvx.

 

[Byrd]

They sound terrible now compared to the smaller speakers found now in laptops etc.

 

[Schmoburger]

I think it was generally expected that if you had the money to buy a Mac tower which were the flagship models, then you were likely going to want to bu some decent speakers anyway, or were going to be using it in a specific application where it didnt matter... realistically the only reason they have a speaker is that it's not acceptable to sell a computer without one. lol

Most of the pro machines right up to the last tower MacPros had pretty woeful onboard speakers for this reason, whilst lower end machines such as AIO Performas and iMacs etc, had pretty decent speakers in them as whilst they werent cheap as such, nor were they marketted as such speciically, they were intended for a consumer who had different ideas about what they needed in a computer. Professionals wanted powerful machines that they were  able to expand, customise, and upgrade to grow abreast of their changing needs, and didnt want to be paying for redundant things when they were already paying top dollar for a workhorse... this is part of the reason the 9600 for instance and all towers after it dont have any onboard video controller. The average person however often cannot see any value in having 5 empty PCI slots and 2 empty drive bays, yet not even being able to listen to Celine Dion without spending more money again on some beearable speakers... this is where the Performas started and the iMac continued. They had the things the average person wanted and minimal stuff they didnt need... Hence why a $1000 iMac G3 has beautiful HK stereo speakers and a modem, whilst the $4000 G4 of the same era had a crummy paper speaker and you paid extra for a dialup modem.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

iMac G4 internal speaker is terribad because they expected you to buy the Pro Speakers.

 

[Schmoburger]

iMac G4 internal speaker is terribad because they expected you to buy the Pro Speakers.

Yep... very cynical way of selling a product I must say.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Well the two higher end models of the product came with them. Just the base model didn't have them included.

 

[NickNick]

Thanks everyone for all the information. Basically was wondering because every other Macintosh I own I am able to turn up all the way with no distortion with the built in speaker; except the G3. I can barley turn it up past half way and it sounds really garbled/distorted. The power output is just fine with headphones or powered speakers but since I only tinker with these machines from time to time I really don't want external speakers each time I go to use it. I have another speaker that size but wont fit with the included caddy, or whatever that thing is it's built into. Also the LED wont be able to be installed anymore with a different speaker since the caddy holds the LED.