Contribute
Register

Would this work for an internal Power Mac G5 speaker?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jul 28, 2010
Messages
143
Motherboard
10.11 and Windows 10
CPU
Core i5 4690k
Graphics
ASUS GTX 970 Mini 4GB
Mac
  1. iMac
  2. MacBook
  3. MacBook Pro
Classic Mac
  1. iMac
  2. Power Mac
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
I know the original speaker in the Power Mac G5 was a mono speaker, so if you plug it into the audio on a motherboard, you only get right or left (unless you have center). So, in theory, would having two speakers, and plugging one into the right half and the other into the left half of the audio head on the board, give you both sides of the sound? Would I then have a "internal speaker" I could use for music and other things?
 
Yes. Certainty. Other option would be to set OS to output in mono. But not sure if you can :?
Some mobo's have a buzzer and speaker header. The speaker header may be able to drive the internal speaker you desire. Check power/resistive ratings first though. Potential to damage your mobo.
 
Gus said:
Yes. Certainty. Other option would be to set OS to output in mono. But not sure if you can :?
Some mobo's have a buzzer and speaker header. The speaker header may be able to drive the internal speaker you desire. Check power/resistive ratings first though. Potential to damage your mobo.
Oh awesome! Where can I check these power/resistive ratings? This would be really great for an "authentic" feel I am trying to give my to-be mod.
 
The mobo will have a front panel audio header and + and - for speaker. The + - is for the bios beeps only and not suitable for what you want.

So if instead of using the front panel header for a headphone output you want to connect stereo speakers then you have to do a bit of modding as the outputs from that header (or any of the other headers) are not suitable for driving speakers directly and you would need to have powered speakers or a small amplifier.

Another alternative would be to use a USB audio solution connected to one of the internal USB headers - e.g. something like this: http://store.griffintechnology.com/imic.
The iMic is a reasonable quality solution and instead of you having to get down and dirty with the front audio header you would just need to break out the USB lines from the iMic to a USB header. Other USB audio sticks will work, but some are really bad quality.

Other possibilities: If you don't mind looping signals from the rear I/O panel back into your case then you could connect a USB audio direct to the back panel and back in, or connect to the green audio output on the rear and loop that in.....

Remember though that all of these will still need you to amplify the signal to your speakers or to use powered speakers.

In order of soldering complexity etc. The front panel audio mod is the most fiddly, the connection to internal USB is easier, and the connections to external USB/audio conn.s need no soldering.
 
Just something I am confused about. If the motherboard audio headers can't power these small mono speakers according to what you said, than how were they powered in the Power Mac G5? Also, what type of modding would need to be done to these G5 internal speakers if I want to use one of my board for actual sound?
 
Blah101 said:
Just something I am confused about. If the motherboard audio headers can't power these small mono speakers according to what you said, than how were they powered in the Power Mac G5? Also, what type of modding would need to be done to these G5 internal speakers if I want to use one of my board for actual sound?

The g5 would have had a "stronger" ie amplified signal output which is able to drive the speaker. A front panel audio header on an ATX board is only suitable for powering headphones.

All you would need to do, is get a usb to audio device. Or run a cable from the rear I/O green speaker out port. Get a headphone jack (3.5mm 1/4 inch jack), optionally cut up an old pair of headphones, find the ground and the left and right. Amplify it through a op amp then put the op amp output onto your speaker. I think your best bet would be to join both the left and right together and put it through a single op amp since the speaker only is mono no point putting stereo sound into it.
 
Gus said:
Blah101 said:
Just something I am confused about. If the motherboard audio headers can't power these small mono speakers according to what you said, than how were they powered in the Power Mac G5? Also, what type of modding would need to be done to these G5 internal speakers if I want to use one of my board for actual sound?

The g5 would have had a "stronger" ie amplified signal output which is able to drive the speaker. A front panel audio header on an ATX board is only suitable for powering headphones.

All you would need to do, is get a usb to audio device. Or run a cable from the rear I/O green speaker out port. Get a headphone jack (3.5mm 1/4 inch jack), optionally cut up an old pair of headphones, find the ground and the left and right. Amplify it through a op amp then put the op amp output onto your speaker. I think your best bet would be to join both the left and right together and put it through a single op amp since the speaker only is mono no point putting stereo sound into it.
So If I were to do this, then I would need to get an audio splitter because I still want to use desktop speakers. Let me just repeat what you said in my words so I can confirm I understand:
*G5 had more power for the speaker, unlike current motherboards that only have enough power to power a front audio header.
*To get a suitable amount of power, I have to draw power from either a USB port or the Green Audio out check in the back of my case by splicing a wire, and then connecting that wire to something (I still have to google it) called an "op amp", and then connecting that amp to a small speaker which I would have to buy instead of the G5 one because the G5 one uses mono instead of stereo.

Thanks :thumbup:
 
An easy option that avoids having to solder and amplify would be to look for something ready made like this.
As you can see these are very low power speakers that connect direct to the header for the front audio on a motherboard. They will give you stereo sound at more than likely a low quality. You won't be able to use the front headphone socket on the G5 but.....if you read around the forum you will see that usually that doesn't work anyway [though Gus is researching a solution].

A slightly different option with no soldering here

Or a self powered USB solution you could put in the case here. That is probably the better quality option that does not block any audio ports and uses just USB - and of course most mobos have lots of USB headers. Personally if I were you I would go for this option.
 
The USB option posted by mini hack is definitely what you should be going for. Easy.

With that I imagine you'd have to select in OSX where you want the sound output, ie internal speakers, rear I/O or front panel.
 
minihack said:
An easy option that avoids having to solder and amplify would be to look for something ready made like this.
As you can see these are very low power speakers that connect direct to the header for the front audio on a motherboard. They will give you stereo sound at more than likely a low quality. You won't be able to use the front headphone socket on the G5 but.....if you read around the forum you will see that usually that doesn't work anyway [though Gus is researching a solution].

A slightly different option with no soldering here

Or a self powered USB solution you could put in the case here. That is probably the better quality option that does not block any audio ports and uses just USB - and of course most mobos have lots of USB headers. Personally if I were you I would go for this option.
Wow great find!! And I learned something new too! I didn't know that the front audio jack won't work, I thought that is why I bought that wire pre made from insanelymac, so all the front I/O ports will work. Any way this is great, thanks so much! The good thing is my current motherboard has two audio headers, one says HD and the other just is audio, so I could have speakers and the front header hooked up at the same time. Thanks so much!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top