[AliP]

I'm thinking of purchasing soundsticks in the near future and want to clear a couple of things up.
1. Do the 3 speakers all connect via one USB connection?
2. If i wanted to connect them via a hub will they work and if so does it have to be a powered hub?
3. I seem to remember there being problems with these speakers in OSX, if so have they been sorted?
4. Do they work ok with a G3 iMac 600 Graphite?
Thanks in advance
KRO
Ali P

[OreoCookie]

My best friend has Soundsticks and the iSub working on his Pismo 400. Working without problems under 10.2 Server.

[Alf4051]

Originally posted by AliP:
[B]I'm thinking of purchasing soundsticks in the near future and want to clear a couple of things up.
1. Do the 3 speakers all connect via one USB connection?


3. I seem to remember there being problems with these speakers in OSX, if so have they been sorted?

1. Yes
3. It works fine in OSX for me on my ibook.

Sorry, don't know the other 2

P.S- They look pretty darn cool.

[angelmb]

about the second question, the SoundSticks are self powered.

[iDriveX]

If you have the following set of hardware you will have issues:

-Any Mac running Mac OS X 10.0.0 or higher
-The Mac running the Soundsticks on an Airport Network
-The Soundsticks

If you attempt to do any uploading while the soundsticks are playing music or alert noises (uploading includes sharing files via AOL or AIM or sending Mail or uploading to a webserver, ect.), the soundsticks will stutter and at times completely shut off and your system will revert to internal sound (if possible). This is a known issue and has been documented by many people in many threads in this forum.

[moofman]

1. The Soundsticks connect into the iSub, then the iSub connects via USB. Just know that you can't order an iSub now and Soundsticks later... My dad ordered one set, then expected to be able to order an iSub for the iMac, give me the small speakers, and steal back his Soundsticks, but the separate iSub has no connection for the SoundSticks.

2. I think my dad had them connected via a powered hub and they worked fine. Don't hold me to that for sure though.

3. There were some major problems in 10.1 and occasionally in 10.2.0, but most of them have been fixed as far as I can see. Every now and then I have to go in and manually select the Soundsticks in the Sound control panel, but I've never had a problem with them just not being recognized at all.

4. That's a slot-loading, right? I am 100% sure they work on anything slot-loading or after. Anything earlier is iffy. I know they worked at one time on my iMac Rev. B, but with the new iSub dad just recently ordered it wouldn't work. I know they don't officially support any iMacs pre-slot-loading.

If you get them, you'll be very pleased, I think. They're great little speakers.

[superblue]

I'm on 10.2.3 and I've never had any problems using them on my iBook 500 or my G4 733 from 10.1 onwards. They're bloody fantastic - sound great and look even better. They DO stutter when making file transfers over Airport which is a bit of a pain, but just pausing the music before the transfer and resuming it after avoids the problem.

All in all, my favourite Apple accessory

[TheIceMan]

Originally posted by AliP:
I'm thinking of purchasing soundsticks in the near future and want to clear a couple of things up.
1. Do the 3 speakers all connect via one USB connection?
2. If i wanted to connect them via a hub will they work and if so does it have to be a powered hub?
3. I seem to remember there being problems with these speakers in OSX, if so have they been sorted?
4. Do they work ok with a G3 iMac 600 Graphite?
Thanks in advance
KRO
Ali P

I've have the SoundSticks for the past 2 months. Had OS 10.2 then upgraded to 10.2.3. So far the SoundSticks are AWESOME. With regard to #1: Yes, the 2 speakers & 1 sub all connect via ONE USB plug. The 2 speakers connect to the Sub and then there is a wire that runs to the USB. Regarding the other other issues I'm not as familiar with so I will leave that up to the other posters to comment. Good luck. They sound great, even better than those JBL speakers (the ones that look like alien spaceships).

[danielb0101]

I like my Apple Pro Speakers + iSub. The SoundSticks are just a little to phallick for me.

Oh well. Not that I have anything against phalluses (phallii?) or anything.. just a thought.

[Appleman]

Originally posted by iDriveX:
If you have the following set of hardware you will have issues:

-Any Mac running Mac OS X 10.0.0 or higher
-The Mac running the Soundsticks on an Airport Network
-The Soundsticks

If you attempt to do any uploading while the soundsticks are playing music or alert noises (uploading includes sharing files via AOL or AIM or sending Mail or uploading to a webserver, ect.), the soundsticks will stutter and at times completely shut off and your system will revert to internal sound (if possible). This is a known issue and has been documented by many people in many threads in this forum.

I'm using my iMac Bondi Blue (G3-233 whopping MHz ), OS X.2.3 and Soundsticks and connected to Airport system. No problems with stuttering, while up- & downloading, whatsoever.

BUT: I have the Keyspan remote control, which works on the same USB-bus (the Bondi Blue has tow usb-ports but actually it's a hub, so actually one usb port) and when controlling with the Keyspan remote the sound gets stuttering because (I think) the usb bandwidth is overloaded.

The sound is great, works flawless in OS X.2.3, it's really plug&play -you can simply unplug the power and it continue playing on the build-in speaker, then plug it in again and it starts playing through the Soundsticks again.

Just go ahead, buy them and enjoy!

[tikki]

Originally posted by iDriveX:
If you have the following set of hardware you will have issues:

-Any Mac running Mac OS X 10.0.0 or higher
-The Mac running the Soundsticks on an Airport Network
-The Soundsticks

10.2 repaired USBAudio & the Airport interference bug. Any Mac <10.2 still sucks w/ Sticks & Airport.

[kcmac]

The soundsticks/isub worked great for me on my iMac DVSE 400 and my 500 iBook even with pre-10.1 OS X versions.

Unfortunately, I changed jobs and had to give them back. (I used them at conventions.)

I am thinking of getting another set but am wondering about the Harmon creatures and the Monsoon. Any advice?

[Socially Awkward Solo]

You should NOT plug them into a hub. If you are using those other devices on the hub at the same time they will stutter or stop. You should only plug them into the computer itself.

I don't have a problem uploading files and having the soundsticks stutter. The only problem I had with them is that when I transfer many files at once over Firewire then they sometimes stutter.