[alligator]

My volume keys on my Apple USB keyboard with my Mac Pro do not control the volume of my external speakers in OS X. Instead they control the internal speaker in the box. I have some normal speakers plugged into the line out port that work just fine. The volume slider in iTunes controls these external speakers, but the keyboard controls the internal speaker.

When I change "sound" in system preferences, there is no option to make they keyboard control the line out volume.

What am I doing wrong?

[GSixZero]

Line out is line out... it's a set level. The purpose of having line out is to have an output that is a consistent stream of unmolested audio.

You should really connect your speakers to the headphone port or control the volume with the speakers.

[tooki]

But Macs don't have separate Line Out and Headphone jacks. It's all the latter.

The only ports that don't allow volume control are the optical digital ports, since volume control has to be done in the analog realm of the amplifier if quality is to be preserved.

The keyboard is supposed to change the volume of the currently-selected systemwide audio output. That's the one selected in the Output tab of the Sound preferences pane, not the one in the pop-up menu of the Sound Effects tab.


tooki

[Dakar]

Originally Posted by tooki

BThe only ports that don't allow volume control are the optical digital ports, since volume control has to be done in the analog realm of the amplifier if quality is to be preserved.

It took me a week to figure out that was normal.