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Griffin Firewave compatibility

M

middleseat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 14, 2012
6
0
Just took delivery of my late-2012 iMac (yay!)... I'd like to hook up my Griffin Firewave to it (so I can use my Logitech 5.1 speakers/sub), but with the lack of firewire ports I'm in a bit of a pickle. The Griffin uses FW 400.

I have 2 options:
1 (cheaper but will it work option) - Will it be possible for me to use an external HD via USB then hook up the Firewire cable to that HD? It's a Buffalo 1 TB with ports for USB, FW 400 and FW 800.

2 - Purchase a thunderbolt to FW adapter. Wait. Scratch that. It looks like Apple only makes a TB to FW800 adapter.

What are my options without having to buy a new sound system? The old one still works great...
 
Intell

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
You'll have to get a Thunderbolt to FireWire 800 then a FireWire 800 to 400 cable/adapter.
 
B

bflowers

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2006
636
136
Yeah, you have to do the adapter to adapter option. I'll have to do the same thing, but with a FW800 to FW400 4-pin to connect to my old camcorder.

I have a hard drive like you were asking about. They don't contain a controller that allows transfer between the two busses. They might be out there, but I never found a USB to Firewire adapter even though I looked for one when Apple killed the FW400 ports from the laptops. The new (and very expensive) Thunderbolt hubs will also work for you, but the two adapters will be a fraction of the price.
 
Intell

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
One thing with the FireWave, the controller app is PowerPC only. While the hardware will still work correctly, you won't be able to configure it very much or at all on a 10.7+ machine.
 
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