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G4 Cube M7963 speaker repair

havokalien

havokalien

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 27, 2006
649
52
Kelso, Wa
To start i finally got my cube some usb speakers, i wanted to hear its startup chime and the usb dongle would not do that. The set i got had bad foam surrounds. Well I searched the Internet and couldn't find enough info to know for sure if the pro speakers and the cube pros were the same. I need the repair so I did it just the same. Upon removal they had totally different part numbers. The apple pro speakers from the non USB had a longer magnet area, leading me to believe they may need more power or have greater range ( I don't know just guessing here ). I clipped the wires, soldered the new speakers in place, put them back together and plugged them in. They sound great. They sound way better than the raspy noise with the bad foam. I know cubes are way old but I think it's still a very nice display of apple engineering.
 
iSubs cannot work with G4 Cube speakers. The USB audio driver cannot drive both at the same time. The iSub can be made to work with 10.5 on PPC Macs with good results as well. Another way to repair the Cube's speaker foam is to use rubber cement. Put a thin coat or two on the foam while being careful not to get any on the centre or outer plastic ring. I've read good reviews about doing that as well. A pity the Cube's speakers have the older black foam cone instead of the newer white rubber one.
 
White rubber

Well mine have the white rubber now. You are correct about the isub as I have one. Although the isub with sound sticks will work, I don't have a set of my own. I have 50 dollars in a Mac cube that can play DVDs, write DVDs, write CDs, wireless Internet, use a big apple screen ( when not in use unplug as the power supply is always sensing/sending power to the Mac an display.
 
Why do you unplug your Studio Display when it isn't in use? The trickle voltage for your Cube is 28 volts, regardless if there is a screen attached to it or not. The same power that is used to activate the touch sensor on top also powers the screen's power on sensor. The additional amount of power is so nominal, you're probably going to hurt the ADC plug before the power supply is worn out. Don't forget, ADC plug has a connection-disconnection rating of about 200 times.
 
Cube power supply

I don't unplug the monitor, I turn off and unplug the cube when not in use as the power supplies go bad so I have seen. The common factor is its on 24/7 with no cooling, I may put a fan by it who knows.
 
Cube speakers & 10.9

Bit OT, but I wanted to ask anyhoo.

I want to use my cube speakers with my Mac mini in 10.9, but I plug them in, see them listed in the Sound preference panel (and in System Profiler) but they output nothing.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Pato
 
10.9 may have removed support for the Cube speakers (again). You could try replacing the 10.9 AppleUSBAudio kext with the one from 10.8. That may fix it.
 
That did the trick

I found some instructions online (search for "Apple USB audio cube speakers"). For those who know what to do, here's a link to the working kext (not from me): cl.ly/ARUd

Appreciate the help!
Pato
 
I got my Cube speakers...

...and I use 9.2.2 almost exclusively in my application for the G4 Cube as with me being a poor college student (too poor to afford college with ever-increasing tuition costs and impossible to manipulate modern computer systems in fact) and so I have to save money by using older, well-nigh retro hardware to allow me to save money until I can get a job that I could actually take (my parents need me to help them right now until their life calms down.)

I got them for $39 and $6 shipping and if they arrive in the condition they left there in they'll be sufficient for my needs. Why did the black foam surrounds disintegrate so badly though (on my pair one speaker has half the foam gone and one speaker has over 95% of the foam, which is a really weird wear pattern compared to what I have heard is typical.

I love my Cube, and it's like a Power Mac G4 minitower but much more compact. It leaves me in awe.
 
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