G4 Digital Audio plug & modern Macs

[Supersonic]

This one's got me stumped!

I had, until about 3 years ago, a PowerMac G4 with the Digital Audio socket in the rear in which I had a Griffin ProSpeaker adaptor to plug in a pair of tabletop JBL speakers.

...a lovely setup which did the job well and worked fine.

I bought an Intel iMac after that and shelved the JBL's until today when I thought i'd give then a second lease of life.

Two hours later, i'm still scratching my head!

I didn't remember until I saw it again that the Digital Audio jackplug looks very similar to a regular 3.5mm stereo headphone jackplug, but is shorter by a considerable way, and as the JBL speakers have raw speaker cable ends which plugged into the Griffin adaptor, i'm stumped for an easy solution.

Can the Digital Audio plug be converted into a regular 3.5mm stereo plug to go into the iMac? Is there an alternative adaptor altogether to wire the speakers into, or am I looking at a small audio amp of some sorts??

Any ideas or recommendations appreciated!

PS, did/does the Digital audio plug that Apple used in those days have a 'name'? Was it a standard of any type or description?

 

[Fishrrman]

"Can the Digital Audio plug be converted into a regular 3.5mm stereo plug to go into the iMac? Is there an alternative adaptor altogether to wire the speakers into, or am I looking at a small audio amp of some sorts??"

I believe the "digital audio plug" you are talking about is at the end of a "TOSLINK" optical cable, is that correct?

If you look at the end of the cable YOU HAVE, it has a roughly-rectangular coupling at the end with a round pin in the middle, again, is this correct?

Something like this?
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=181-046
(go to the page above and ZOOM IN on the image to see details)

If that's the case, you need an adapter for it, and it should plug right into the Mac's "audio out" (headphone) port, which I believe is designed to work with BOTH analog and digital connectors. The one on my 2007 white Intel iMac does -- I use an adapter and TOSLINK cable to send digital audio out to my minidisc deck.

Here's what I use on the iMac:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/sho...toslink adapter&CFID=2916582&CFTOKEN=76063611

Very reasonably priced, and PartsExpress is a decent place to buy from.

 

[Supersonic]

"Can the Digital Audio plug be converted into a regular 3.5mm stereo plug to go into the iMac? Is there an alternative adaptor altogether to wire the speakers into, or am I looking at a small audio amp of some sorts??"

I believe the "digital audio plug" you are talking about is at the end of a "TOSLINK" optical cable, is that correct?

If you look at the end of the cable YOU HAVE, it has a roughly-rectangular coupling at the end with a round pin in the middle, again, is this correct?

Something like this?
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=181-046
(go to the page above and ZOOM IN on the image to see details)

If that's the case, you need an adapter for it, and it should plug right into the Mac's "audio out" (headphone) port, which I believe is designed to work with BOTH analog and digital connectors. The one on my 2007 white Intel iMac does -- I use an adapter and TOSLINK cable to send digital audio out to my minidisc deck.

Here's what I use on the iMac:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/sho...toslink adapter&CFID=2916582&CFTOKEN=76063611

Very reasonably priced, and PartsExpress is a decent place to buy from.

The socket on the back of the G4 (and the connector on the cable) seems to look like a shortened 3.5mm stereo cable rather than a TOSlink cable.

Like this pic I found

http://i25.tinypic.com/2q8pxea.jpg

 

[Fishrrman]

"The socket on the back of the G4 (and the connector on the cable) seems to look like a shortened 3.5mm stereo cable rather than a TOSlink cable.
Like this pic I found
http://i25.tinypic.com/2q8pxea.jpg"

OK, I can see where the "collar around the edge" (on the connector in the pic above) would not plug into recent audio in/out ports correctly.

What kind of connector do you need on the OTHER end of the cable? Is it the same?

 

[Supersonic]

"The socket on the back of the G4 (and the connector on the cable) seems to look like a shortened 3.5mm stereo cable rather than a TOSlink cable.
Like this pic I found
http://i25.tinypic.com/2q8pxea.jpg"

OK, I can see where the "collar around the edge" (on the connector in the pic above) would not plug into recent audio in/out ports correctly.

What kind of connector do you need on the OTHER end of the cable? Is it the same?

The iMac has the usual headphone socket, so would be good in there, though if adaptors for say USB or FireWire existed, I could be tempted...

 

[Archon Gold]

Are the speakers Component? If so then just get a Component to headphone adapter.

 

[Supersonic]

Are the speakers Component? If so then just get a Component to headphone adapter.

The speakers are a pair of JBL SCS-300's, which have bare speaker wire on the end, which plug into the Griffin ProSpeaker adaptor (which has terminal blocks to push the bare wires into)

Its this Griffin adaptor which has the DigitalAudio minijack plug as shown in the earlier post...