Griffin Powerwave review, 2008

[popcornjuice]

hey, i just wanted to do a write up on a product gem i found on ebay & have been doing research on for a few years now, the griffin Powerwave. yeah i know, big whoop, seen it & seen it discontinue. but i have been looking for this or the ifire since they were done away with to use my pro speakers again as well as to hook up a pair of high end home audio speakers to my computer.

now that ifire & powerwave are hard to find, people bump the prices up on new & used ones & i have even seen ifire up to nearly $300. . yeah right.

so, i found a new powerwave for only $35 shipped, new. i took it out of the box & noticed it felt like a cheap usb modem. . too light to do anything it claims.

i tried out my pro speakers, & they were reborn. . .nothing to get excited about, but at least i can run my ipod off of them.

the real beauty was the pro speaker breakout cable. i hooked up a pair of acoustimass bose cubes & nearly sh*t myself when i tested them out on Cloverfield. the volume was on 2 bar, as per 6 bar on my soundsticks. VERY loud & clear on my mac pro. just for kicks, i pulled out a very old set of 3 way bookshelf speakers that came with my old 10 year shelf system & they too blasted out wonderful 2.0 audio as if i were sitting in front of 2 infinity or harman/kardon tower speakers.

the rca out & in are matched with cables, provided by griffin & can easily be hooked up to any device by the rca or 3.5 outlet for recording. . .but for now i will mainly use them for stereo use on the computer.

now that i have written all this, i notice now there was another review in 2005. . .very well written & i just want to add to djtonypsalms review saying if you can get ahold of this device for speaker use at a good price, you will not regret it.

~cheers

 

[MiMo1]

Griffin Powerwave

Sounds like a great device.

Why was it that both this device & the iFire were discontinued?

Also where do I get one for $ 35? I'm UK based and I know that things are over-priced here but that does sound cheap.

Cheers

Michael

 

[popcornjuice]

strange that both were discontinued & both worked well in keeping mac junkies happy with using their pro speakers other than what came with the cube usb pro speakers.

in all honesty, i have always wanted the pro speaker breakout cable to use ANY home speaker for my needs, such as a high end 2way to 3way bookshelf speaker. the plus side is if i need a recording input, i have it as well.

ebay is your friend. i have checked ebay.co.uk & there are a few powerwaves for sale. . . some new some used, which is mostly the case. there was one in germany starting at 0.99 & one in uk for 10.00 & for sale in uk for 119.95.

best of luck

 

[MSD401]

not sure if anyone saw this but its a pretty good deal and i believe it accomplishes the same thing?

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave

 

[popcornjuice]

from what i understand that replaced both devices. however, you would have to use 3.5mm jacks for multiple speakers. . .being that you would have to customize a splice or find speakers already fitted to a stereo minijack that come in sets. yeah you get 5.1, but you spend the extra $ if you do not have the 5.1 system too. . .just a thought

the great part about the powerwave was the prospeaker breakout cable. if you were not using it for audio there is always the route of pro monitors like audioengine & m-audio.

i do like the firewire power of the firewave. . . the powerwave uses 12v & has a mid line transformer box. then run off usb if you are using it via computer vs ipod or whatever. what i understand is that the firewave is not an amp while the powerwave is in fact an amp. . .correct me if i am wrong though.

 

[MiMo1]

Another "Legacy" product

It would appear that Griffin plan to stop this product still. They obviously make an initial batch & if it does not sell in millions (like the iPod) they drop it like a hot brick!

The iFire appeared to be the ideal solution but needed the breakout cable for full versatility.

Cheers

Michael.

 

[The-Pro]

Any chance of getting a griffin ifire to this time? preferably one in europe?

my girlfriend gave me some apple pro speakers for christmas, because I wanted to get an imac g4 a couple weeks back with these speakers. I love that imac and she decided to buy me the apple pro speakers not knowing the have that weird audio jack. I didnt even know when i looked at the imac
so now i have these wonderful speakers and no way to use them
i havnt found a single ifire in my vascinity, sadly. I wanted to use the pro speakers with my i7 MBP at my second home where i dont have my logitech sound system.

is ifire still the only proper solution, which guaranteed would work? and if they are like 200-300€ then screw ifire i will look for a imac g4 and have i tunes running over it

thanks guys