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New iMac 27inch speakers. How good are they?
- Thread starter anisatam
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Just as the title states.
How good are the iMac speakers.
How many of you 2012 owners think the speakers are good enough and there is no need for external ones ? or vise versa
VERY subjective. Going from the 2009 27" iMac the downgrade was obvious (to me). However, as time goes by it's just fine to me, and I gave up caring
. The best bet is to buy the darn system and decide for yourself. 
it depends on what you mean as "good enough"
I like good quality sound for music listening so I always use external speakers.
I think getting any sort of external speakers that cost more than $100 will be a vast improvement over the internal speakers, the Imac speakers sound better than laptop speakers but that's not saying much. I'm using the $500 B&W MM-1 speakers for my iMac....they are small but still sound good and look good
I like good quality sound for music listening so I always use external speakers.
I think getting any sort of external speakers that cost more than $100 will be a vast improvement over the internal speakers, the Imac speakers sound better than laptop speakers but that's not saying much. I'm using the $500 B&W MM-1 speakers for my iMac....they are small but still sound good and look good
Oh that's not fair. They are WAAAAAAAY better than any laptop speakers I've ever heard, and I've heard a ton of laptops!
If you want to hear bad speakers, go use a Sony Vaio Z2.
ultimately it comes down to "how much do you care" as you hinted.
I care a lot....I just appreciate quality. The iMac has a nice eye popping display. Half my waking life is spent in front of a computer screen so I think that having nice sound quality is one of the few simple things in life that one can still enjoy. you don't have to spend much, just some medium grade Logitech or Creative speakers will be an improvement. Of course, I can recommend some really nice high end computer speakers but I don't think the OP was looking for that.
I care a lot....I just appreciate quality. The iMac has a nice eye popping display. Half my waking life is spent in front of a computer screen so I think that having nice sound quality is one of the few simple things in life that one can still enjoy. you don't have to spend much, just some medium grade Logitech or Creative speakers will be an improvement. Of course, I can recommend some really nice high end computer speakers but I don't think the OP was looking for that.
There's no magic trick on Mac products, it's still the law of physic. Tinny speaker in a slimmed down enclosure can only bring you so much.
If you do not care about sound quality, as long as it has sound output for casual listening, then iMac built in speaker is doing a great job, and yes it's muuch muuuch better than any laptop speaker you can find (for the given size, it should)
But I wouldn't want to let the built in mini TOSLINK unused. So I plug it in into an old Yamaha receiver, combined to 5.1 system and bang.. it rocks
If you do not care about sound quality, as long as it has sound output for casual listening, then iMac built in speaker is doing a great job, and yes it's muuch muuuch better than any laptop speaker you can find (for the given size, it should)
But I wouldn't want to let the built in mini TOSLINK unused. So I plug it in into an old Yamaha receiver, combined to 5.1 system and bang.. it rocks
VERY subjective. Going from the 2009 27" iMac the downgrade was obvious (to me). However, as time goes by it's just fine to me, and I gave up caring
Good point on it being subjective. I went from the 2009 27" iMac to the 2012 27" and like the new system's speakers better. I feel the 2012 has more range and much better bass.
From someone who is NOT an audiophile, I believe the iMac 27" late 2012 speakers to be pretty good. I can hear bass etc. nothing to complain about.
I wouldn't let it stop you from buying a brilliant machine. The speakers are not bad at all.
I wouldn't let it stop you from buying a brilliant machine. The speakers are not bad at all.
Its not stopping me at all, as I have the imac 27 already on order. But I wanted to get a general idea of how the speakers were, which I agree with everyone is very subjective.
I guess I will wait & decide for myself.
Thanks for everyones inputs
I guess I will wait & decide for myself.
Thanks for everyones inputs
Not....
firsthand knowledge, but a coworker bought a 2012 27 inch iMac. Not pleased with the sound and bought some Bose speakers....
firsthand knowledge, but a coworker bought a 2012 27 inch iMac. Not pleased with the sound and bought some Bose speakers....
New iMac speakers okay, but
I recently got one of the 27" iMacs, maxxed out the RAM, and am mostly impressed.
The sound quality, on the other hand, is a bit of a mixed bag. Overall, it's a huge improvement over my old iMac G5 (yes, G5), with much fuller sound.
However, most likely due to the shape of the enclosure, there's a resonant frequency at around 150 Hz, I'd say, which means that any appreciable amount of bass results in an annoying pulse of the bass at that frequency. (The MacBook Pro I've been using doesn't have that problem, though I'm not sure if the frequency response of its speakers extends much lower than that.)
In iTunes, I can use the equalizer to bring down the levels a bit at 150 and below, which helps some. But, I'll probably need to get a decent set of external speakers (or headphones, at least) if I expect anything more than occasional use of this iMac for music/audio.
Kevin
I recently got one of the 27" iMacs, maxxed out the RAM, and am mostly impressed.
The sound quality, on the other hand, is a bit of a mixed bag. Overall, it's a huge improvement over my old iMac G5 (yes, G5), with much fuller sound.
However, most likely due to the shape of the enclosure, there's a resonant frequency at around 150 Hz, I'd say, which means that any appreciable amount of bass results in an annoying pulse of the bass at that frequency. (The MacBook Pro I've been using doesn't have that problem, though I'm not sure if the frequency response of its speakers extends much lower than that.)
In iTunes, I can use the equalizer to bring down the levels a bit at 150 and below, which helps some. But, I'll probably need to get a decent set of external speakers (or headphones, at least) if I expect anything more than occasional use of this iMac for music/audio.
Kevin
I thought they were fine apart from the fact that the highs were too sharp and it made movies and music a bit of a hard slog. Ear fatigue was quite high. So I bought some JBL creature 3s. They certainly aren't the best speakers around, but for the price they do a great job and have a tiny footprint. I wanted the B&W MM1s but couldn't fit them on my desk unfortunately.
I have the 2012 imac 27 and the speakers are ok. Good treble, no midrange or bass.
Ultimately it's the laws of physics and without big drivers, you're not going to get full midrange or bass, and therefore you're missing out on 2/3 of the full sound bandwidth, unless you have crap ears. Apple could conceivably produce very full sound if they found a way to stuff lightweight 4"-6" drivers in the imac enclosure. That would probably take a leap in material technology, because currently magnetic materials are pretty heavy (not aluminum).
I have Monsoon speakers which have accurate bass and good crossovers to match the equally great electrostatic tweeters. So the imac's speakers don't really compare. Can't beat physics this time and you need the size of external speakers to get good sound.
Ultimately it's the laws of physics and without big drivers, you're not going to get full midrange or bass, and therefore you're missing out on 2/3 of the full sound bandwidth, unless you have crap ears. Apple could conceivably produce very full sound if they found a way to stuff lightweight 4"-6" drivers in the imac enclosure. That would probably take a leap in material technology, because currently magnetic materials are pretty heavy (not aluminum).
I have Monsoon speakers which have accurate bass and good crossovers to match the equally great electrostatic tweeters. So the imac's speakers don't really compare. Can't beat physics this time and you need the size of external speakers to get good sound.
Compared to the Lenovo speakers I had on my old PC and the iMac 2011 speakers - they're actually pretty damn good but then again the speakers in the iMac have been pretty good over the last couple of releases so unless you really need that volume, you're better off saving the money.