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(UPDATE: Confirmed) Stereo Speakers on iPad Mini?

Speakers

As other posters have mentioned, I don't believe that the iPad Mini (or any of Apple's mobile devices) have built in stereo speakers.

I use external wireless speakers with my iPad 2 and will do the same with the iPad Mini when it arrives this Friday.
 
You guys didn't pay attention very well to the presentation. It was clearly stated that your music/movie/game audio comes out the left speaker, while the right speaker emits low level whispers encouraging you to upgrade your iPad, iPhone, and iMac.
 
CapnJackGig said:
You guys didn't pay attention very well to the presentation. It was clearly stated that your music/movie/game audio comes out the left speaker, while the right speaker emits low level whispers encouraging you to upgrade your iPad, iPhone, and iMac.
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Lmao, that honestly made me laugh out loud 🙂
 
found this link and it shows a post of Apple's Blueprints for the Mini and looks like (pictured at bottom-left) it is indeed two separate speakers.

find it here

i suspect it will be for stereo so left and right channel effects can be heard in certain songs/movies etc. but the spacing is far to close to hear it in proper stereo. i guess its also possible one speaker will be using for alerts and notifications while other is for apps and movies/music etc audio this way both sounds can play independently and simultaneously. My iPad mini is expected to be here on the 2nd so will test it thoroughly then.

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CapnJackGig said:
You guys didn't pay attention very well to the presentation. It was clearly stated that your music/movie/game audio comes out the left speaker, while the right speaker emits low level whispers encouraging you to upgrade your iPad, iPhone, and iMac.
Click to expand...

this is quite funny. good call and thank you for enlightening us !
 
In one of the reviews it was confirmed as having mono audio out. The two speaker grills are for better audio quality.
 
SR71 said:
If you had read the thread you would've seen that someone already suggested that, and it was proven incorrect by me. Here's my response: Don't know what the iPhone has to do with this, but there seems to be two speaker grille cutouts on the back of the iPad Mini. What leads me to believe that these are both speakers, and not a speaker and a microphone, is the fact that the iPad Mini has microphone cutout on the top of the device.

So, let me rephrase my original question: Does the iPad Mini have two speakers instead of one single speaker like the iPad 4?
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And who is to not say that the cutout on the top (which I do not see) is part of a noise canceling system like on the iphone? Noise canceling is necessary for facetime, not just phone calls.

Would not be surprised if that is the case, and I assume it is.
 
jonfarr said:
And who is to not say that the cutout on the top (which I do not see) is part of a noise canceling system like on the iphone? Noise canceling is necessary for facetime, not just phone calls.

Would not be surprised if that is the case, and I assume it is.
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On Apple's website it indicates that the cut out on the top is a microphone, or else I too would've guessed that it was just part of the noise-canceling system.
 
Even in the iPad mini video they show on the Apple website it shows 2 speakers inside of it. The silver looking things are the speakers btw.
 

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SR71 said:
On Apple's website it indicates that the cut out on the top is a microphone, or else I too would've guessed that it was just part of the noise-canceling system.
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Isn't a microphone on top as well as one on the bottom what the iPhone uses for noise canceling?
 
jonfarr said:
Isn't a microphone on top as well as one on the bottom what the iPhone uses for noise canceling?
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Yes, that's how the iPhone works, but the iPad doesn't have a microphone on top and bottom, it only has one on top.
 
stereo only works in portrait mode, i'm guessing

they'll eventually have 4 speakers that configure according to orientation
 
m0dest said:
Glad I found this thread. This question has been bugging me since the announcement. It doesn't make a significant difference to users, but it's strategically interesting.

Two possibilities:

1. iPad mini only has a single mono speaker. The mono speaker has 2 grills because (a) in landscape, the each side grill is more easily blocked by the user's palm than the full-sized iPad's back grill and/or (b) it creates nicer design symmetry.

2. iPad mini has stereo speakers. Apple has been quiet about this because (a) stereo speakers aren't very useful when placed both placed on this particular edge and/or (b) announcing stereo speakers in the iPad mini would cannibalize full-size iPad sales, as this deficit would make it more obvious that the full-size iPad is due for a significant redesign in May.

Reviewers could easily test this with a well-selected audio track or playing with the left/right balance in GarageBand. I haven't read any reviews claiming to have properly tested this, though – just a few unattributed "confirmations" in either direction.

(It's almost certainly not a second microphone. It's on the wrong side to hear speech on a tablet and too near to the only speaker to be usable for noise cancellation.)
Click to expand...

A third option could be there are two speakers but they are playing from a single / mono audio output. This would be similar to bullet #1.
 
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