The 6400 Zone - Audio Help

I received a letter from Stephen who says his 6400 produces full range (highs, mids, and lows) from the rear jack? If anyone can prove this, I would greatly appreciate it. Below is his letter with my reply.

[I understand..
As you know.. there have been so many similarities and peculiarities as well. I am looking at TV now and I also use Soundjam on a daily basis and I am telling you.. In my case, My 6400 gives FULL range and Does not disconnect the Subwoofer. Even with my equalizer's bypass mode.. no intervention, I am (with my speaker system's tone controls on flat.. I am getting High, Mid and Low frequencies. I have not used the front of my performa.. but wait.. I will move the plug now .. I am getting the same frequency range here in the front as well...without the Subwoofer playing. My speakersystem is still functioning in full range. I could manipulate or change the tonal levels of the speaker systems's Bass and Treble controls which of course gives me more control over the sound. I went one further and bought an Optimus Ten Band Stereo Graphic Equalizer which receives a signal from the 6400 then onto the speaker system.

I can't explain my 6400's performance but It has always been like this. Now take in mind, my control for the Subwoofer is non-operational yet it is in the mid-level (loudness) yet my subwoofer is operational.

> This is not the going theory on how the system works. Although I have no
> real proof since neither Apples web site or the 6400 manual state this but
> the going theory is that once you connect external speakers to the 6400 that
> you only get mids and highs from the rear jack and the 6400 internal speaker
> picks up the lows. If you can prove to me that it works your way I would
> greatly appreciate it! My speakers have always sounded weaker when plugged
> into the rear and have always sounded richer when plugged into the headphone
> jack. That is the only proof I have :( Plus everyone else seems to agree :)
> Tom]

5/19/2001 Update on getting full range audio from the rear audio jack: A few people wrote to say that they to have full range audio from the rear jack as well as the internal subwoofer playing. I think Corry has the answer. Thanks guys.

[Hi, first of all I would like to thank you for your wonderful site! I have found many things there that I don't think I would have found otherwise.

Anyways, I read your latest update and noticed the letter from the guy about him having full range audio from his rear jack with the sub on. This has always been the case for me as well, and I have a theory of what is going on here. I think that the 6400 can work both ways, with the sub cutting out frequencies and not cutting them out. I think the key lies in the 3d surround option in the sound control panel (sound and monitors in system 7.5.3-7.6). I have that unchecked and have the computer hooked up to the aux. input of a nice all-in-one mini system stereo from the rear jack of my 6400. I have the sub turned all the way down from the control on the back of the box, as I don't need it, my stereo has plenty of bass. I do notice quite a drop off in bass however if I activate the 3d surround option on the control panel. Hope this helps.

My configuration: 6400/180, Sonnet L2G3/300/1mb (overclocked to 320), OS 9.1, Quicktime 4.1.2

Oh, I was also wondering if anyone might have tried out Quicktime 5? Just wondering what the difference is. Is the player still ugly? Can you at least watch full screen? etc...

Thanks, Corry]

6/23/2001 In response to corry's answer on the subwoofer deal: Joey sent me some info on why the 6400's subwoofer base response is reduced when 3D surround sound is activated. Thanks Joey.

[The decrease in base in the sound coming from the 6400 with the 3D sound on is not a result of the subwoofer interfering. The 3D sound is simply a signal processor taking the stereo field and spreading it even thinner to create a more surround type effect. One reason base is lost is because most base would be mixed closer to the center of the stereo field and would not be amplified by the DSP. also, the higher frequencies are the ones that give away direction the most, so spreading them out and amplifying them in the furthest reaches of the stereo field is more necessary than doing so with the base which acts differently. As far as the subwoofer staying on... Plugging something in the rear sound out jack disables the 6400s equivalent to the standard internal speaker, because they assume you are plugging in better speakers and don't want that sound still coming from the box. The subwoofer's frequencies keep going because the added base was helpful for people with the Apple Multiscan and AV monitors with small internal speakers. It's the same type of setup as most computer speakers come today: two small speakers and a subwoofer. Apple, just gives us the subwoofer built in.
Joey]

Ralph sent me info that he tried Griffins iMic (a product that gives USB only Macs a mic input) on his 6500 and it didn't work. Then he read their FAQs and found that it only works on Macs with built in USB ports. At least we have a real audio in jack. Thanks Ralph.

[Hi Tom, after looking at the Griffin support page I found out why the iMic no work with my PM6500 (see below). I sent them a request for help with it. I figured it might be a better option than the finicky built in sound card. I really got it for the iBook and my eventual Powerbook but wanted to test it on the PM6500. FYI. R.

Oops, I didn't see this before I bought the iMic. From their support page:

"Q. I have a PCI USB card in my older Mac; can I use the iMic?

A. Not as far as we know. Apple says that USB Audio is only supported on machines that have built-in USB ports. A USB card installed in older Macs may support other USB functions, but according to Apple it won't support USB Audio."]

Lennie sent me some info on using a free version of ProTools on his non-G3 upgraded 6400. Thanks Lennie.

[Hey There - I just wanted to thank you for such a great site, the resources here have been a big help in learning my way around this machine - I got my 6400/200 for 30 bucks at a thrift store and it rocks - literally, which is why I am emailing. For anyone who's interested I am using free Pro Tools for recording 16 bit audio at home and having great success with a non upgraded machine. The Digidesign website says that you need at least g3 to use free PT, but I gave it a try anyway and it's awesome. I thought there might be a few people out there who'd be interested in knowing that it works well on my machine w/o out an upgrade. You do need an outboard mixer of some type to regulate the line levels coming in and I maxed the CPU dedication in the PT program to get it rolling. You also have to pull the levels of both your previously recorded and incoming tracks way down when monitoring tracking to over come the latency issues, but other than that I'm getting great results and having a blast. I'm a bit of a novice at digital recording, so I hope this all makes sense - I just wanted to share this with anyone out there who might be interested in doing home recording without throwing down the cash for the g4 or g4! Thanks again, Lennie

Thanks again Tom - here's the link to the download - http://www.digidesign.com/ptfree/ - I think that the manuals also are on that site, though it might be a separate download. They're pretty extensive, but you kind of need them to get going unless you know someone to help you get started. Let me know if I can be of any other assistance - take care, Lennie]

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