**seeking advice on iMac+ external speaker problem**

Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Boston,MA
Your Mac's Specs
27 inch IMac i7 3ghz and own a mac book pro. Both are customized from factory.
Hello Everyone-

This is my first time posting here. And I am aware that other people have posted about this topic. Don't mean to beat it to death.

Basically,I own a year and a half old 27 inch iMac,using a set of "Harmon Kardon soundsticks 3" external speakers. I'm running mountain lion. But I should say that I had snow leopard when the below problem started.

Like other posters on this topic,I notice an on-off static popping noise emanating from the soundsticks when using my Mac. But when not using the soundsticks and just going with the computer's speakers,the problem does not occur. However, I can strongly say that the problem lies exclusively with the computer. Why do I say this: After speaking to H.K. senior tech support several times, I tested the speakers with external devices such as a boom box,and no problem at all from them. I also took the liberty of buying a brand new set of bose speakers and thus heard the exact same popping noise from them.

After to speaking to senior Apple support( and telling them that lots other people have complained about this very same problem), they told me that they never heard of this problem before. I was then instructed to bring the computer to the Apple store to be fixed. I told them right off the bat to troubleshoot the problem with speakers connected.I got a call from one of the geniuses(who forgot to test it with speakers at first then said he did test the issue using the speakers) saying that his people couldn't hear the issue,thus they couldn't/wouldn't fix anything, and told me that the engineers higher ups said it was a "normal issue".They also told me that there was nothing wrong hardware wise. He said that I would need to completely turn off the soundsticks(except of course when I needed to play anything) if I didn't want to hear
the pop-Then it would be all good.

This is despite me submitting a detailed diary of when it occurred. I don't know why they claimed it was so hard to hear,because almost every time I finish playing iTunes,I will almost immediately hear the pop. However, a genius from another Apple store that I happened to talk to told me that he was aware of the problem and said that there was a fix somewhere described online(other than in this forum) as to how to get around it but he didn't have the time to go into it.

I know other posters in this forum have described fixes,but I still have the problem when I sometimes leave the volume turned on on the soundsticks.

I am very frustrated because I thought when Lion and mountain lion came out,Apple would issue a fix for this. And I don't think I should have to kill the speakers regularly on a a $2800 customized computer. I'm also not too keen on taking it back to the Apple store again with them telling me that they can't hear it,which I feel is b.s and a copout.

Can anyone out there tell me, via an easy to understand way, a work around fix for this?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance.

Mike
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top