Help with streaming audio

Hi,

Can anyone please help me out?

I'm trying to stream radio stations from my I Mac to my stereo system. I was told (by a couple of people) to plug a cable from the "headphones" on the Mac to any of the empty "inputs" on the back of my Harmon Kardon 2 channel stereo receiver. Then, just hit the appropriate button on the receiver (i.e. if I plugged into "aux 1", hit the "aux 1" button, go to I Tunes, and stream the radio as if I were playing it through the computer's built-in speakers. I should hear the radio through my stereo speakers. It's not working. Any suggestions?

I really don't understand computer or audio terminology, so if you're responding, please keep it very simple.

Thanks,

Ian[/SIZE][/SIZE]

Just to get things nailed down a bit better exactly which iMac and which receiver model are you using. A couple of troubleshooting steps occur to me as well. You may have done this already but humor me:

1. Open the Sound system preferences check the Output tab to make sure it is set correctly.

2.. Plug a set of headphones into the iMac and play something. Just long enough to make sure the port is working.

3. Make sure the connections in the receiver are plugged into the Aux In connections. Tape In or CD in should also work.. If you use tape In there may be an additional button to push in order to hear the sound. Check your manual.

Let us know how things go.

Streaming audio

Not sure if this will help but almost all the music I listen to is from radio from my iMac through my Airport Express into my Onkyo receiver via my wireless router.
Works great,a whole bunch of radio stuff in iTunes that is free.
I am not a techie but it was pretty easy to get working.
Good luck
golferstan

Hi Stan,

Thanks for your suggestion. I don't understand what you mean or how to try your idea. When I said I don't understand computer tech i meant it!

golferstan said:

Not sure if this will help but almost all the music I listen to is from radio from my iMac through my Airport Express into my Onkyo receiver via my wireless router.
Works great,a whole bunch of radio stuff in iTunes that is free.
I am not a techie but it was pretty easy to get working.
Good luck
golferstan

Click to expand...

Hi,

So my Mac is an OS X version 10.5.8. My receiver is a Harmon Kardon 3385. I believe it was made ~ 2007.

The Output tab has 1 listing: internal Speakers. Built-in output. The balance & volume are even.

Don't have any headphone to test with. Will borrow some. I tried plugging the cable from the Mac into both the input and output connections for CD, and Video. I can normally play a CD through the receiver just fine. I've never used the video connections. The manual doesn't say anything about computer interfacing.

What next?

Ian

Slydude said:

Just to get things nailed down a bit better exactly which iMac and which receiver model are you using. A couple of troubleshooting steps occur to me as well. You may have done this already but humor me:

1. Open the Sound system preferences check the Output tab to make sure it is set correctly.

2.. Plug a set of headphones into the iMac and play something. Just long enough to make sure the port is working.

3. Make sure the connections in the receiver are plugged into the Aux In connections. Tape In or CD in should also work.. If you use tape In there may be an additional button to push in order to hear the sound. Check your manual.

Let us know how things go.

Click to expand...

This should be working I certainly have done the same with older Macs and older receivers. Not exactly sure which Mac you have but assuming that the headphones work that means that jack is working. If the headsets are known to be good and you get no sound through them that suggests the jack may be an issue.

Run the cable to the tape in connections on the rear of the machine. One of the video 1, 2 or 3 connections should work as well. Make sure toy are connecting to the inputs though not outputs. Don't use the video connector (probably yellow). Won't hurt anything but useless for your purposes.

Start some music playing. If you hear no sound and the stereo volume is loud enough that you should be try turning the volume up on your Mac. If this does not work post back I have another idea but would rather save you the 30 odd bucks if I can.

The jack is OK; can hear music through headphones. I've ran the cable from the jack to the receiver. Tried various configurations- Mac to receiver's CD in and out, and Video 1 in and out. Nothing. Could the cable be bad? Is there some setting on the Mac that I need to do?

It's entirely possible that the cable is bad. There is also another possibility that I can't answer without knowing exactly which model iMac you have.

The headphone jack on many devices is not designed to put out the line level voltage that a receiver expects to be plugged into one of its ports. There are two solutions to this problem:

1. Check the documentation for your specific iMac model and see if it has an audio "line out" port such as shown in these pictures Apple - iMac - Compare the 21.5- and 27-inch iMac.. It will look like a headphone jack so that might be confusing. Plug the cable in there and try things again.

2. If your iMac does not have an audio line out port you could use the iMic - Griffin Technology. Plug that device into your Mac then connect the cable from the audio out on that device to a set of audio in connections on your stereo (have, video 1, video2, etc).

So my I Mac is a model 8.1. Has an OS x version 10.5.8. Processor 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

It has an audio line in and line out, both 1/8" jacks. I tried the cable in both- nothing.

What's iMic - Griffin Technology?

The Griffin Technology iMic basically provides an audio connection with a signal as strong as your receiver is expecting. Since you have an audio output pert on the iMac the Griffin device is probably unnecessary.

Just as I was reading your last post I realized that I forgot something. When you plug your cable into the audio out port on the iMac go to the Sound preference pane. Click on the Output tab and see if there is an option there now to use "Line Out" if so choose it and try playing music again.

Hi, Just to add something to Slydude's excellent effort here is an extract from the 3385's user manual and there is a note pertinent to input selection which may be relevant.

I saw that too. I didn't particularly think it important since the OP had tried other connections with the same result. I must admit this has become a real puzzler. Thanks for jumping into the deep end with me.

I'm almost out of ideas except for wondering if that cable is bad. This should be relatively easy given that the iMac has that audio out port.

All I will add is that even though I am moderately competent with such things I often connect to my receiver in this fashion and struggle to get the right buttons pushed on my receiver to turn on the correct input and make sure I don't have the output set wrong etc. etc. I always succeed. But not the first time.