eMacs, sound and vision?
 

I got a new eMac a week or so ago, and whilst it is a lovely bit of kit - i am slightly disappointed with the sound quality and the fact that it appears to distort the screen.

OK, i don't expect the internal speakers to be a good as the lovely "pro" ones on my iMac, but they do sound very weak and tinny. However, what is worse is the fact that if you turn up the volume (which is not loud by any stretch of the imagination) the whole screen can flicker.

It is almost as if the phosphor mask (i don't think it is a trinitron grill) is wobbling or vibrating to certain sound frequencies.

Anyone else noticed this (i.e. is it a "characteristic") or do i need to send the unit back?

mb

Apple just released Panther ver. 10.3.4 It should be in your Software Update. It says that it fixes an eMac screen issue involving distotrion. Hopefully this will fix your problems. If not give Apple support a call. They are always pretty helpful and will tell you to send it back if its fooked. :)

Sounds like the speakers aren't properly shielded. I would guess the update simply turns down the speaker amp so the problem doesn't show up. Have a look on http://www.macfixit.com to see if others have had this issue.

angrynorth,

i'll give 10.3.4 a try - although 40MB over dialup will take a while :eek:

class_A,

excellent pointer - i am having a good read now. The Apple techspec says that the onboard audio is 14watts, but it doesn't sound anywhere near that - they should be turning the amp up not down ;) The distortion seems to relate directly to the sound (and frequency) so i don't think that it is unshielded speakers.

Cheers all,

mb

I would offer to burn and post 10.3.4 to you, but I've just moved house and BT have managed to stuff up my Broadband reactivation :rolleyes:

I think I can do a burn of 10.3.4 if you want. PM if you do :)

Thanks chaps, but i managed to download it last night - Mozilla comes with a built-in download manager that seems miles better than IE!!!

I'll let you know how the update goes.

Cheers,

mb