[Hantra]

I have the worst luck of anyone I know with PC speakers at the office.

I buy a pair of Monsoons, and they are great.  Until 3 months later when they BREAK, and are not under warranty.  So I buy another pair off EBay, and they are half broken when they come in.  They last about 3 months.  So I bought a pair of cheap Boston Acoustics PC speaks, and then found out they were SPDIF only, and won't work with my Latitude.  

So I bought a pair of Altec Lansing 2100's.  Nice speakers I guess for $40 on EBay new.  So now I bought an iPod b/c I am doing more travelling, and I wanted my music with me also.  

When I plug the iPod into the Altecs, there is INSANE clipping on 50% of the tracks.  There can be clipping on a few tracks of one disc, and no clipping on the rest of the tracks from the same disc.

No clipping through my Sony earbuds.  

I turn the volume down to like 10% on the iPod running to the Altecs, and now I can't really hear the music well, but I can hear it well enough to know it's still clipping.  

The question is, are my speakers just not liking the iPod, or is the iPod clipping all the time, and my headphones just suck too bad to reveal it?

Anyone had this experience?  Any suggestions?  

B

[Vinnie R.]

I have the worst luck of anyone I know with PC speakers at the office.

I buy a pair of Monsoons, and they are great.  Until 3 months later when they BREAK, and are not under warranty.  So I buy another pair off EBay, and they are half broken when they come in.  They last about 3 months.  So I bought a pair of cheap Boston Acoustics PC speaks, and then found out they were SPDIF only, and won't work with my Latitude.  

So I bought a pair of Altec Lansing 2100's.  Nice speakers I guess for $40 on EBay ne ...

Hi Hantra,

Your powered speakers should have their own volume knob.  Try setting the headphone output of the iPod to max, and adjusting the volume using the built-in volume on the speakers.

If that doesn't work, there might be a bad impedance match between your powered speakers and the headphone out of the iPod.  If you buy the iPod dock, it will give you a line-out jack, which should work fine with your powered speakers.  

Or, maybe your powered speakers are defective?  Bad cable?

[Hantra]

If you buy the iPod dock, it will give you a line-out jack, which should work fine with your powered speakers.  

Vinnie:

Looks like that's what I'm going to do.  I haven't found any other good solutions that don't require lots of expense.     Thanks for the info.

B