Mac Daniel's Advice

Connecting Your Mac to Your Stereo

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

Charlie Ruggiero - 2001.06.25

Q: How do I connect my Mac to my stereo? I want to record audio (like LPs and tapes) and also want my Mac's sound to come through my stereo system's speakers.

A: Connecting your Mac to your stereo is a great way to improve sound quality tenfold. Most Macs have only one speaker, and it's usually a poor sounding speaker at that. Luckily, most Macs (save a few PowerBook Duos) have a headphone jack. You can use this port to connect your Mac not only headphones, but to a stereo system as well.

Mac to Stereo: You need a 1/8" stereo jack adapter or cable that from the port on the back of your computer to a dual-phono RCA connection. It looks like a headphone connection that converts to the connection for audio ports that most receivers have (RCA connectors are usually red and white or black and white.) Turn off your computer and plug in the connection that looks like a headphone connector. On the back of your receiver or stereo you should see two RCA connections that match the end of your cable. There should be a connection labeled AUX - you can use this. If AUX is taken by something you can use CD or DVD or anything else really except PHONO or the connection for a turntable. Make sure you do not connect the cable from your Mac into any yellow RCA looking jacks. These are called composite jacks and are used for video only.

Once you have connected this cable from your Mac to your receiver or amplifier, you will no longer hear sound from the internal speaker. This connection will allow you to amplify your computer's sound significantly, as well as let you record any audio coming from your Mac (MP3s, games, movies, etc.) onto tape, Mini Disc, DAT, or any other recording device you have connected to your receiver.

Stereo to Mac: To connect your computer so you can record audio from your stereo onto your Mac, you can use the same cable listed above - unless your Mac has RCA connections on the back (like the 660av, 840av, 7100av, 8100av, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9600, and some Beige G3s). If you have a Mac with RCA audio connections on the back, you can use a straight RCA to RCA cable. Otherwise you will need to get the 1/8" stereo jack adapter or cable that goes to a dual-phono RCA connection. Turn off your computer and connect the 1/8" stereo jack into the microphone port on your Mac. If you cannot find it, it may not be there. A lot of older PowerBooks do not have microphone ports, nor do new models made by Apple (they only allow analog audio in through a special USB adapter). The RCA connectors on the other end of the 1/8" jack go into your receiver's tape out connector - some receivers have a connection simply labeled AUDIO OUT or just OUT. Remember not to connect any cables to any yellow RCA connectors on your receiver, if they exist.

Once you have connected the cables, you should be able to record audio on your Mac from your receiver. You may need to change some settings in your Sound control panel in order to record audio. It may be set to use your internal mic or your CD drive for audio input. To record your audio, you can use any number of programs, including SimpleText (go to the "Sound" menu then select "Record...").

If you want to hear both CDs or LPs playing and your Mac's audio, you can connect your Mac to a small mixer and send the mixer's combined audio to your receiver. You can go the opposite direction as well: If you wish, you can send audio from your tape deck and CD player time to your Mac at the same.

If your intention is to record LPs, you will need to make sure that you connect your turntable to the PHONO RCA jacks on the back of your receiver or amplifier. Do not connect the turntable's RCA jacks directly to your Mac - the audio levels are way too low, the sound from records needs to be "RIAA equalized," and the receiver usually has a place to connect the grounding wire (where the Mac does not). The PHONO jack is designed specifically to boost and equalize the turntable's input.

There are endless uses for recording audio from your Mac, as well as recording audio to your Mac. The Macintosh was designed to be a multimedia tool, and these steps will help you experience some of the great things you can do with your Mac.

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

Recent Mac Daniel columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.