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  • Harman Kardon iSub

    From David Kennedy@davidkennedygm@gmail.com to comp.sys.mac.vintage on Sun Feb 1 13:03:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.vintage

    As part of my never ending quest to reclaim the garage I came across an original iSub boxed and apparently functional.

    Can it still be used? My silicon MacBook doesn't seem to recognise it - although the system does ask if I want to allow the accessory to connect.

    Any thoughts?
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  • From scole@vintageapplemac@gmail.com to comp.sys.mac.vintage on Sun Feb 1 14:30:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.vintage

    David Kennedy <davidkennedygm@gmail.com> wrote:
    As part of my never ending quest to reclaim the garage I came across an original iSub boxed and apparently functional.

    Can it still be used? My silicon MacBook doesn't seem to recognise it - although the system does ask if I want to allow the accessory to connect.

    Any thoughts?

    A very quick Google suggests limited or total incompatibility with the
    original iSub and Silicon (and, it seems, Intel Macs, too!). Which seems
    odd considering it’s just a speaker but I’ve never had my hands on one so have no lived experience to draw from to understand its obvious quirks.

    I do remember seeing an iMac G4 on display in PC World that had an iSub and SoundSticks hooked to it, belting out music at an obnoxious volume. I was absolutely mesmerised - I’d never used a Mac before but seeing that set-up made me want to grab the lot - until I looked at the price of it all… I
    ended up buying a cheap eMachines Windows XP system instead that day, and
    it would be a good number of years after before I finally got my first Mac.
    --
    STC
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Your Name@YourName@YourISP.com to comp.sys.mac.vintage on Mon Feb 2 10:50:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.vintage

    On 2026-02-01 14:30:48 +0000, scole said:
    David Kennedy <davidkennedygm@gmail.com> wrote:
    As part of my never ending quest to reclaim the garage I came across an
    original iSub boxed and apparently functional.

    Can it still be used? My silicon MacBook doesn't seem to recognise it -
    although the system does ask if I want to allow the accessory to connect.

    Any thoughts?

    A very quick Google suggests limited or total incompatibility with the original iSub and Silicon (and, it seems, Intel Macs, too!). Which seems
    odd considering it’s just a speaker but I’ve never had my hands on one so have no lived experience to draw from to understand its obvious quirks.

    Technically, it *might* work if you use a USB->phono adapter on the Mac
    and then and phono->USB on the iSub, then plug them togetther with a
    regular phono cable ... but it would be a relatively expensive and
    klugdey way to do it.



    I do remember seeing an iMac G4 on display in PC World that had an iSub and SoundSticks hooked to it, belting out music at an obnoxious volume. I was absolutely mesmerised - I’d never used a Mac before but seeing that set-up made me want to grab the lot - until I looked at the price of it all… I ended up buying a cheap eMachines Windows XP system instead that day, and
    it would be a good number of years after before I finally got my first Mac.


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