Hello Fellow Mac Users,

I have a question. Two, actually.

1) Does anyone use the speakers listed in the topic?

If yes,

2) When you first start playing songs, or when a sound plays (ie, MSN Messenger for a new message), do you sometimes hear a small click noise, like the speakers are waking up from an inactive state? It reminds me of my home stereo, where when I pop in a DVD and the music starts playing, there's a small noise as the subwoofer wakes up.

Basically, I'm trying to determine if this is normal or if there is a problem with the speakers. Note that this doesn't happen all the time, and it's only when a sound/music first starts.

Thanks.

I have them. I don't notice any snall sound artifacts or anything, not that i recall. Doesn't sound so good for yours... They are really great speakers tho, really pleased i got them!

I have the speakers as well and I don't experience the popping that you mention. I am sure if you recently made the purchase you can return them for another pair, at the very least let the store examine them for you.

The only times I remember them 'popping' was when my power went out unexpectidly.

Best of luck!

I plugged in my headphones and didn't hear anything weird. Then I plugged the speakers back in and haven't heard anything weird since. I'll pay close attention - I think I have two weeks to return them to CompUSA if the problem reappears

Well, the noise sporadically reappears, so I'm off to exchange them for a new set! Normally I'd blame it on the powerbook, or consider it normal.. however, since there is no problem with headphones, I would think speakers plugged into the headphone port would be trouble-free as well.

Thanks to both of you, I exchanged my Soundsticks 2 today and my new set doesn't have the artifacts the first set had!

One last post before I'm done with this thread..

The new speakers make that noise as well... however, I've determined after a bit of testing that the noise only occurs when I'm using the powerbook with battery power. When it's plugged in, it's fine. Maybe that will help someone should they ever have this problem

When your PB is unplugged, the audio hardware is turned off to conserve power until it's needed, which is why you hear that little noise before it starts as the audio hardware is given power (which is what you hear) and powered back up.

That is almost the exact answer the Harmon/Kardon technician told me when I emailed to inquire as to if the sound is normal behavior What the technician didn't tell me that I figured out (and you just confirmed) is that the noise only happens when the PB is unplugged.

Thank you!