AppleDesign Powered Speakers (1993)
Self-powered desktop speakers with a dual-input mixer, magnetic shielding, and a more compact II revision a year later.
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Specs
| Key feature | M6082 |
| Amplifier | built-in dual channel · dual-input mixer (computer + CD) |
| Price | $179 (Apple Catalog, Fall 1993) |
| Key feature | magnetically shielded for use next to a monitor |
Launch
Apple put the AppleDesign Powered Speakers on sale in 1993: Apple's Tech Info Library description is dated March 15, 1993 and that month's New Product Information disc already covered them, per documentation collected by RetroTechCollection, and the Fall 1993 Apple Catalog sold them for $179, suggesting pairing them with the PowerCD for audio CDs. The pair consisted of a main speaker holding the dual-channel amplifier, controls and connections, plus a passive satellite joined by a two-wire cable. The October 1994 Apple Facts lists their calling card: separate computer and CD inputs with a mixer that played both at once, a front headphone jack, bass-reflex design, active equalization, noise-reduction circuitry and magnetic shielding so they could sit next to a monitor without distorting the picture.
Marketing
The line continued right away: in late 1994 the smaller, curved-cabinet AppleDesign Powered Speakers II arrived in two colors, slate and platinum, per RetroTechCollection, and both models were still in Apple Facts in November 1996. A later revision of the original main speaker added a subwoofer output, marked by Apple as exclusive to the Rev B model, though Apple never sold its own subwoofer to go with it, pointing owners to the third-party manufacturer's manual. Fuller places them at the start of Apple's powered-speaker line, which continued with the II, the iPod Hi-Fi and eventually the HomePod.
Flaws and fixes
The noise gate on the computer input had a side effect: it muted the amplifier when the signal fell below a fixed level, which kept hiss at bay between system beeps but also cut out quiet passages of an audio CD, as RetroTechCollection documents from Apple's service notes. The two official remedies were turning the Sound control panel volume up and adjusting at the speakers' own knob, or feeding the computer output into the RCA CD inputs with a Y-cable, which bypassed the gate. The II dropped that circuit entirely.