Connecting "regular" speakers to MacPro

Question

Okay, I had a G4 Mirrored door that I used a Griffin ProSpeaker Breakout adapter to connect my Tannoy monitors using regular speaker wire. With its internal amp, this was a great way to take advantage of the G4. Anybody know if the new MacPro has the same capability?
I know there's no pro audio port, but is there another way to connect without an external amp? I love my Tannoy's and don't just want to use "computer" speakers. Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

What you need really depends on your intended use: tracking, mixing, movies, games, digital music, hooking up other external peripherals like phonographs, filling a small office with sound, stereo in your living room. The setup and speakers you pick can be selected based on these applications.
The best computer speakers I used for years were Microsoft DSS 80 (they were made by Philips). I outgrew these and wanted better sound at medium volumes (a lot of speakers you have to crank up for them to sound good). So, now I'm putting together something like: McIntosh Mac-3, Adcom GDD-1, or Sony ES line processor --> through an Adcom amp --> to power a set of B&W speakers. For me, I work rediculous hours, listen to music constantly, and am looking for specific tech specs that match the optical output of the Mac Pro. Those decoders are basically surround sound processors, but I'm planning to use them for their DAC and pre-amp capability for stereo without having all the other electronic internals found in normal receivers. You have to really dig in and research this though if you go the specialized components route. You can spend a lot of money only to find out things like Adcom's GDD-1 doesn't support a subwoofer in stereo mode, or the frequency range of all equipment is great except one of the components which puts a weak link in the chain rendering everything pretty much worthless if you overspend on it.
Getting any external receiver that has a built-in amp will work for 99% general purpose use (the consumer stuff from Best Buy and Crutchfield). Output from the Mac mini-jack to RCA, or if it has an optical input going from the Mac Pro via toslink to the receiver and speakers will be more than adequate.
If you are doing pro-audio look at external Firewire interfaces so you have a better multi-channel sound card + inputs + monitoring. Pro audio is way different than "high-end" stereo, so I'd steer clear of what I was recommending above and look at the gear vendors recommended already: Sweetwater, etc.
For all around general purpose computer/MP3/gaming, the Logitech Z computer speakers are extremely popular. They have a dolby surround decoder + 5.1 setup. I have not heard these, but they are supposedly pretty good for gaming and give you Dolby Digital surround capability.
Last, if you decide you want to splurge on high-end equipment: listen with your ears, not your wallet!