Sound: external speaker connected in bluetooth but no output available/no sound

[fredvereecke]

Dear All,

I have been using a Marshall Stockwell as external speaker with my MacBook Air for several months.

I connect it via bluetooth. Since the beginning of the week, I can not get any sound out of it anymore.

My Stockwell still appears as connected in the bluetooth preferences. In the meantime, the speaker does not appear in the list of device for sound output in the System Preferences (only "Internal Speakers" appear in this list).

Do you have any advice on this?

Many thanks.
Cheers,
Fred
ps1: I am still using Spotify on the speaker through my smartphone via bluetooth so no issue on that side.
ps2: I had some issues with the Keychains Access app a few days ago, might this be the source of the problem?

 

[Slydude]

Have you tried deleting the speaker from the list of Bluetooth devices and pairing with it again? That works for me sometimes.

 

[fredvereecke]

Have you tried deleting the speaker from the list of Bluetooth devices and pairing with it again? That works for me sometimes.

Many thanks for your reply. Yes I tried several times but it did not work.
Kind regards,
Fred

 

[fredvereecke]

Many thanks for your reply. Yes I tried several times but it did not work.
Kind regards,
Fred

Hi Guys,

I really need some help on this one! I can't live without good music and especially a good sound quality
All advices are welcome!

Thank you and happy day,
Fred

 

[IWT]

Hi Fred

I suspect that the general absence of further replies is because, whilst this is a fairly common scenario, solutions are hard to find and very variable.

I'm not familiar with your speaker, but does it have any controls which would allow you to "Do a Hard Reset"?

Can you connect the speaker directly to your Mac, for example via headphone jack or similar? Some have reported success by "forcing" the sound to be delivered in this way, then reverting to Bluetooth (BT).

Do you have any other BT devices in close proximity? They can interfere. See here: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201542

I also have some other links which might just be worth a try, as they deal with BT problems in general - and include reset procedures etc.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2016/02/01/experiencing-bluetooth-problems-on-your-mac-try-this/
http://osxdaily.com/2014/02/17/fix-bluetooth-not-available-error-mac/
http://osxdaily.com/2015/12/15/reset-bluetooth-hardware-module-mac-osx/

Ian

 

[ManoaHi]

I have 5 Bluetooth speakers, and about 10 devices that can connect to the speakers. When I find that I cannot connect and get sound from them, I find that one of the 10 devices is already paired and is still holding them. Some "multi-device" devices, try to connect to the last Bluetooth connection. So, for example if you paired your phone with the speaker, it will try to connect to your phone. Then when you try your Mac, it will still appear in your list, but it successfully connected to your phone, then you'll not be able to use it on your Mac. If it doesn't show when selecting the input, you've not actually connected to Bluetooth. Check all of your Bluetooth capable devices and either turn Bluetooth off or move it out of range or pair them to another Bluetooth device. Power cycle and try to re-pair.

As @IWT said, do a hard reset. If there is no button combination, try removing the battery and don't plug it in. Let it sit for a while. I'm not sure whether it will or will not "remember" your last connection, but I'd say it's worth a try. This has happened to me once in a while, where one of my kids' devices have paired to one of the speakers and when I try to use it, even if they're not home and have taken their devices with them. it's still waiting to connect. Then I have to hard reset to get control back. Do you have the Marshall Stockwell app? See what it is showing. I have this problem when I connect my Echo Dot with one of the speakers, it keeps pairing with it. I have to go to the Alexa app and disconnect it.

 

[Slydude]

I didn't think of that but it's worth checking out.

 

[pm-r]

And for even more suggestions:
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2016/02/01/experiencing-bluetooth-problems-on-your-mac-try-this/

and then there's still others:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=L6wtWfyrA-ve8Ae2s5OYDg

So far I've managed to avoid using any bluetooth stuff as it seems to have so many hassles and problems for so many users. Maybe that's why it's renown for it's battery saving ability — 'cause it doesn't always work!!!

EDIT:
Maybe this may be related and help, especially from #3 on:
If you have a Mac computer, please try the following steps:

1. Make sure OS X (or your computer's software) is updated to the latest version

2. Type in “Audio Midi Setup” in Spotlight and increase the volume of the bluetooth device

3. It may be necessary to debug the Bluetooth in the Mac. To do this: Hold down the Shift and Option buttons while clicking on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar. This will bring up a Debug choice on the drop-down menu.

4. Select "reset the Bluetooth Module"
http://tinyurl.com/y84heunv






- Patrick
======

 

[Slydude]

Have you tried a second user account just to see if this is a software issue?

 

[Type17]

I have this issue with a Late 2013 iMac on Catalina and an Anker Soundcore 2 speaker.
I've found that if I just turn on the (previously paired) speaker, it does auto-connect to the Mac, but the speaker does not appear in the Mac OS list of output devices.
However if, with the speaker off, I drop open the Bluetooth menu in the menubar and choose the Connect item in the Soundcore 2 menu item and turn on the speaker at that moment (so the Mac and speaker are looking for each other simultaneously), the speaker connects and does appear in the Mac OS list of output devices.
Annoying to have to do it this way...

 

[Slydude]

Thanks for that tip. I think I did this once by accident and wasn't sure that's what had worked.

Maybe it's good to revive a zombie thread once in a while.

 

[Type17]

Indeed, I found it whilst looking for a solution, but I thought I'd revive it to leave a (partial) fix for anyone else who's Googling.

 

[pm-r]

Maybe it's good to revive a zombie thread once in a while.

I wonder if the same OS Version is being used, especially if the users likes keeping right up-to-date, and in that case, there would be at least three OS versions involved between the original posts and now.

And Apple does seem to have a habit of changing things with their Newer/Later OS versions.



- Patrick
=======

 

[Slydude]

I wonder if the same OS Version is being used, especially if the users likes keeping right up-to-date, and in that case, there would be at least three OS versions involved between the original posts and now.

And Apple does seem to have a habit of changing things with their Newer/Later OS versions.

- Patrick
=======

Good point. That had not occurred to me.

 

[felipemcuadrosr]

A year since the last suggestion, but this same thing happened to me today. Turns out my phone was also connected to the speaker and even though music was playing from my Mac, that didn't override my phone's connection.

Switching off my phone's Bluetooth worked fine, my JBL speaker once again popped up in my Mac's sound output list. Didn't even need to restart the speaker.

Hope this helps someone!