Logitech® Z-5500 Digital (Ya Baby) [Archive]

vegettoxp

04-23-2007, 01:07 PM

Hey Guys, I finally got around to order my new Logitech® Z-5500 Digital Speaker System for my next system I am building. I also bought my CM Stacker 830 (BLK) on Saturday. So far everything is going smooth. I know the Stacker was a good pickup, but I just wanted to know what your guys opinion is on the Logitech® Z-5500 Digital Speaker System.

Logitech® Z-5500 Digital - $285.37 USDLINK (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2177,CONTENTID=9486)

THX :woot:

P.S. Fusion:woot: :banana: :woot: :banana:

Gunslinger

04-23-2007, 01:22 PM

I also have the same speaker setup. I can only compare it to my old Dell 2.1 speakers, which the Logitech's blow them away. For gaming they are outstanding, they really irritate my wife when playing any FPS game, I thought they were average at best while watching a DVD though.

R3d

04-23-2007, 03:23 PM

simply put they shake my house.. nuff said..

i remember reading a review saying that the guy got a noise complaint from his deaf neighbor saying that they were making stuff fall off her wall...

Soulburner

04-23-2007, 04:12 PM

I saw these on newegg...

How is the sound quality? Not overly concerned with volume but they have to sound good and be able to reproduce everything clearly especially music and games.

R3d

04-23-2007, 04:54 PM

i use them for movies/gaming/music... no complaints here at all..

some say they're not as good as the klipsch 5.1's but its damn close

Soulburner

04-23-2007, 04:59 PM

If it's damn close then its not worth $300 for me if I already have the Klipsch 4.1's...:(

afireinside

04-23-2007, 09:54 PM

If it's damn close then its not worth $300 for me if I already have the Klipsch 4.1's...:(

Next step up from the klipsch PC speaker sets is real HT gear :devil:

stardust8750

04-24-2007, 05:15 AM

I can’t believe how much the price of those 5500’s has increased since I got mine last February for $225 at Tigerdirect.

Soulburner

06-21-2007, 06:47 PM

I just got mine...they certainly rock. My Audigy 2 is holding them back though so as soon as the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude is available its going in to let these babies shine.

I got them for their versatility...I like the coax and optical inputs, which I will be using for my PS2 together with component input on my new BenQ 24" LCD :D

Soulburner

06-21-2007, 07:06 PM

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/BlackHawk2k6/Computers/IMG_1573Edit.jpghttp://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/BlackHawk2k6/Computers/IMG_1575Edit.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/BlackHawk2k6/Computers/IMG_1571Edit.jpg

strange|ife

06-23-2007, 01:11 AM

those are sick speakers

i wanted them a few months back. but the egg was sold out for like 3 weeks, so i just forgot.

needa upgrade my 5.1...its gettin old

Exedy

06-29-2007, 05:04 PM

Z-5500 ftw but i hope this new from JVC do a great job too

http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027941&pathId=30&page=1

patrickadizzle

07-09-2007, 11:32 AM

I have them..

I then got a headset, the Icemat Siberias.

I never really looked back...

In my experience, High end headphones > High end Speakers.

But yeah the speakers are great when you really want to pump out some techno or what not.

[cTx] Nooc

07-09-2007, 02:20 PM

krille

07-09-2007, 03:03 PM

I got the Z-5500. But I don't like it much. To much humming, buzzing and hissing with that subwoof/PSU combo brick and all. In fact, things have gotten so bad with it most of the time it doesn't work, so I don't bother using it no more. But if you like yours, then I'm happy for you.

As for headphones vs speakers. It's all about the audio source. If a recording was made for speakers, it won't sound right (it may still sound very good, but not right) using headphones because of simple acoustics: When listening to speakers, any sound through any speaker will hit both ears, but with a certain time and intensity displacement. (That's why it's important to set up your speakers correctly for your listening environment.)

So, all in all, it's an apple to oranges comparison, when comparing speakers to headphones. Personally, I prefer switching between both.

Soulburner

07-09-2007, 06:03 PM

Hmm no humming, buzzing or hissing here with my Z-5500 and late 2002-bought Audigy 2.

krille

07-10-2007, 05:50 AM

Hmm no humming, buzzing or hissing here with my Z-5500 and late 2002-bought Audigy 2.My did all of the above with my old Audigy 4 Pro and still does with my new X-Fi Elite Pro. However, this does not happen with other speaker sets, so it's definitely the speakers (iirc coax/optical was way better than analogue though, but I bought them for surround not only in movies so...). Maybe you were lucky and I weren't, your speakers haven't yet started to exhibit this, production lines were changed (to adress this issue, numerous of other people have reported it all over the net, just google it) or our definitions differ by a long shot. Either case, I wouldn't buy a new Logitech set anytime soon. In fact, I've got something way superior up my sleeve, just been waiting for delivery almost a year... Again, if you enjoy yours, good for you.

Donnie27

07-10-2007, 08:11 AM

Pioneer 5.1 Receiver, Infinitys on the front, Sony Center and Advents on the rear. After a total of 3 sets of Computer Multimedia speakers including Klipsch, Logitech and Creative, I'll never go back to them=P

I'd take Headphones over them as well. Even a $99 Sennheisser 280P sounds better IMHO, sheesh! But, with that said, if they please anyone, more power to that User. Everyone's got different tastes and appreciate sound completely differently than the next person. It'd be pretty boring if we all liked the same thing/s.

Miwo

07-13-2007, 09:20 AM

While Logitechs might be fine for games and movies, they don't do justice for music. I went the HiFi route 4 years ago and have never looked back to PC speakers. IMO, they are overpriced, lack clarity, definition, & soundstage, and often cannot be upgraded. Bass is overly bloated, often "single note", and the highs are shrill and offensive. Crank up the bass and treble and many people are happy it seems.

If you already own Logitech's with digital coax/optical inputs, do yourself a favor and DO NOT use those coax/optical inputs when hooking up to a PC. You are letting Logitech's internal DACs (which are _crap_) decode that digital signal instead of your soundcard. If you are doing that, you mind as well be using onboard audio....

of course what sounds awful to me might sound good to you

lowfat

07-13-2007, 10:41 AM

I agree to the last two posts 100%, i retired my Z680s to my Nintendo and use a HT setup for my PC, will never go back.

Donnie27

07-13-2007, 06:42 PM

I agree to the last two posts 100%, i retired my Z680s to my Nintendo and use a HT setup for my PC, will never go back.

Just as most folks doing an honest A/B wouldn't (go back to computer speakers) either. The best computer speakers I heard were a set of Swanns.

M200 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836136102

But then go to their site for pure delite LOL!

http://www.swanspeaker.jp/lineup.htm

Soulburner

07-13-2007, 07:26 PM

Donnie27

07-13-2007, 11:07 PM

nfm

07-14-2007, 09:49 PM

I'm still waiting on that Auzentech Prelude X-Fi to see what these speakers can do...but my first impression so far is they sound "ok" with the old Audigy 2. I think my Klipsch 4.1's sounded better at this point, with the same card. I won't say too much more though without the proper sound card to test them.

I'll have to see how that changes with the better card.

I just skimmed trough this thread, but you want a different sound card to make this speakers sound better, that's pretty silly. It will sound the same, your Audigy is doing a good job. Use your onboard A97 or whatever you have if it has coaxial or optical output and let the 5500 do the decoding. If you want better sound quality, trust me, all pc speakers are garbage.

I got myself a set of car audio, 6 hand made 12' and 8' speakers (there's a new brand that makes even better speakers than jbl, special order from Ukraine ;) ) that respond from 20Hz to 20KHz frequencies at ~100db with good amplifier and digital decoder.

Soulburner

07-14-2007, 10:26 PM

Are you trying to say that an Audigy 2 will sound the same as an Auzentech card?

nfm

07-15-2007, 07:19 PM

Soulburner, yes (technically yes) if you think how sound card works and what function it performs (converts digital bits and bytes into a wave). I won't go detail in this right now, not enough time for me :D but anyway, your sound quality is dependant on:

1. Quality of source
2. The software decoder
3. When digital data is extracted, by a codec or whatever kind of decoder, this is where your sound card steps in, it converts digitally written wave into into analog which what your speakers understand. And here's is my point, Audigy 2 does excellent in this step.

I'm really not trying to sound smart here (I give short and bad explanation), please understand that I'm not trying to sound smart ;) .

Edit: oh and the 4. The speakers, which is where I don't have much of knowledge but my friend's friend has which is the one who hooked me up with amazing speakers. "Madison" is the brand, search on ebay if you're interested.

Soulburner

07-16-2007, 04:39 PM

I'm going to have to disagree. No one would be buying Auzentech cards for superior sound quality, if they can get the same thing from the dollar bin with old Audigy cards.

Donnie27

07-17-2007, 07:31 PM

I'm going to have to disagree. No one would be buying Auzentech cards for superior sound quality, if they can get the same thing from the dollar bin with old Audigy cards.

I think he's talking about listening to music via Digital to Digital. If you've heard one digital out, you've heard them all. The Auzentech Fans are talking about Analog out.

STEvil

07-17-2007, 07:55 PM

Wasnt it the Audigy 2's that you could reverse the front and rear outputs, and many people did this because the rear output sounded better? Maybe i'm thinking Audigy 1.

Either way the Logitech Z-5500's are pretty nice as far as PC speakers go, but lack in midrange quite a bit due to dimunitive drivers used in the satellites and overall are a tad "muddy" in the bottom end.

If you're happy with them, thats all that counts though :thumbsup:

Jamesrt2004

07-20-2007, 06:51 PM

simply put they shake my house.. nuff said..

i remember reading a review saying that the guy got a noise complaint from his deaf neighbor saying that they were making stuff fall off her wall...

lol I remember seeing that somewhere too
something fell off her shelf n smashed !! LOL

Soulburner

07-29-2007, 05:06 PM

Well today I found that using the speaker's volume control gives very poor sound quality. Turning the system volume UP and the speaker volume DOWN sounds much better than the opposite.

Basically, let your sound card handle the volume and keep the speakers down. Also I bumped up the system bass and turned down the subwoofer to get a little more oomph from the speakers so overall I am a little more pleased with them now. Still need to do that back to back comparison with the Klipsch 4.1s.

krille

08-08-2007, 03:02 PM

No, I think need.for.mhz means if your speakers are crap it doesn't matter if your sound card is good or excellent. Much like, it doesn't matter if your memory's running at 1066 Mhz or 1333 Mhz if your CPU is still an old 386. One part is too much of a bottleneck. ;)

Funny thing is. I ordered my Hi-Fi speakers a year ago, now as things turns out the order was somehow lost and I've been waiting for a year in complete total vain.

1nfern0

08-10-2007, 08:21 PM

I recommend using ANALOG with Creative GigaWorks ProGamer G500 or G550W, DO NOT USE Logitech Z-5500.

Soulburner

08-10-2007, 08:30 PM

DO NOT USE Logitech Z-5500.
Care to explain this comment?

1nfern0

08-11-2007, 03:13 AM

The Creative GigaWorks ProGamer G500 is really has P/P better than Z-5500, it's suitable for all music, gaming, and movies.
Z-5500 is really suitable for only movies and gaming.

Woland

08-11-2007, 01:31 PM

And you base that on?

krille

08-12-2007, 11:41 AM

The Creative GigaWorks ProGamer G500 is really has P/P better than Z-5500, it's suitable for all music, gaming, and movies.
Z-5500 is really suitable for only movies and gaming.I agree on the Z-5500 comment. It's not suitable at all for music listening.

1nfern0

08-13-2007, 05:40 AM

And you base that on?

I've used two of them (Z-5500 and now i'm using G500). Sorry I don't know much English so I cannot explain the benefits of using G500 instead of Z-5500, but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Creative Labs GigaWorks ProGamer G500 with Creative X-Fi. If you don't wanna leave your Z-5500, you can use X-Fi's analog with Z-5500. If you want, sell Z-5500 and with that money, you can buy a new G500, and some money remains :welcome:

Miwo

08-13-2007, 07:14 AM

For one thing, the z5500 satellites have no tweeter, so it is never going to hit those high notes in music. From Logitech's PR spin, they make you believe that they've combined a tweeter with their driver, but in reality its just a single 3" driver. A driver that small can only do so much in reproducing low and high frequencys.

Since the sats can't hit low frequncys very well, Logitech compensates for this by setting the subwoofer crossover to a high freqnecy (~150+Hz). This makes up for the gap in the low range of the satellites, but ends up bloating bass and making the subwoofer extremely directional to the effect of becoming another speaker entirely. In a good speaker setup, subwoofers blend in with the main speakers. You should not be able to point in a direction and say "the sub is right there"

While this is perfectly ok for games and some movies, its a :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana: when it comes to music. Rap & Techno fans might probably enjoy the bloated bass, but for other genres, I think it makes things sound awful. A sub crossed that high begins to play mid-range freqs, and starts to overlap from the satllites. There is no way to fix this since the crossover is hardwired.

IMO, as far as computer speakers, its Klipsch for Music, Logitech for games. Creative's offerings are decent for both, but when you are considering spending $200+ on computer audio, you really ought to be looking into going HiFi. I can't see the Prelude being a practical upgrade for those without good headphones or HiFi setups.

Soulburner

08-13-2007, 12:07 PM

Useful input Miwo. Maybe I should look into Creative...but a couple of months ago the impression I got was Z-5500 > Gigaworks.

Miwo

08-13-2007, 01:40 PM

Whatever you decide to do, don't buy an audio system based solely on people's opinions. Everyone has different tastes in music, likewise everyone has very different tastes in sound. Some people like the most accurate sound possible from Monitor type speakers, but others find it flat and boring. Other people might like bass heavy, or brighter speakers...etc etc.

Sound is very subjective and you really should try and give the speaker system a good listen before buying. Bring a CD that covers the types of music you listen to. The most important thing is that it sounds good to you, not what other people think of your speakers.

Soulburner

08-13-2007, 07:05 PM

That's pretty hard to do without knowing the sound card, sound config, etc, of any display units that you may or may not be able to test out.

[XC] gomeler

08-13-2007, 07:40 PM

I'd have to say the Z680's I have sitting here are perfect for gaming and movies. With music though the excessive bass becomes an issue so I've got custom equalizer settings within windows and also use the z680 controller to dim down the bass a bit. Great for gaming or shaking the timbers in the floors though and I imagine the 5500's are just the same :up:

MaStA

08-14-2007, 02:06 PM

Donnie27

08-15-2007, 07:30 AM

I have Logitech Z-5300e speakers and they are quite nice as well. I sure was impressed the day I got them and still am. I never get to jam too loud because apartment psycho's will start screaming.

Jared

I have two broke sets.
1. Creative MegaWorks 650 6.1
2. Logitech 560Z 4.1

Aduitioned
1.680 Logitech 4.1 for 0ne week.
2. Swann M200 2.0 3 days returned.
3. Creative Gigaworks 7.1 10 days.
4. Advent 4.1's 2 days.

The winner is, NONE. If limited to any of these. Easily Creative Gigaworks 7.1=P

cablesguy

08-15-2007, 07:47 AM

not meaning to create/spread FUD, but I read somewhere that the Gigaworks esp those by Cambridge tend to give way after a year or so of use, anyone care to comment

Donnie27

08-15-2007, 08:30 AM

not meaning to create/spread FUD, but I read somewhere that the Gigaworks esp those by Cambridge tend to give way after a year or so of use, anyone care to comment

It's not fud in my case. I personally know of 3 sets of Meagaworks and 2 Gigaworks that died right at 13 months. A one year warranty was strictly stuck to as well. But, two set's of Logitechs didn't last much longer as well. I now I will only use a receiver and Full Size Speakers. I found I was missing too much Mid Bass.

cablesguy

08-19-2007, 02:51 AM

scary, seeing as the gigaworks is on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of both pc speakers and price, currently using a Klipsch GMXd 5.1 w X-fi E Pro, but the Klipsch just wont take DTS, so maybe taking the receiver route would be best

Soulburner

08-19-2007, 12:05 PM

It's not fud in my case. I personally know of 3 sets of Meagaworks and 2 Gigaworks that died right at 13 months. 1 year warranty was strickly stuck to as well. But, two set's of Logitechs didn't lost much longer as well. I now will only use a receiver and Full Size Speakers. I found I was missing too much Mid Bass.
Then maybe a Klipsch set would suit you.

Donnie27

08-22-2007, 08:28 AM

Then maybe a Klipsch set would suit you.

Not me personally but others I know and trust have had problems with them dying as well. I post back and forth with a guy that had his replaced 3 times.

http://www.freewebs.com/email4ngssniff/

If I can help it. I'll NEVER use any of these Computer Multi Media speakers again. Just about any Kenwood, Pioneer, Sansui, Soney, Yamaha Receiver with just middle of the road speakers, NOT the dinky THX crap, will kill these PC Crap-o-la Speakers. Almost NONE of my Geek buddies still use them.

Sound wise, Sorry, I like the Gigaworks 7.1 better all around.

Soulburner

08-23-2007, 11:48 AM

OverclockTHIS!

08-23-2007, 03:40 PM

I've had the Z-5500's for quite some time now and they are remarkable, great sound all around.

i'm gonna connect them to my Xbox 360 via Digital Toslink..does cable quality matter in this manner? Is Monster really necessary? i'm not picky :up:

ROBSCIX

08-23-2007, 04:06 PM

To some extent, I mean aslong as the cable is decent the digital data gets through. You don't have to buy the most expensive cable but don't buy the cheapest one either. Some of the newer high end cards come with quality optical cables.

Donnie27

08-23-2007, 08:00 PM

Hmm maybe I got lucky then...the set I bought in late 2002 still works to this day after nearly 5 years of daily use.

Since I consider myself pretty picky about sound quality...and I can never get this setup to sound quite right I think I might delve into some real speaker research. I will wait until I have an Auzentech card in here though to make a final decision. I can't really bash too much on a setup running an old Audigy 2 (which sounds awesome in games but for music...could be better).

I'll never say every set I saw broke, just too many for my comfort. One bud has a set of 560z's that's at least 4 years old with no problems. One other guy had no problems with his Gigaworks.

Yes, don't be fooled folks saying or thinking Audigy 2 sounds like X-Fi when it sure as heck doesn't.