Logitech Z-5500 THX-Certified 5.1 Digital Surround Sound Speaker System
by Logitech
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Our Price: $962.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $260.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Z-5500 THX-Certified 5.1 Digital Surround Sound Speaker System
Customer Review: Great Speakers for Music and For Games
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought these speakers for my new Intel i7 920 PC that I just built. In combination with the Auzentech Forte, these speakers are simply amazing. This blows away my previous speaker system; Klipsch 2.1. Granted, this is totally different going from a 2.1 system to 5.1 but I'm amazed at the sound quality coming from these speakers. In a few forums, people were saying to me, get the Logitech Z5500 speakers; you won't be sorry. I'm g;ad I did. Listening to my songs from my ipod sound so crisp and clean. Playing my games, I'm amazed at the sound quality (Im hooked up with optical connection and Digital Effect. It sounds like your PC gaming system is sitting in the movie theatre with awesome sound! I have the volume on 4 bars, and it's loud. I have the subwoofer on 3 bars and I still feel the vibration.
Packaging and Connecting: Logitech does a good job packing a 56 lbs. box. Yes, the box is over 50 lbs.! You get 5 (including the center speaker) good sized speakers which I would say that they are about the size of a cordless telephone charging base station (the one with the answer machine built on it). The cordless base is a little wider but not by much. The subwoofer is HUGE! It's about as wide as a sliding file cabinet goes back pretty far. All the wires and manuals come in a seperate box within the heavy box itself. Be aware, a lot of wires will be dangling from all 5 speakers which eventually get connected to the subwoofer. Pretty simple to set up. I've typed all the extra slack from each of the wires using plastic ties that were provided by my Cooler Master HAF932 case (and my power supply unit). The central unit that you can control the input, effect, settings ect. is sleek and big also. Don't let the picture fool you. It's a little bigger than a speaker. One simple connection from the main unit from the subwoofer as well as wich sound connection you are going with (TOSLINK, Optical, Analog ect) and you are off to the races. When turned on, the LCD display shows a nice blue color, as well as the power button. The remote control is a very nice touch and very responsive.
My office/gameroom now sounds like a movie room with the help of these speakers! My games sound so much more crisp and enjoyable. Anyone looking for great speakers should invest in these. By the way, with the Auzentech Forte and the Z-5500 speakers, there is no crackling and/or popping sounds.
Be warned, that if you don't get free shipping, you're gonna probably PAY big time for these since the weight I believe was about 57 lbs. I got this for $280 with free shipping and no tax (at the "egg"). Since Amazon charges tax now for New York State residents, I went elsewhere to buy these. I buy DVD's and other smaller items from Amazon though.
Customer Review: So why did I not get these sooner?
Summary: 5 Stars
I used to have Logitech X-230s. They were good speakers, but they were 2.1s and didn't really do an X-Fi XtremeMusic justice. Therefore, I decided to upgrade.
Please note that I am not really a "hard-core audiophile" and my "taste" in speakers is more in line with the average consumer than the studio mixer or hi-fi nut.
Short Pro and Con List
Pros
- Can you say LOUD AND CLEAR? No distortion even when I crank the thing to maximum
- No hardwiring on satellites. The wires can easily be extended. From what I read of some earlier online reviews, the original design had hardwired satellites which meant that if you wanted longer wires, too bad. Mine does not suffer from that problem.
- Good for movies, music and games
- Easy-to-read LCD on the control center, which is very easy to use ("Digital SoundTouch" is what they call it).
- Subwoofer with enough power to flatten a building
Cons
- The subwoofer on its own weighs in at a massive 40LBS+, the system is thus hard to move
- System needs about a week of gentler use before it can sound its best.
- Hardwired cable on the back of the control center is ANNOYING and limits where you can place your control deck relative to the sub (which it plugs into)
- Only comes with the basic cables for a computer soundcard, even though the system supports digital optical and digital coaxial inputs as well
Overall, a great buy! If you need speakers for a gaming/media PC look no further. These speakers are so powerful that anything more than 1/3 power on your average song is a bit unbearable. There isn't much that can touch these for the same or similar price. The system supports a "Boost Mode" that takes it to an earth-shattering 1000 watts of power. To activate, turn the volume up to full and keep spinning the knob. It should say "Boost 1." If you keep going, you can go all the way to Boost 22. However, anything past 12 causes sound distortion, and level 22 WILL damage your speakers.
Advice for New Owners (which I got from another owner)
1. Do NOT go for full power right away, as you will most likely damage the speakers!
2. Keep the volume control under half for the first week or so, then move up from there
3. The "Boost Mode," which takes the speakers past the "maximum" volume on the control unit, can be dangerous both to the speakers and your hearing! DO NOT USE in the first week of ownership.
4. Don't play with the dial. Yes, it's pretty, but twisting the volume control up and down a lot may blow the fuse on the back of the subwoofer.
5. Don't push the sub too hard until you break the system in, either.
Customer Review: Perfect except for one caveat
Summary: 5 Stars
I was setting up an entertainment center and was in need of good speakers to listen to shows off of my computer. I checked out the reviews on the logitech and decided to go with them.
Mind you, I've never had a bunch of 5.1 set ups in the past, but the sound is great (again, with nothing to compare it to). I have my pc connected through it's digital coax connector option. I also bought a digital optical cable and connect my flat screen to the them as well. I took my time and ran all of the wires in the wall (got really good with snaking wires and patching sheetrock.) and up into the attic, so it looks real nice and professional.
If you think these are your typical pc speakers you'd find on your desktop...forget about it! The subwoofer alone has to weigh at least 30 lbs, maybe more! I set my tv to pipe all of it's sound to the digital optical output, then I had to set the logitech to the dolby surround sound setting so that it would do the typical 5.1 that everyone expects (with it's standard setting, it was only doing 2.1). I still have to play with the settings, but the sound is awesome!
There is one caveat, however: mounting the speakers on the wall! The subwoofer obviously sits on the floor and is not an issue. It's clear, however, that the four satellite speakers were done as an afterthought in terms of how to mount them. It appears that they were really meant to be mounted on stands. You'll have to get washers to make sure that the rubber in the hole is not holding up the speakers because they're not strong enough to hold the speakers! You pivot the stand for the wall, but you also have very little room to drill them into the wall. Anyway, it was doable.
Mounting the center channel? Ugh!!! The instructions say that if you want to mount it on the wall, back out the screw in the neck, flip the base, then screw it back in. However, when I got my system, the screw was one of those smooth heads, so this is an impossibility! When I called logitech, the guy *tried* defending this by saying, "Well a lot of people were mounting the speakers incorrectly, so we don't want you mounting them on the wall anymore." I said, "Well what about the other four speakers? Why didn't you change those as well? And why does it say you can wall mount it?" He had no clue as to what he was talking about.
Bottom line, I wanted to keep the speakers, so I made a small, very attractive shelf and mounted that right about my tv and put the center channel on that. Just beware of this.
For the price, quality and ability to hook up multiple sources to this unit, however, it's hard not to give these puppies 5 stars!
Customer Review: Great system, annoying hookup.
Summary: 4 Stars
Let's start off by saying this thing has a lot of power. Lots of bass, plenty of everything else. The controls are nice whether it be the remote, or the nice lcd display that looks nice sitting on the desk. The speakers seem to be pretty well-made, with the newer shipments allowing you to detach the speaker wires completely, and use your own length/brand speaker cable. This is a huge plus.
However, I own an Audigy 2 ZS (has Dolby Digital 5.1/EX and DTS/DTS-ES/96-24 already) and in order to get the full surround sound working (via DVD or game) you need to disable the decoder in the sound card. This is very pesky! You need to get yourself a 3.5mm mono to female RCA adapted (3.99 at Radio Shack). Then use an RCA cable to hook up the speakers (controls are on back of control unit) to get the surround sound. Then, you need to adjust a few settings, one of them being "use digital output only" and set the control panel to stereo speakers (otherwise only center is being outputted through speakers and not surround sound). You can also use the 6 channel direct hookup and get great sound, but I don't believe it's the exact same as 5.1 or DTS. If you want your nice control module to display DOLBY DIGITAL or DTS logos, you need to use the hookup with that special adapter / RCA cable.
Once this is working, the system is powerful, clean, good-looking, and easy to use. I do recommend it, except for the lack of clear instructions with the unit. They need more information in there.
One more thing. This can be used as a home theatre system directly from a DVD player or XBOX, but please people, it's not the same as a full blown system. Yes it has the power, yes it has the features, but why would you ever want to watch a plasma or lcd tv with a high-end brand dvd player, and listen to Logitech speakers? They are a name in computers, let's leave it at that.
Does this mean I still love the speakers for my PC? Yes. They are worth every penny for your system. But, save your money, and get a different starter brand for a full blown non-pc home theatre. There are ONKYO systems out there for not much more money, and the quality is far better (even their speakers I'm sure).
I wanted to clarify these things after reading reviews and test results that were all over the place.
Another plus was the item shipped so quickly, I could not believe it. I'm sure if you order on a Wednesday, you'll have it by the weekend. It also dropped 10.00 in price a few days after I purchased it, and Amazon is refunding me the 10 dollars. Where else would you want to buy besides Amazon? (oh and Newegg :)
Customer Review: Still the Best Gaming Speaker
Summary: 5 Stars
There's no need for another positive review for this product so I won't repeat all those good things. I'd like to point out though is how to reading reviews on Amazon especially computer related products and a little help for those who can't make the final decision to purchase this product.
First, Amazon has world largest customer population and because of that, the review on certain items in certain area maybe skewed due to the review exposed to all kinds of audience. Sometimes those reviews make less accuracy and create confusion.
My point is the overall rating of 8800GTX based on customer reviews on newegg can be more accurate than Amazon since it is very likely a 36 single mom shops at Amazon buying 8800GTX and left a negative review because of the merchant's return policy and it's very unlikely a similar costumer would shop at specialized store such as newegg.
For instance, you can easily find negative review for Z-5500 stating that the warranty is void because the reviewer disassembled certain part and because that this product is 1 star. I guess everybody is entitled to have the opinion but those kind reviews won't really help people to make an intellectual decision toward this product. Button line, you have to be very careful what you're reading. Dissembling a Prius and failing put it back together has nothing to do with the performance, reliability, quality or value of that car.
The second thing I'd like to add for those who just about to buy Z-5500 but can't make final decision.
If you're one of those, I believe one major reason is Logitech recently released G51 Surround Sound Speaker System for gamers. Z-5500 is old enough to have either a refresh or a predecessor. So the timeline Logitech choose to release G51 did create confusion. Most costumers especially in gaming community, the last thing they want to do is spending money on previous generation technology. When G51 released, it worries me because I was about to make my purchase. After exchanging messages over Logitech forum with their employee, there's the fact.
1. G51 is NOT next generate nor the successor of Z-5500. It is simply just a new product targeting lower budget gamers.
2. Logitech confirms that Z-5500 has more power/better performance than G51
(you can go to Logitech forum and search G51 vs. Z-5500 to find the original transcript)
I end up purchase Z-5500 and I'm not going to write additional 3 paragraphs to tell you how amazing it is but if you're worry about G51, just go ahead buy Z-5500. Trust me.