Logitech Z-5500 // Anyone got?

badbob · 27 Mar 2008 at 12:46

If you play a 20hz tone you won't hear it, the only noise should be the rest of the room creaking and pressurising. But on a cheaper sub you're just hearing distortion and port noise. At 14hz, I feel the floorboards wobble similar to a minor tremor.

willhub · 27 Mar 2008 at 12:49

badbob said:
If you play a 20hz tone you won't hear it, the only noise should be the rest of the room creaking and pressurising. But on a cheaper sub you're just hearing distortion and port noise. At 14hz, I feel the floorboards wobble similar to a minor tremor.

Its not port noise I dont think, dont sound like flapping blowing air and I thought distortion was like when music sounds all garbled, dont sound like any of that, all it sounds like is a pulsing 35Hz tone or something. I'll have to get round to buying a car sub some day.

james.miller · 27 Mar 2008 at 12:50

will. put the sub where you sit and crawl around the room. listen for where it sounds best, whatever is best for you, and then stick the sub in that point.

20hz is quite audiable. or at least it is by me. its around 15hz where i can no longer make out the frequeny of the sound and it just becomes a pulse

badbob · 27 Mar 2008 at 12:53

Once you can recognise port noise/distortion you'll be able to pick it up. I thought the bass from a £600 subwoofer when pushed a bit hard was bass, but after having something a bit better, when I now hear it, I can notice port noise/distortion. And if a £600 HT subwoofer can distort, so can a subwoofer in a £200 PC system. A car sub isn't designed for home use.

willhub · 27 Mar 2008 at 12:53

james.miller said:
will. put the sub where you sit and crawl around the room. listen for where it sounds best, whatever is best for you, and then stick the sub in that point.

Put the sub were I sit? At the moment its behind my CRT TV and about 2 meter from me in the corner.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/thehub/DSC00683.jpg

Someone told me to try it like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/thehub/DSC00685.jpg

I think its allready in the best position, but I cant put my desk near the window parents go barmy at me, all around best is on me bed were I watch movies. Might be time to sell the z5500 and buy a 50quid 15" sub and amp and everything but that proberbly would equal £300 and besides I'd miss 5.1

badbob said:
Once you can recognise port noise/distortion you'll be able to pick it up. I thought the bass from a £600 subwoofer when pushed a bit hard was bass, but after having something a bit better, when I now hear it, I can notice port noise/distortion. And if a £600 HT subwoofer can distort, so can a subwoofer in a £200 PC system. A car sub isn't designed for home use.

How is a car sub not meant for a home system if you have them in the right box? I mean the driver is similar to a HT one surely? I think it was one company, JL Audio possibly, they used car subs and build them into a HT sub.

james.miller · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:04

seriously, just place the sub right in the position that you'd sit and then crawl around the room. whatever point where it sounds the best is where the sub should go.

corner loading a sub can be great, but it can also be a pain in the arse to intergrate with the rest of the system because you exciting room nodes. depending on the size of the room (length width and height) and can be a great addition or a bad decision.

i corner loaded my 12" subwoofer when it was in my old house in the living room, mainly because it was the only place i could put it. sitting on the sofa, which was flat against the opposite wall, i couldnt get on with it at all. there would be huge ammounts of bass in one corner, none in another, and I was sat between them. it just doesnt work and you can hear what parts of the room are being excited. it drove me nuts.

I feel this is getting slightly technical and off topic lol

badbob · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:04

How is a car sub not meant for a home system if you have them in the right box?

Best to ask that question on av forums. I haven't done much research into it, but usually DIY subwoofers don't just have drivers from car audio. Must be reason.

As for your idea about getting a 50 quid subwoofer and hacking something...don't.

willhub · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:12

james.miller said:
seriously, just place the sub right in the position that you'd sit and then crawl around the room. whatever point where it sounds the best is where the sub should go.

corner loading a sub can be great, but it can also be a pain in the arse to intergrate with the rest of the system because you exciting room nodes. depending on the size of the room (length width and height) and can be a great addition or a bad decision.

i corner loaded my 12" subwoofer when it was in my old house in the living room, mainly because it was the only place i could put it. sitting on the sofa, which was flat against the opposite wall, i couldnt get on with it at all. there would be huge ammounts of bass in one corner, none in another, and I was sat between them. it just doesnt work and you can hear what parts of the room are being excited. it drove me nuts.

I feel this is getting slightly technical and off topic lol

I dont think its getting off topic, it will help the OP with sub placement if he gets the Z5500

.

Anyway one last thing, so I stick the sub right were I sit, and crawl around the room, then were there is the most bass and best at all freq thats were I place the sub?

james.miller · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:31

'car audio drivers' is wrong i think. it has that 'crap' tag associated with it, which it shouldnt.

most 'car audio' subwoofer have a high fs, thats the resonance frequency. typically its around 30-35hz for a bog standard 'car audio' subwoofer which is a little too high for home audio. the reason for this is that a car will typically have an in-room gain at 80hz of about 12db, much higher than the room gain of your typical room in any house. As that gain is a steady increasing slope towards 0hz, the gain at the lower end of the spectrum (>40hz or so) is a lot higher and so you can get away with subwoofer than have a higher tuning point. *breath* in other words a subwoofers output below 80hz would be a lot higher in a car than it would in a big front room. clear as crystal, right? the fs of my Lightning audio 12" subwoofer was around 25hz which is obviously lower, but still not earth shattering, although in-room the responce will good and able down to about 20hz.

however, there are subwoofers with lower resonance frequencies. there are also car audio drivers that use the XBL2 motors which are know in the DIY circles for their excellent excursion, distortion and BL figures. RE audio being one of them. its not as straight forward as 'if its for a car its rubbish'. they are all subwoofers at the end of the day, you just have to find the best one for the job lol. its just that most cheap car audio subwoofers are cheap by design. its nothing to do with them being car subs, its just being a cheap lol.

Anyway one last thing, so I stick the sub right were I sit, and crawl around the room, then were there is the most bass and best at all freq thats were I place the sub?

bingo bongo.

badbob said:
As for your idea about getting a 50 quid subwoofer and hacking something...don't.

meh i did. how badly do you think a sealed sub is likely to distort? i guess the question is....is it worth paying £600 for a better subwoofer lol. nope not for me, i like doing it cheap lol.

Psypher5 · 27 Mar 2008 at 14:03

willhub said:
Anyway one last thing, so I stick the sub right were I sit, and crawl around the room, then were there is the most bass and best at all freq thats were I place the sub?

Thats where you realise your a berk for crawling around for an hour

haha im only jking,

Hope you find the right spot

willhub · 27 Mar 2008 at 14:50

Aye hopefully will, but I have to get it to sound good in 2 places, and its usually ok in one and good in the other or crap in one and good in the other

.

Any idea whats a good song to help my testing?

.

Nitrojan · 28 Mar 2008 at 22:53

Ok - Received my Z-5500 today.. and overall I am VERY impressed! Very nice sound.. well worth the purchase and yes.. the sub IS heavy! lol I was smart enough to turn the box over and lift it off the sub rather than lift the sub out of the box though lol

willhub · 28 Mar 2008 at 23:06

Do you really find the sub heavy? My PC is heavier, hell my rabbit was about same weight as the sub O_o. Its about same weight as my 10kg dumbell lol.

badbob · 28 Mar 2008 at 23:11

My sub weighs 40kg.

Nitrojan · 28 Mar 2008 at 23:12

Lmao. Not massively heavy.. just heavier than I was expecting

and BLOODY HELL.. Thats one heavy rabbit! What you been feeding it? Steroids?

james.miller · 28 Mar 2008 at 23:23

badbob said:
My sub weighs 40kg.

remember when i said you always seem to mention your equipment even when its not at all important in that...'mine is better than yours' tone. remember when i said that and you denied it, badbob?

badbob · 28 Mar 2008 at 23:24

james.miller said:
remember when i said you always seem to mention your equipment even when its not at all important in that...'mine is better than yours' tone. remember when i said that, badbob?

No

james.miller · 28 Mar 2008 at 23:30

yeah i didnt think you would some how

willhub · 29 Mar 2008 at 00:24

badbob said:
My sub weighs 40kg.

Yea mine does now as I've put my PC on top of it. weights about 50kg now

.

Azza · 29 Mar 2008 at 23:29

Ive got these and they are great for what they are. If only I could afford a "proper" sound set up.

Any way seen as I dont have mine at home with me could some one try this out...?

super volume boost

You need to max out the normal volume boost mode first and then hold mute while turning the volume up.
(Again I have yet to try this with content playing... it maxes out at boost of 22). You will have to hold in the mute button and lower the volume to enter normal boost volume before you can lower your volume as normal.