Logitech Z-5500, surround system or wait for the next model?

james.miller said:
you asked for peoples opinions and you got them. Its a forum, not a fanclub.
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i asked a question if its to much.

i never asked opinions for how good/poor/crap it is..

also it's nothing like whats in the pics now..

since my dad died, i have cut it down so pair at the font,, pair at rear, pair at side, 1 center, 3 subs

and tbh i'm the one listening to it , if i'm happy with it whats the problem... let's leave it as that.
 
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Well this thread's turned quite exciting... :eek:

Gareth - I love the three subs, even if it turns out to be technically inferior then I hope it raised a smile. At one point I wired up eight speakers to a stereo before I knew anything about speakers and it was awesome. :D
Sorry to hear about your Dad.

James, thanks for your comments - If you'd seen my earlier post, you'd have read I settled for option 1. I hope I haven't bought my way into a dead end!

I think I did ok given the amount I spent on the system but any comments from anyone on the following would be appreciated (only positive comments will be read :p ). A suggestion for the price point above which I will see a benefit in upgrading the speakers. I heard the S750 speakers were slightly better than the Logitech ones as they have a mid and a tweeter but opinions as always will vary... ;)

Final system (£350 + ~£60 for cables)
Onkyo TX-SR 607 amp
Q Acoustics 1000si sub

I'm using the HDMI output from the ATi 5970 and allowing the amp to decode the sound. I've avoided using the output from the Xonar D2X as it will only allow 5.1 via Dolby Digital Live & DTS and it appears to just re-encoding the sound to DDL / DTS and the decoding it back at the amp which seems a bit daft.

james.miller said:
Ok, the first thing that springs to mind is that you have set a difficult budget for yourself. ie, £450 is where av amps start getting interesting, but that leaves nothing for the speakers and subwoofer (£200 on a separate sub or dont bother imo, ill explain why in a second). Likewise speakers, if you want real entry-level H/T stuff then £50 a corner is wise (plus whatever you can muster on a centre speaker). thats still £250+

my comments on the options:

1) Buy 7.1 amp and separate subwoofer, re-use Creative speakers ~£450

Not a decent way to go, imo. you would be pretty much splitting your budget between the sub and the amp. the issue with <£200 subwoofers is that by large they are barely better than the stuff you get with integrated systems just like the z5500's. It's only when you start looking at things like the bk gemeni or the xls-200 that you really start to see what subwoofers can do. otherwise dont bother unless you can find a bargain 2nd hand deal.

Likewise the amp - £200 on an av amp will get you naff all. At the very least you would want an amp that can handle audio over hdmi and at this price point i dont think there are any. Which leads on to an important question actually: if you want to go for an AV amp, would features do you wantt/need? Would you be looking for future expandability? what sort of connectivity (number of hdmi sockets, component inputs ect) ?
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Alex_S said:
Gareth - I love the three subs, even if it turns out to be technically inferior then I hope it raised a smile. At one point I wired up eight speakers to a stereo before I knew anything about speakers and it was awesome. :D
Sorry to hear about your Dad.
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:D:)

the subs do the job nicey ;), but the problem i've got is my walls are cracking a lot :eek:

i do know some stuff about speakers/subs but i admit i don't know everything about them :)

btw them pics are old , :)
 
Greebo said:
z-5500 rock and logitech customer service even outside of warranty is 2nd to none.

2nd hand can be had for as little as £130.

However, i kept my eyes on ebay and managed to buy

Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 pair
Wharfedale Diamond 8.1 pair
Wharfedale Diamond 8 series centre speaker
Wharfedale Diamond 150 sub

for £35 collected :eek:

I then got an Onkyo508 av reciever for £85.

For £120 or even £500 this setup blow my z-5500's away. Don;t get me wrong I love my z-5500's and the new rig ended up on the tv as a surround system and I am still using my z-5500 on my pc.

Just one other thing, I found out one day thsat max volume on the z-5500 was not max and if you keep you finger on the up button it goes to +11 :D

An ornament 5m across the room then fell off the shelf ;)
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Nice, you have to remember that the Logitech speakers do cut a few corners so this would be why your new setup sounds so much better. What a bargain getting all those speakers for £35!
 
MikeHunt79 said:
Nice, you have to remember that the Logitech speakers do cut a few corners so this would be why your new setup sounds so much better. What a bargain getting all those speakers for £35!
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It is an unfair comparison. After all my "proper" surround set probably cost around £1000 when new versus £200 for the z-5500's.

I know. two reasons I think, not many people look to buy full sets of suround speakers on Ebay and because it's so many they become collection only.

In my case they were 40 miles away so well worth the journey. I was still amazed I got them for £35, I was prepared to go to at least £150!

I missed another set last week which went for £95 I think although it didn;t have a sub with it but they were still a good buy.

Even the av receiver was a cracking buy for £85. What was mid range and award winning and costing £400 just a few years ago can be picked up for a snip today.

However, I am back on the hunt to buy another set of bargain surround speakers as I got given a brand new Onkyo 608 receiver last week so I can finally upgrade my z-5500's. Hopefully with what I;ll get for the z-5500's, at no cost too.
 
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If you're only after some rear speakers they can be head quite cheaply even if they're new, they only need to me small and I think I paid around 20 quid for a new pair in Richer sounds and they work well. Even so, you can't beat a good 2nd hand bargain... I also have found collection only stuff goes for very little, I managed to pick up some aging Aiwa speakers for 99p a few days ago. They're not that hifi, but they ideal for my planned garage sound system. :)
 
I was wondering about the Z5500's, for my pc i still have videologic's digitheatre, was thinking about replacing them, they've been going for over 11 years :p

PC speakers are just that and seperates are another world.

The three subs made me smile :D
 
I've just realised I missed a huge chunk of this thread...
gareth170 said:
:D:)

the subs do the job nicey ;), but the problem i've got is my walls are cracking a lot :eek:

i do know some stuff about speakers/subs but i admit i don't know everything about them :)

btw them pics are old , :)
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3 subs! I'm intrigued... Out of interest why did you go for 3 subs? Are they in separate enclosures or are you running 3 subs in a single enclosure?

3 in a box can be done, this is quite a nice way of doing it as the impedance dips are spread out allowing you to power 3 subs from a single amp channel without killing your amp:
trippletapped3.jpg

(this isn't mine btw, but I plan to build something similar sometime)

If you're running 3 subs in separate boxes then placement can be tricky, often even numbers tend to work better (2,4,6,8,etc) when running multiple subs so maybe adding a 4th sub would be beneficial?
 
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Where you put your money depends on what you use the system for. For movies and games, the Z-5500s really aren't a bad option. This isn't to say that they're as good as half-decent AV gear, because they're not. But they are extremely good value. The amount you would have to spend to substantially improve on the quality of the Z-5500s - and the amount of space that good AV gear takes up - means that you're comparing two completely different products. Go for separates if you're ready to invest more deeply in your home cinema (in terms of cash, time and space!) Otherwise, the Z-5500s provide a lot of enjoyment for your buck.

For music, it's a different story. I found the Z-5500s abysmal for music reproduction. If surround sound isn't especially important to you, you can get an amp and bookshelf speakers for the same price which would blow the Logitechs away.
 
I bought my Z-5500's back in december 04 from OcUK.

Touch wood they are still going strong and they really are fairly decent sounding/loud speakers for the money.

I recenetly bought a pair of Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II's though and when playing FLAC audio through them they just blew me away. OK so they don't have the sub for the bass but the clarity is superb and they sound a bit clearer than the logitechs. I have been thinking about using them along with my 5500's sub :p tried them once like it a while back and it worked well.
 
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I had some Z560s - which were 4.1, replaced them with Z5500s and was very disappointed

much preferred the Z560s :( bass sounded much tighter/of high quality
 
MikeHunt79 said:
I've just realised I missed a huge chunk of this thread...

3 subs! I'm intrigued... Out of interest why did you go for 3 subs? Are they in separate enclosures or are you running 3 subs in a single enclosure?

3 in a box can be done, this is quite a nice way of doing it as the impedance dips are spread out allowing you to power 3 subs from a single amp channel without killing your amp:

(this isn't mine btw, but I plan to build something similar sometime)

If you're running 3 subs in separate boxes then placement can be tricky, often even numbers tend to work better (2,4,6,8,etc) when running multiple subs so maybe adding a 4th sub would be beneficial?
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at first i was just doing it for fun but when i got everything setup to the way i liked it, i've been really happy with it.

im running 3 subs in separate boxes.

1 of them is a active sub (built-in amp)

i have notice puting them together (in the same area) makes them much better...

maybe it'll try a 4th sub.
 
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