Logitech Z-5500, worth the money?

Shakey_Jake33 said:
I seem to be the only one connecting my X-Fi to the speakers via analogue connection. I use analogue because I love the CMSS and Crystaliser... I know such things are disliked by 'purists' though. I'm assuming digital out basically leaves any kind of upmixing to the reciever (in this case, the Z-5500's)?
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Yep use the analogue conenctions when listening to music, but its better to use the digital outputs for movies and let the 5500's do the decoding themselves. I tried music through the digital outputs in just stereo mode and it sound poor compared to the analogue connections. Heres how i have mine setup at home when i sold em to my rents:

Analogue 6-channel: Connect to pc for music and games.
Optical: Sky+ for DD or ps2 (for DPL2).
Coaxial digital: Dvd player digital signal.

Enjoy them.
 
Re: analogue input versus digital, as i have an hda digital which does encoding on the fly, i'm assuming that it will take the analogue game sound and convert it to the equivelent dolby dig output and thus still give me the surround from games, please enlighten me if it doesnt.

I prefer to use the optical connection as it leads to much simplified wiring

Occasionally, i've read about the m-audio and such like for music and they seem very reasonably priced, are they as good as people say and can they do the same for games and movies.

thanks
 
Nice one, adfinni, you seem really sensible and Fair with your Judgment, As you don’t totally rubbish the PC Speakers, and I will try the settings, Recently finished Uni and started working, Hopefully the house will come soon, and I will most definitely take your advice about the separates and Hifi Mags.
 
Kezzie said:
Nice one, adfinni, you seem really sensible and Fair with your Judgment, As you don’t totally rubbish the PC Speakers, and I will try the settings, Recently finished Uni and started working, Hopefully the house will come soon, and I will most definitely take your advice about the separates and Hifi Mags.
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Hiya

Hell no i don't rubbish them, i still love my 5500's and they sound amazing plugged into our sky+ box at home and in the PS2. I had them last year at uni and got rid of them because i thought they were too much effort to lug to and from uni. Now my Hi-fi setup is even larger and more effort to lug around :rolleyes: lol.
But enjoy them as i certainly do, and they certainly impress people that see and hear them. It's good ive managed to convince you not to believe everything that hi-fi mags say. Although they can be very helpful, there are many other small manufacturers out there who make stuuning separates and speakers and don't bother with mags for endorsement. Hell i hardly know much about them. :D

But i can't wait to go home next week after my 3rd year exams are done and watch some films in dolby digital through sky, as i have to admit that they not nearly as fun through 2 speakers.

Right back to the thread topic. Get these speakers for £200 and they are ecellent value for all round gamin, movies, and listening to some tunes on, but go for separates if you predominately listen to cd's.

Right back to revision, last exam tomorrow then im off out on a week long lash :D
 
fish99 said:
That doesn't really tell you much btw, Mission aren't the best speakers around, plus they might have been dirt cheap ones to start with, Yamaha don't make the best AV amps at the best of times and again it could have been a budget model, analogue out on x-fi is fairly poor, you were probably using cheap cables, and AV systems aren't designed for playing music. If it was an AV receiver why didn't you use digital on that as well? A proper well setup carefully picked AV system by quality recognized hi-fi/AV manufacturers will comfortably outperform the Z5500, although for a lot more money of course.
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no come on, even a budget yamaha and budget missions would sound better. i know, that's what im running and its what i used to run DRZ's blind tests on. Apparently, i did quite well;)

However, i agree with one point. If there's one thing i know about my yamaha it's that it is much MUCH more able with a digital pcm signal than with an analogue stereo hookup. Not only that, but its not the best for 2 channel music anyway. Amps are the way forward, but i'm having trouble finding another denon pma-100m to match my current denon that's driving my two subs, at least for the £35 i paid for mine;)
 
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Well you can get a set of Mission speakers for £50 new. Sure they'll be better quality than the Z5500 sats, but they're not gonna be awesome for that price. Same thing with a £170 yamaha AV receiver, although again I'd expect it to best the amp/decoder in the Z5500.

By the way to the guys who said the Z5500 is a good option for £200 for surround sound games and movies - I agree, it costs far more than £200 to get a decent 5.1 AV system, even used. The OP clearly said it was mainly for music though, and £200 will get a very nice stereo hi-fi which would be awesome for music. It would also output a very high quality sound for movies and games but without surround sound of course.
 
I'm definitely moving to stereo only next year, I don't use surround sound enough and good stereo is far better than mediocre surround. I'll be able to raise some cash for PC upgrades too. For music (my primary use) stereo is the way forward. Games and movies are a different matter entirely, although they still sound good in stereo. For £200 you'll get a lot better sound for your cash with just stereo than budget surround.
 
I dont like my z5500's, theyre ok ish for movies but for music thay lack any real clarity in the bass and the top end is shaky and thin. The remote is good but having to have the sub 2 foot away from the computer(magnets) is a pain with my setup. the sound quality is very average, but for the price theyre not too bad. if your used to listening to a good HIFi then these are poor.
 
That said, such a difference can be made at the PC end. The Z-5500's don't sound so hot using my onboard, but connected to my X-Fi with the CMSS set t StereoSurround and the Crystaliser turned on, and it sounds pretty awesome indeed,

You'd be hard pushed to find a 5.1 set of this quality with decoding for the price tbh.
 
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