Tell me about the... Z5500's

[snowdog]

Had my B'day yesterday and that came with a lump of €€€.
I'm considering buying these Z5500's, but I'm woundering, how they would sound on different types of music, so a few questions:

Will it sound okay on an sb audigy SE ( or onb. soundmax hd audio) ?
I have no doubt the bassy songs will be fine, but how are normall songs like rock music, wich I mostly listen to ?
Are they worth 260€ or is there anything better for the cash ?
How long will they last ( I want speakers for at least 5 years prefferably 10 or so...) ?
Coming from a cheap total 24W RMS 5.1 set, with a 3'' sub, how big will the difference be ?
My room is about 5 by 4 metres, is the Z5500 enough for my room?
I want massive thundering house shaking bass on house and hiphop/rap music, but I want normall middle tones on my massive collection of rock music too.

Hope to get some awnsers, I can't seem to decide wether it's worth buying em, it's still a lot of cash for me.
Neighbors don't matter, they can go to hell , my neighbors blast loud hip hop music often anyways.

please reply if you can and thx in advance .

 

[snowdog]

Hmmm, so an upgrade, but not great ?
It's not only for (mp3/wma/flac/ogg) music, it's also mainly for games and (in a lesser extent) for films and some DTS music ( Pink Floyd dsotm DTS and wish you were here DTS)...
I listen to all kinds of music from house to hip hop to R&B to rock but my current sub is a bit too poor with midtones and overdoes bass in rock songs, while the bass is too poor when I want it in bassy songs.

600 quid isn't really an option to me: I'm jobless atm and I'm doing exams in May so till then I doubt I'll look for work.

Why I don't want an amp is, I'm used to 5.1 in games A lot, I play CoD4 by hearing, it really helps and I don't want to lose the effects.
I don't think I'll be able to really afford a full amped 5.1 set...
Wouldn't the z5500's sub get my room shaking a bit ?


Are the sats full range of the logi or don't they support bassy stuff like most sats ? Is there any better 5.1 set for 280 € than the Z5500's or should I just upgrade from what I have now your recon.


Sorry for my questions again, I just don't want to be disappointed with spending 80% of my money on speakers that will sound ****...

 

[snowdog]

okay I guess I'll '' Upgrade'' my speakers to the Z5500's today or tomoz then .
The ones I have now are trust 35€ speakers, rubbish as you may imagine.

180 quid is a bit less than I'm going to buy, but I'm picking up and in the end it'll be cheaper than posting the speakers from ocuk to the Netherlands, and I'll be able to use em the day i bought em not like 2 or 3 days after.

 

[snowdog]

Well I got them and I quite like em but I duno what settings to use:
6 channel direct or Dobly pro logic II music
Direct analog input or coax digital or optical digital ( I can't seem to find the digital outs on my soundblaster audigy SE either, while the audio console of it has digital options like ''digital only'', anybody know where this digital plug on my audigy is located ?) ?
CMSS 3D or stereo surround ( stereo surround sounded better on my old speakers, on this I can't seem to figure out wich one I like most)?

And finally should I stick to my audigy SE or plug it into my soundmax HD audio ( wich had both a coax digital out and optical digital out) ?


Anybody care to tell me where the digital output is on my audigy or if I should use the digital ones on my soundmax instead?
Please gimme your settings wich you use if possible.

 

[snowdog]

Will:
I really hate stereo ( provided the audio console effect on my speakers is on 6 ch direct ) as I hear the music from the front only, I want to be surrounded and hear from the back too, thus CMMS 3d is needed else I hear nothing out of the front speakers when listening ot stereo or mono music... Infact I even moved the balance to 20% extra to the rear as im sitting just 50 cm from my center and 1 metre/yard from my front speakers, while at elast 3m from the rear ones...

Atm I have it on stereo surround I guess for a few days as it sounds nice.
I want the digital coz I have some dd and dts films/tracks on my pc wich I want to get the most out of, and renmeber, I aint got an xfi just an audigy SE so analog aint ''crystal clear'' like with an xfi prolly...

But still it leaves the question about: where on earth is my digital out on my audigy SE ?

 

[snowdog]

Never heard a proper Hi-Fi? The soundfield on a pair of quality speakers, with correct placement sounds STUNNING.

Never read: Teenage budget of 280€ and refuses to lose 5.1 for games ?

I have the Z5500's now so regardless, I prefer to keep hearing from the back.


I'll buy the module for 15€ I guess skeet.


Wich leaves me with a final direct question:

What's better, optical or coax?

 

[snowdog]

If I'd have the sndcard sent the digital signal over to my speakers tho, wouldnt the Z5500's do the decoding? As they have hardware dd and dts decoding ? The sndcard would just relay the digital signal over the cable, not decoding it though hardware or software @ my pc.

 

[snowdog]

woooo tryed em a bit more and discovered the ''boost'' levels of volume, it sends my whole room shaking any pieces of paper are dancing up and down and any ligthweight stuff is sent flying due to this kit, very nice kit for house music and other bassy songs.


For rock however, the bass is a bit too much and both the middle and high tones are a bit lacking ( not too loud compared to bass). Still a huge improvement from what I had tho. I think my dad's Jamo dynamic D4's sound better for rock music.

 

[snowdog]

Didnt notice any problems with the fuse but I was VERY careful when moving them, I've displugged it twice now with the button on the rear...


Cool about the 2nd skin volume, it changed it from linear to logaritmic , wich is nicer as I can finetune the lower volume levels more ( I usually listen upto 1/3rd of the normall skin volume, wich still sends some furniture rattling in my room ( closet doors, and the window above my entry door) and coz I don't want to pee off the neighbors too much from listening to insane loud music for hours at every day lol) but I dont think the max volume has changed. Will renember tho for next time that if it breaks I must replace the fuse.

Also tx for the extra boost info, so actually I still havent had it even halfway of it's true max volume, wich is well er awesome.


Still haven't properly mounted em yet all, the cables are going straight through my room and only 1 sat is screwed to the wall the others are just standing loose.

 

[snowdog]

I've been listening a bit more just now and I have to say even with the sub volume lowered, this set is lacking in high and middle tones compared to lets say the ages old amp set of my dad downstairs ( wich costed 1500+€ at the time it was bought).

Would a better soundcard ( eg. asus xonar or XFI extrememusic) make the higher and middle tones sound a bit better ( atm got an Audigy SE to repeat for lazy ppl ) ?
I've also read on another forum that replacing the cheap logitech wires by some proper wires improves sound quality by quite a bit, would the change be significant ?

I've also read that if you got some knowlage with equalizers, even a software one can improve the quality of the middle and high tones by a lot, does anyone know something about this ?

 

[snowdog]

Well after a few weeks of usage I can say my money was superbly spent, I'm listening to more music than ever ( 1010 trakcs a week according to last.fm) and with DFX in light processing mode adding ''4'' dynamic boost it sounds great. A lot of stuff that used to sound good ( eg. standard car stereo) now sounds as complete bass-less rubbish to me.

I highly recommend the z5500's to anyone that has something worse and that doesn't have rubbish neighbors. Best buy in years for my pc.

 

[snowdog]

Perhaps when I get cash in a year or 2 I'll upgrade again, but atm I'm a broke jobless teenager so I'm stuck with the Z5500's, not that I really mind atm.