Will the z-680 speaker system be comming bak on OC?

Brizzles · 21 Apr 2006 at 20:16

fish99 said:
I doubt you'll need to do that, unless maybe they start picking up radio or generate hiss, or something that would suggest the wires were picking up interference.

One thing you could think of doing is buying some spikes for the sub to isolate it from the floor, if you're going to use them in a bedroom that is. I hear a lot of people say how cool it is that these logitech subs can 'rock the whole house' but surely that's a bad thing unless you like annoying your family and neighbours. You still get the full bass with spikes, but the bass isn't transfered through the floorboards to other rooms. Logitech subs are usually miles too much for the sats too, so consider turning the bass down on the back of the sub.

Wise words.

Unless there is a need (hiss/interference) , the stock cable is fine.

Wait till you get the speakers and you will find the sub loud ( like a whale farting in an echo chamber ) !

Would invest in spikes ( as fish said ) if you are above ground floor.

My sub is set at 1 , centre and surround at 10 , and its more than enough for me on solid ground floor - can't take the master volume past 3 !!

God , i'm getting old - I remember when speakers were mean't to 'rock the whole house' but I'm a neighbour now , so I know what it sounds like !! :eek:

Cheers,

Mark

fish99 · 21 Apr 2006 at 21:54

mrdbristol said:
Wait till you get the speakers and you will find the sub loud ( like a whale farting in an echo chamber ) !

Mark

Lol

I used to have the bass turned down to minimum on the sub, and windows bass turned down from default 50% to about 40% just on the little X530s I used to have :eek:

Think logitech are aiming their speakers at the ricer crowd :rolleyes:

speedy2004 said:
my bedroom is downstairs and the actual floor is concrete,, do I still need spikes.

Nah. It's just upstairs rooms.

Phil2008 · 21 Apr 2006 at 23:50

Could someone measure the sub for me plz?...WxHxD

Brizzles · 22 Apr 2006 at 13:58

speedy2004 said:
Could someone measure the sub for me plz?...WxHxD

12" x 12" x 18.5" - This includes the connection for the control unit

Cheers,

Mark

Phil2008 · 22 Apr 2006 at 17:45

mrdbristol said:
12" x 12" x 18.5" - This includes the connection for the control unit

Cheers,

Mark

thanks... Its much longer(front to back) then I thought it was, Iwill need to pull my desk out abit so I wont be kicking it with me feet, Im so glad I didnt order the 5500, I Think the sub box/amp is about 2inches bigger then the 680. Its such a shamme logitech has stopped making the 680, cos the 5500 sub would just be too big for some people. Thats my only reason for going for the 680. Plus you cant have the 5500 close to your pc.

Will the z680 be ok close to my pc, cos the pc is under the desk too?

Brizzles · 22 Apr 2006 at 19:34

speedy2004 said:
Plus you cant have the 5500 close to your pc.

Why ? , I have not heard of this.

Cheers,

Mark

MadMatty · 22 Apr 2006 at 20:09

While its not advised to have the pc ontop of the sub, having the sub on the floor and the pc onthe desk is plenty high enough. Although the driver in the 680 isnt quite as big as used in the 5500, its still plenty powerfull enough to damage anything magnetically sensitive if close enough.

Booner! · 22 Apr 2006 at 20:36

would anybody be able to tell me a price or give me a link to these "spikes" for the sub? [email protected] , email me if possible

looking to order Z 5500 today and worried that i will probally deafen my elderly neighbours and annoy my dad when he is working in his office below me! :rolleyes:

fish99 · 22 Apr 2006 at 22:09

Logitech don't make any, you'd have to buy your own. There's stick on ones and screw in (which would need four holes drilling in the underneath of the sub, so you probably won't want to go down that route). Stick on ones on ebay are about £12-16, which is obviously quite a bit. Screw in ones are about a fiver.

Do an ebay search for 'Speaker Spikes for HIFI Speakers' (item no. 9713737990) - they look ok depending on what they end up going for (currently £2.75 plus £1.50 delivery). They are held in place by the weight of the sub alone, but you could always buy something to stick em in place with.

james.miller · 22 Apr 2006 at 22:14

MadMatty said:
While its not advised to have the pc ontop of the sub, having the sub on the floor and the pc onthe desk is plenty high enough. Although the driver in the 680 isnt quite as big as used in the 5500, its still plenty powerfull enough to damage anything magnetically sensitive if close enough.

i had my 12" lighning audio sitting next to my pc for well over a year. Not a single problem.

Brizzles · 22 Apr 2006 at 23:14

Booner! said:
would anybody be able to tell me a price or give me a link to these "spikes" for the sub? [email protected] , email me if possible looking to order Z 5500 today and worried that i will probally deafen my elderly neighbours and annoy my dad when he is working in his office below me!

Spikes will reduce the bass transfer from sub to floor , not eliminate it.

a lot depends on room acoustics and the floor itself.

Volume is your friend !

Cheers,

Mark

Booner! · 23 Apr 2006 at 01:12

heh cheers! i get told to turn it down regularly with my current system :rolleyes:

i had the idea that i could just swap to 5.1 headphones when it gets late however wondered whether this is possible (see below)

Z-5500 5.1 system with audigy 2 ZS with following plugged in at same time via different methods (optical etc)
>Xbox 360 via digital optical
>Tv Samsung hdtv 26" model R74
>Zalman 5.1 surround sound headphones (3 inputs connectors )
>Z5500 speakers themselves to sound card (audigy 2 ZS) via which connection?

i need all that hooking up at same time, will the system be ok with that? like if i get all of that inputted using different cabling to the outputs, will their be enough outputs for all that to be going on and swap between them when needed without moving cables etc :confused:

?

sound speaker noob

cheers for the help

fish99 · 23 Apr 2006 at 09:09

I've used both the Medusa 5.1s and Zalman 5.1s and they were both pretty ropey to be honest. Poor surround sound and poor overall sound quality (especially the Zalmans), even taking the price into acount.

jbloggs · 23 Apr 2006 at 10:49

I have had a set of Logitech Z680 speakers for 3 years, attached to a Audigy 2 ZS card, even now after all that time, I have never "tired" of them, simply because of the very good sound quality and sheer volume.

Regarding the Logitech Z680 replacement control panel (as the cause of speakers producing hiss), if you ring them up, and you have a certain version, they will replace it free of charge.

At the beginning I used the supplied speaker cable, but bought good quality speaker cable, found it DID make a difference to the overall sound quality.

Also found that the drivers I used for the Audigy 2 ZS also made a difference to sound quality, the best quality so far has come from installing the X-FI drivers.

It is also best to have the speakers positioned properly, ie for 5:1 surround sound, I have the 5 small (satellite) speakers mounted on brackets attached to the walls of the room they are in.

Regarding the bass, I have found for the best sound quality is produced when the bass volume level is turned up only slightly, from "0" to the first "notch".

Regarding placement of the bass unit, it doesn't seem to really matter, as it is uni-directional.

Brizzles · 23 Apr 2006 at 11:48

jbloggs said:
Regarding the bass, I have found for the best sound quality is produced when the bass volume level is turned up only slightly, from "0" to the first "notch".

A good job someone else agree's with me .

( when i posted ,earlier , the sub settings at 1 , I mean't 1 notch ( i.e 1/2 on the Logitech Richter scale ! ) on the control panel . )

I was getting paranoid about my hearing ! :eek:

Cheers,

Mark

Phil2008 · 23 Apr 2006 at 20:16

I will probably change my wire in a few months aswel, so I’m getting the best possible quality from them, I also just bought a HDA X-Mystique 7.1 Gold sound card, so I can use the optical option with the 680s.

Here a review of the speakers I have at the moment.
http://www.icehw.net/review.php?id=98

Pretty crap hey, but the sound quality is really good until you crank up the volume then the sub sounds empty and hollow, if that makes sense.

I’ve worked out that the 680s will go 12 times louder then these. I really doubt I will ever have them on full volume, cos that would be insane and my cuckoo clock will probably fall off the wall. But sound quality is more important to me then how loud it will go. Plus you wont do them much good at high volume.

mull · 23 Apr 2006 at 20:43

Uhh, you'll get better quality by running your 680s in analog mode! The DAC in the 680s is ok, but nothing amazing. It sounds about the same, maybe a bit tinnier, than my Audigy 1. If you want decent sound, get a later audigy/xfi or an envy24 based card, like a revo 5.1/7.1, etc.

The beauty of em is that you can have a xbox/ps2 hooked up at the same time, not that they decode everything and everything wonderfully.

jbloggs · 23 Apr 2006 at 21:04

I have used the Logitech Z680 speakers in digital mode, almost from the time I got them, very rarely use analogue (although I do have that wired up as well), have found that there is an appreciative difference in sound quality between analogue and digital, digital being better.

By the addition of good speaker cable (thick copper), X-FI drivers, a high quality optical cable from control panel to digital output of Audigy 2 ZS (via 3.5mm phone->RCA (optical)), and correct wall mounting of satellite speakers, the difference is quite impressive.

Only one of these 4 changes would just yield a slight improvement, but altogether is the secret that makes the difference, not only in all kinds of extra detail being heard, but also the bass output is controlled better.

Phil2008 · 23 Apr 2006 at 21:13

Im tring not to use analog at all, thats my main reason for the "HDA X-Mystique 7.1 Gold" cos it has Dolby Digital Live, so all speaker channels work with games or music, when you use digital connection.. So hopefully my analog days are gone. Or thats the idea anyway :confused:

fish99 · 23 Apr 2006 at 21:21

There's not really any huge difference though. Sound is analogue, so at some point the signal still has to be converted from digital to analogue. It's just a case of whether the DAC is on your soundcard, built into your speakers, or some people will use a seperate external DAC. What matters is the quality of the DAC.

Having said that, using analogue out, you've got the problem of your soundcard picking up interference from the other components in your PC. Of course the same thing could happen inside the Z5500 sub though.

jbloggs said:
By the addition of good speaker cable (thick copper), X-FI drivers, a high quality optical cable from control panel to digital output of Audigy 2 ZS (via 3.5mm phone->RCA (optical)), and correct wall mounting of satellite speakers, the difference is quite impressive.

So you can use X-Fi drivers with an Audigy 2? Can't remember where you got them from can you, are they just the standard ones from creative? Thanks