logitech z5500 ordered

[WHITE.AKITA]

hi all, i have just ordered the z5500 and getting it delivered in the morning.
it is to replace a sony stdb940 av amp and 5 yamaha 5.1 cube speakers.
i have never seen so many positive reviews on a piece of audio equipment than i have about the z5500, so far i have seen over 500 customer reviews about these speakers and 99% of the reviewers have give them rave reviews saying the sound quality is amazing wether used for pc/xbox360/music or movies so i cant wait to set them up in my bedroom and if they are as good as most people say i will get another set for the living room.
if they are no good i will try some kef eggs, but some reviews have said they couldnt tell the difference between the z5500 and the kef eggs.

 

[andy1249]

I have the z5500 , in the computer room and attached to a PC. ( In my opinion this is where they belong.)

Now while they are very good , they are in no way a match for the likes of a Sony STRDB940 or for that matter are the speakers a match for ( or even in the same league )as the Kef eggs.

For the price , they are very good , but they are very much a budget system and that official THD figure of 10 % is not a misprint.

I would also recommend that you immediately replace the alarm wire that comes with it for some decent speaker cable. No need to spend a fortune , any cable with a 4mm2 cross section will do.

You cannot expect them to be in the same league as the Sony amp mentioned or indeed any of the equipment you say you have.

I posting this to prepare you for what is bound to be a big disappointment mate , they are a good buy on a budget , but wont compete with quality budget av receivers and speaker packages.

 

[Andy98765]

Have to totally agree with the last statement, no way a match for the Sony AV amp, but it depends what the sony AV amp plugs into and yamaha speakers are not exactly reknown for great quality.
A good set of speakers by KEF, Mordaunt Short, Wharfedale etc etc would have been a FAR wiser upgrade.

The Logitechs are a great PC speaker system "FULL STOP"

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

once i have it all setup and had a good listen to it i will use the speakers through the sony strdb940 and see what the difference is, i think the speakers would sound even better through the strdb940.
i have read some reviews saying that audiophiles scoff at these speakers because of figures, but i beleive that many so called audiophiles only like equipment if it is expensive so have bragging rights, many audiophiles also beleive that £300 mains power leads make a difference and that £1000 speaker cable is better that £100 speaker cable which i beleive is utter rubbish and that cd players and amps need running in which there is no scientific proof for any of it.
if it sounds excellent then it sounds excellent and over 500 people have said that it does.
i beleive that there are many people (i have met a few) that would never admit that for example a £200 set of speakers sounds almost or as good as the speakers they have just paid £1000 for.
when i get it set up tomorrow i should soon be able to tell the difference between this new £200 setup and the current £700 setup.
sorry if i sound a bit harsh i dont mean to be, it is just that i have been lied to many many times about hifi (mainly in magazines) and has previosly cost me a good bit of money.

 

[Andy98765]

I have lost the plot here. How do you intend to connect the Logitechs to the strdb940?
I would NOT risk plugging the speakers directly into the outputs of the strdb940 and as for the sub that is a stand-alone unit that works with the supplied speakers and also would not connect to the strdb940.
Basically you will end up with a redundant strdb940 if the logitechs are to replace the Yamahas.
The Logitech 5500 is a PC system and a stand alone unit or a better description would be a all-in-one without DVD player.

"if it sounds excellent then it sounds excellent and over 500 people have said that it does." Well 500 people may say a VW Polo is excellent but it is not an Aston Martin.

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

the z5500 speakers will connect straight to the sony amp and i have a yamaha sub that is already connected to the sony amp.
the z5500 speakers go very very loud so i dont think running them through the sony amp will be a problem, but obviously i am no expert !
how can you compare cars to hifi sound ??
why not compare eggs with eggs ??
i forgot to say that the z5500 is to replace the strdb940 if it sounds better of course, i will find out in the morning.

 

[Stoatman]

I'm wondering too how you expect to connect the speakers straight to the amp ? Do the satellites not connect to the sub which houses all the inputs. I did not think they had the ususal connectors necessary for connection to a "normal" amp.

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

hi, the earlier versions of the z5500 would not connect to a av amp without splicing the wires but the new versions use regular speaker cable.

 

[Stoatman]

Oh , I see. Good luck with it then.

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

thanks i hope they are as good as 100s of other people say they are.

 

[andy1249]

once i have it all setup and had a good listen to it i will use the speakers through the sony strdb940 and see what the difference is, i think the speakers would sound even better through the strdb940.
i have read some reviews saying that audiophiles scoff at these speakers because of figures, but i beleive that many so called audiophiles only like equipment if it is expensive so have bragging rights, many audiophiles also beleive that £300 mains power leads make a difference and that £1000 speaker cable is better that £100 speaker cable which i beleive is utter rubbish and that cd players and amps need running in which there is no scientific proof for any of it.

That argument will not hold here mate , on the low end you definitely get what you pay for , the electronics stage for the z5500's is about the size of an external hard drive and cannot hope to compete with even the cheapest of separates.

There are budget start out systems ( like the logitechs) , and separates and speakers are next up the chain , the quality difference is huge. It will be painfully obvious to you because you already have had way better than the logitechs. If the logitechs had been your first system Im sure you would have been happy.

The reviews for the z5500 are mostly based on first time home cinema setups , anyone that says they are better than the likes of a Sony av receiver would probably be working for logitech , remember , anyone can post reviews on the sites you were looking at.

Im afraid you are in for a shock , for the record , I have owned and been very happy with a Sony STRDB890 connected to mordaunt shorts and it was excellent at the time. I " upgraded " to an Onkyo 605 ( for the HDMI ) which I was sorely disappointed with and got rid of it after 3 months. I now have a yamaha 1900 which is great.

I also still have the z5500's , and not in a million years would I say , or would anyone else say , that they are as good as the Sony or even the Onkyo. As you will see when you get them , they are designed for a PC.

 

[Andy98765]

As the other poster indicated 10% is poor.
The Logitech speakers are rated as (From Logitech site)
Left/Right: 62 watts RMS x 2 (into 8 ohms, @ 1khz, @ 10% THD)
Center: 69 watts RMS (into 8 ohms, @ 1kHz, @ 10% THD)
Rear Left & Right: 62 watts RMS x 2 (into 8 ohms, @ 1kHz, @ 10%

Anything over 2% is audible to the human ear. 10% means 10% of the output at 62 watts is TOTAL Distortion.

Bottom line, all I am saying here is keep them attached to the Logitech main unit.

The logic in comparing cars is like the logic you are using for these speakers, just because 500 people like them it maybe the case as a PC speaker system which the logitechs excel at, but not as a audiophile AV surround system replacement.

I have to ask you the question, what is making you change?
Who recommended the Yamaha speakers?
In all my years (don't ask) of listening and enjoying audio with the exception of one set of yamaha stereo speakers I have never seen another great review.

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

ok thanks for your advice, i will post back in the morning with my findings and give my views good or bad.
if i feel that i would have been better off buying £200 5.1 speakers then i will put the logitechs on ebay and probably get most of my money back as they are still going for good money second hand, i may lose £30.
i did have the strdb940 feeding a 5.1 set of bose acoustimas 6 which i got second hand very cheap from a friend, i know about the bad reputation bose have but deceide to buy them anyway and if they were crap i could sell them on for a profit, which i did quickly !!
the yamaha speakers were going cheap in a second hand shop so i give them a try, but no better or worse than the bose.
the speakers must be small and wall mountable as there is no room in my bedroom for big speakers or stands and i have a young daughter.
after seeing over 500 rave reviews about the z5500 about crystal clear sound and no distortion i deceided to give them a try.
alot of the reviews are also from people using them as a hifi surround system for music, movies and gaming not just pc systems.
alot of the reviews of the strdb940 are saying that they are good for movies but poor for music playback.

 

[Bald Monkey]

alot of the reviews are also from people using them as a hifi surround system for music and movies not just pc systems.

Hope you enjoy them but I agree with others that they are designed and sold as a PC surround sound kit and are judged by others based on that criteria. And it seems they perform very well.

However they are not designed to be a complete AV home Cinema system. Or to compete with decent seperate AV system, so I doubt they'll comapre favourably to those. But that's a bit like expecting an Aston Martin to be a good off roader!

I've never heard of anyone changing a decent seperate system for a PC surround system so as enthusiastic as the reviews may be, I doubt the majority of them are written by people with extensive experience of decent AV equipment, like members of AVF, probably more by people replacing standard stereo PC systems or PC surround sound systems from other manufacturers..

 

[bjorkiii]

In my view this poster white akita e.g whats the best integrated amp in world price no problem now buying these pile of ***** pc boomy speakers that gather dust in my spare room is a gob****

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

In my view this poster white akita e.g whats the best integrated amp in world price no problem now buying these pile of ***** pc boomy speakers that gather dust in my spare room is a gobsh*te

haha ok.
i have been saving for quite a while and im going to spend the the best part of my budget on a system for my living room.
the logitech z5500 will be connected to a 42" viera and a 360 in a bedroom system that will hardly get used, you may of noticed that if you had read the posts properly.
i still havent bought a amp or speakers on a living room system, im taking my time to make sure i get a system that i will be happy with for years.

 

[Stoatman]

Seriously though why would you buy these "pc" speakers as home cinema speakers if you had the money to buy "the best integrated amp in the world" or a lexicon processor ? or attached to such a good television.

Also if you had that much spare cash why would you have bought old bose speakers off a mate for a really cheap price.

Hmmmm , are your other posts a wind up ??

 

[The-One]

I'm curious. Did the OP start this thread just to brag/flame/troll about the Z5500?

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

easy, i dont really like buying new when it comes to hifi and cars, when i can save thousands buying second hand !
not once have i stated that money is no object !
as previously said and i will say it again im going to spend the majority of my budget on a living room system, i am not going to spend thousands on a system for my bedroom when it would hardly get used, its very simple.

 

[Bald Monkey]

I hope we don't all have to start justifying our buying decisions or posts..

Lets not start a witch hunt here guys

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

i will post back tomorrow with my views of the z5500 and if it is true that the 500 people that have bothered to write raving reviews about the z5500 are wrong because they are mostly beginners who dont know what real sound is as previously said by a member then i will admit that i have made a mistake and quickly sell it on and look at the kef eggs.

 

[Showoff]

I've had the z5500 set up on my PC for about a year and haven't yet, but would happily write a rave review about them based on the sound quality for the money in a one stop shop package.

The office I use them in is quite small so I don't often have the volume over 1/4 but it's still loud, even at FULL volume there is no sign of distortion playing back from ITunes etc and the bass from the sub will rock your fillings their also great for Gaming or watching a movie.

I have to admit that I wouldn't use them as my main lounge AV home cinema system though I'm sure some people do.

So in my opinion, the z5500 is a great package at a good price and perfect for PC use playing music, games or movies, but could also be used as a cheap AV all in one system in a smallish room. Would it be better than a separates AV set up in the same price bracket... Maybe not, but at this sort of money I doubt there's much in it and I'm sure the OP will be happy with it in the situation explained. I wouldn't bother replacing the standard speaker cables either, they are cheap cables, but at this level I don't think upgrading them with quality cables will make anything more than a 0.001% difference.

Edited to add that I assumed there was a problem with your Sony STDB940, as an upgrade to the speakers could have been all that was required. I'm sure you'll be happy with the z5500 though

 

[reaper12]

Is there some kind of problem with the sony stdb940? I mean why would you replace a decent amp with the logitech system? If the speakers were so bad you could have got better speakers for the money you are spending on the logitech system.

I hope you like your logitechs, but, in my opinion you are taking a major step down in quality.

 

[William YZF-R1]

hi all, i have just ordered the z5500 and getting it delivered in the morning.
it is to replace a sony stdb940 av amp and 5 yamaha 5.1 cube speakers.
i have never seen so many positive reviews on a piece of audio equipment than i have about the z5500, so far i have seen over 500 customer reviews about these speakers and 99% of the reviewers have give them rave reviews saying the sound quality is amazing wether used for pc/xbox360/music or movies so i cant wait to set them up in my bedroom and if they are as good as most people say i will get another set for the living room.
if they are no good i will try some kef eggs, but some reviews have said they couldnt tell the difference between the z5500 and the kef eggs.

Hmm, your last post seems to contradict your opening post.

 

[WHITE.AKITA]

how is that contradicting ??
i said in my first post that some people say in reviews that there is not much defference in sound quality between the eggs and the z5500, in my last post i said that i may try them if im not happy with the z5500 !
oh and if i am extremely happy with the z5500 like most reviewers are then i would use them in my living room, there is little point in paying ££££s for speakers if i am already extremely happy with £200 speakers ! why not ??