Logitech Z-5500 5 Speakers

It is my opinion that you should expect these speakers to do nothing more than play what you put through them as you put it through. When I first plugged my Audigy2ZS into these speakers and ran the intro to Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold I was greatly dismayed by the failure of these speakers to produce all of a tight rap of a snare drum. That was in 6 Channel Direct via the 5.1 analog cable included. Then I tried the same song via coax using the soundcards digital sp/dif out of a uncompressed pcm signal. This rendered a slight improvement in the reproduction and gave more of its brightness back but not enough. Back to the analog I started tinkering with DFX 7.3 for winamp. A quick cranking up of the fidelity proved to add the life and bit back to the guitars and snare to give me the great experience I am currently having.

My main musical variety is hardcore (being the rock variety, not the techno/house hardcore) , metalcore, screamo, and even the occasional emo(not the acoustic dashboard confessional type). If you are not familiar with the musical varieties I listed basically they are very busy and can cause a problem for a system that doesnt seperate well. There is heavy distorted guitar riffing, along with dynamic vocals ranging from low growls to highpitched screams to pop quality vocals(best way for me to describe). There is also guitar riffing, dueling guitar riffs, two guitars(one on left one on right) playing the same riff in unison which many speakers can have trouble with if they dont sync right. Now in my experience these aren't too hard for systems to do decently. But the thing that I find difficult is to hear each element, 6 string guitar, bass guitar, lead vocals, backup vocals, and the drumming in the seperation that they were intended on the source. On a stereo system this is not too hard but it doesnt have the right effect. Throw these sources into a 5.1 system and you run into problems of each speaker not pulling its weight or some vocal or guitar quality being lost, and this is simply not the case in these speakers. These speakers are the first speakers I have seen at this pricepoint that I prefer to my Pioneer SE-DIR800C dolby headphones when it comes to hearing all of my music. Also, if you aren't already aware that 128kbps mp3s don't cut it, these speakers will make you aware of that when you run a 128kbps mp3 versus the same song at 192kbps(my lowest acceptable rate) or higher.

For the classical music that everyone states is lacking, does the Trans-Siberian Orchestra count as classical ? I tested out some of their songs from Carol of the Bells to Wizard of Winter. I also listened to some varying tracks of the Harry Potter realm ranging from the main theme, hedwigs theme, as well as the quidditch world cup intro from the Goblet Of Fire Movie. I have found no problems with the sound reproduction. Having hooked my pc up to many speakers setups from my garage band days I can say that many speaker systems have forced DACs that compensate for the systems inadequacies(s?) that will add life to a song that isnt there but not let you know so you end up with false views of what a song sounds like. This system does not add anything to the source, so you must give it a dynamic source to get dynamic playback.

I have also run my sirius replay through these in single stereo mode and these speakers again gave a faitful reproduction of the songs as the device outputted them.

Gaming

These speakers played games awesomely, but then again what setup doesn't. The latter part of that statement is no always true however. On an xbox360 the surround sound cinematics on the intro to Call Of Duty 2 was awesome, missiles and bullets whizzing by, explosions behind you, in front of you. In game it is the same.

Counter-Strike Source, a game I know all too well in surround sound from headphone gaming with a pair of 5.1 zalman headphones(6 actual speakers, 3 per side) was as expected with greater immersion with explosions, and actually feeling footsteps more than just hearing them. If you have ever used a properly set up 5.1 system in CS you should be familiar with being called a hacker unless your a run and gunner. When you walk slowly through a hallway and then turn around and headshot a guy who thought he was gonna get the drop on you, priceless. Also these speakers do well with the lower sounds such as when someone pulls out their knife, (a high pitched unsheathing chink) to shame you but you kill them because you heard it.

In short I am not 100% about the lack of midrage I continue to hear about. There is a little warmth missing which I assume is the miI had no issues with any music not playing as desired. Movies play well, and the biggest thing, I have had a proeblem with previous systems. Dialog is perfect audible and isnt lost at lower columes. That is a plague of low end 5.1 systems. This system faithfully reproduces everything I throw at it. Now I just nee to test if it can reproduce some hynagogic notes enough to put me to sleep :). I have had these 3 days now. I will report more when I get a HDA X-Plosion sound card.

Answers to other reviewers. First, I think there is a misconception that good speakers should never distort regardless of how loud you go. This is just silly, the whole reason to get more powerful speakers is so that you can go louder, or better yet so the sound projects more efficiently with the appearance of being uber loud, without distortion. I understand that some uber hifi systems may not distort. But it is my opinion that if a system doesnt distort. That is because they dialed down the final volumes. Listening to these speakers at half volume is more than I think anyone should listen to these unless really spread out if you value the ability to hear in your old age :).

You get what you pay for. The sticker of 400$ is beyond silly which is why the majority of websites charge less than 250. Now if you look at the decoding capabilities coupled with the power rating you get what you pay for. This is not a hifi product and the price makes you aware of that. On the same note these speakers are pretty damned high quality at the price you pay. The receiver is made of plastic, but thats fine by me as I don't feel there is a need for them to put more metal into these than they need because all that can do is make them more expensive.

Buld Quality. The subwoofer if very high duty and very unwieldy. Wear shoes around it :), you will regret it if you don't. The satellites are all the same. But I don't find this matters much, in systems where the center is too much different I find that the center greatly overpowers the rest of the audio. In the masterings of many films this is intended to a degree, but I like how these sound with the equal powering of all the speakers making it easy to dial them all into their place.

Construction Logic is purely crap. I have never understood desktop 5.1 systems in regards to the way they design the rear speakers to be placed on a desktop. Perhaps I am a kook and most people have two tables behind them that are at a good height for proper firing of two rear speakers. I personally dont have that luxury and I wish I understood what the people who are mad abotu the stands were doing. I wouldnt mind voiding the warranty if i could figure out how to get the rear speakers onto a stand. My goal is to have all 5 satellites on stands but I don't know how I am going to achieve that goal at this point. I am also a little peeved with the length of the tethered cable that hooks the receiver to the amp in the subwoofer. I wonder if anyone has attempted to use a vga extension cable despite the warnings not to?

The receiver is a nice design as it gives you a written description of the source versus some systems that just light up in a designated spot to indicate the source.

In spite of all these shortcomings, I recommend these speakers as I find that you still do get what you pay for which is a speaker system that plays audio the way its meant to be heard on a 5.1 system. I do apologize for the format of my review in its lack of technicality. But hey, this is epinions is it not. I am of the opinion that these speakers are great. I purchased mine on newegg for around 257 shipped via UPS 3 Day and they would have been two day but the package coming from Memphis, TN to Las Vegas, NV arrived in Vegas about 2 hours shy of the time the truck finished loading for the days shipments. I didnt expect this system to be perfect is terms of mounting and such, but I did expect decent audio quality and I received as bad of mounting as expected, a little worse in fact as I had no idea what to expect, and I receiver audio quality beyond what I expected, the latter being the most important. Ok enough ramblings, my .02 cents are complete.