Customer Reviews

Logitech Z-5500 THX-Certified 5.1 Digital Surround Sound Speaker System

5 star:		(559)
4 star:		(120)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

These speakers are even better than I read about. The main thing that nobody seems to mention is that these speakers basically have a built-in receiver so you can plug your DVD player or whatever directly into the speakers. This, imo, is so important that all the other competing speaker systems really don't compete. Obviously, it's not as good as having a real receiver and can't amplify as much as an external system, but most people that want to hook these speakers up to their computer and other devices simultaneously, and would like to save space and money, would really appreciate this. The toslink output is the highest quality I've heard. Also, I made the mistake that others have made of removing the screw on the back of one of the speakers, rendering it impossible to put the stand back on. And if you open it to fix the problem, you'll void your warranty, so I have to send it to Logitech to be replaced. So, if you need to put these on a stand, whatever you do don't remove any screws on the speaker.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Oh and Did I mention WOW ?

I have three cables for 5.1 going from my sound card into the box. I have the digital out going from the soundcard, into the logitech for 5.1 dvd movies through my computer. As well i have fiber optic coming out of my sattelite into the setup box so i can listen to 5.1 while watching tv. Maybe not 5.1 but emulate pro logic it sounds great. So im definetly making use of all the inputs on the back of this baby.

This has a lot of features, and different modes you can use. It has Stereo (which is just front l/r speakers outputting sound), Stereo 2(front left/right, rear left/right), Pro logic II Movie (i dunno? Uses the center channel, less of the rears more of the sub, pro logic Music (heavy on the sub, uses all speakers). As well it's easy to scroll through the inputs Coax, Direct 6channel, optical.

The remote it comes with is pretty useful you can adjust volume, sub levels, surround output (dont know what this does yet). It is wicked fun!

I paid $270 shipped from Amazon (forget ripoff COMPUSA), got it in TWO Days. I love audio always have, always will. This was a 5.1 for my computer, but I also wanted 5.1 for movies that I watch in my room.

This comes with cables for analog games which is how games output. However I bought a coaxial for digital out for games, and a fiber optic cable for my sattelite to the box. Total cost through circuit city $70. Total cost through amazon $30. Shop amazon! :)

Initial impression
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Lets just say setup wasen't easy. It is pretty standard, connect one speaker, another speaker, another speaker. it just takes a while to light up everything connect everything. It took me probably 1 1/2 hours, but i took breaks to vacuum and relocate my pc so everything would fit in fine. The speaker cables are big, but my front left wasen't long enough. So i bought a little extension 6' cable so I could hide it nicely. I didn't use any gold connection cable just regular circuit city $4.99 for 6'.

Also this setup is large and man impressive. The sub is massive stands just taller then a 2 liter bottle of coke, and maybe 3 bottles across x 3 1/2 bottles deep.

Games
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I have connected this with the included three direct cables to get 5.1 sound from my games. It works great it's loud, it thumps, and it scared my sister when she was sitting here and a zombie came up behind her in Doom 3. It's loud, it's clear. I dont know about 500 watts, i've had it to max and it's loud, but 500 watts? Who knows, it's really loud and i'm happy with it anyways. Sounds fantastic and as you move around in games i can see sound shift from one speaker to the other, it fills the room great, and if you've never had a nice speaker setup (with a sub) your in for a surprise. This is a lot of speaker, and will easily last 3 years unless you must have the newest and greatest setup every year.

DVD's
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I also have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum. I had initially planned to hookup the front plate which has a Digital Coax out so when I played DVD's it would play 5.1 sound. However that dosen't work, I played with it a lot and it wont work. However, my 5.1 card has a digital output on the back of it, I bought a 0.99 cent mono adapter from radio shack and run a coaxial cable from the digital out of the sound card into the standalone cool set top receiver. Now when I play dvd's on my computer (didn't want to buy an additional dvd player for my room) it outputs 5.1 clean signal to my settop box that came with the logitech and that decodes either a dolby digital or dts signal. Works brilliant. Sound is clear, loud, shakes the walls, shakes the room.

TV
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I've got optical going from sattelite into this baby. Sounds great, emulates 5.1 through pro logic or stereo or stereo2. Works fine works great, sports sound great. I always loved 5.1.

Comparison
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I was torn between this setup and the Klipsch 5.1 Ultra which is similarly priced, and also a 5.1 setup. I ultimately chose these because of the various input connectors on the setup box. If I chose the klipsch i couldn't hookuped my sattelite to it, or my dvd's wouldn't decode in 5.1 they would be strictly analogue. Sound quality wise i have a set of 2.1 klipsch (200 watt)for sale, they sound great, but aren't 5.1.

I also have a 5.1 setup for my home theater a sony 500 watt setup. That's with the big screen. Comparison wise? Hard to say, that one is about 3 years old but still sounds great (paid $600 with receiver). This definetly compares to it, and i'm more tempted to watch movies upstairs because this subwoofer is awesome. However I got the big screen downstairs and it comfortably seats 10 of my buddies so we'll be hanging out downstairs also. So I would say this definetly can go head to head with the home theater in a box $500 setups out there. Im not so sure about the $1500+ setups though. Actually I dont think it will compare to those :)

Conclusion
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Long review I know! Lots to say. This setup kicks ass, sound quality is great and will easily last me a long while. I make use of all the features, am impressed by the sound quality, and thump shake shake cause im a bass kinda guy.

If you want the best, lots of options and I mean lots, lots of connectivity great sound nice thump get this setup. You wont be sorry it looks great, sounds great and will easily outlast 2 computers.

-Neil

After getting the MX1000 laser mouse and the Z-5500 speakers i fell in love with logitech. These speakers produce quality sound, they sound better than the Z-680 my friend has. I have SB Audigy 2zs platinum with front panel and an optical output. I am using Monster THX certified optical cable bought from amazon for $22 and my system rocks. the sound on my computer cost me $470 but it is worth it. Thank you amazon! they shipped it the same day, ordered on Monday and got it on Wednesday. I ordered it when the price was $306.99 then the price dropped to $279.95. I love Amazon, they refunded the difference after I emailed them. The speakers sound VERY clear, no hissing as with the Z-680 and an RCA cable. the subwoofer is huge and you need to have a space for it and it has a strong magnet so you need to keep it at a reasonable distance from your computer and monitor. The speakers cable are not adjustable, but i am guessing you can buy an extension cable if you need to, but the cable is fairly long. the Base of the speakers is adjustable so it fits on the table and on the walls.

I am very impressed with these speakers. I have not yet gotten a digital connection, but I can't wait. The sub is quite powerful, but not as big as so many people mention. I have a little hiss from my front right satellite, but I think I can fix that. I got the speakers refurbished, so that is why they're like that. The controller is very nice to have and I use it all the time, and I'm in a small room. I just like to be adjusting the volume wherever I am. Like others have said, the midrange is a little lacking, but its so small of a problem that it doesn't matter, unless your an audiophile. It would bother you then. The control box is very nice and has quite a bit of good functions. You can select input, the effect of the audio, the settings for the input, the volume level of the Sub, Center speaker, and back two surround speakers, mute, adjust the master volume, and Turn the whole system to standby. Also it can go very loud. I keep my computer volume all the way turned up so I only listen to the speakers turned up about 4 bars. There are 20 total bars and 11 boost bars. I don't know if the speakers can take going that loud, but I know that my ears can't. I don't like listening to music very super loud, but I know that I can anytime I want.

The Subwoofer.
The sub is a ten inch long throw woofer. Looking straight at the woofer, Its 13 inches tall, 13 inches wide, and 18 inches back (including the cooling fins and speaker grill). The cooling fins must be 6 inches away from anything (according to the manual). They are 1.5 inches long, 9 inches tall, and 8 inches wide. There are the five wire connectors for the speakers which are labeled for easy assembly. There is also the connection for the control pod, the power cable, a fuse, and a master power switch on it.

The Satellites
The satellites are 3 inch drivers with a metal spike in the middle that doesn't move. The center speakers stand twists up and down for wall mounting and aiming the speaker. The rest of them only point one way unless you want to wall mount them. Then you just twist the base counterclockwise and it twists up. There are no included screws for wall mounting though.

Speaker Wire length:
Front left/right and center-15'(4.6m)
Back left/right-25'(7.6m)

Direct Connection Cable:
7 feet with three mini connectors on each end.

DSUB cable:
7 feet. This is the cable that connects the control pod to the Subwoofer.

The Remote
The remote has 16 bottons. Power, Test (sends hissing sound through all the speakers one by one), Direct input, Optical input, coax input, effect, settings, sub + and -, center + and -, surround + and -, main volume + and -, and Mute. Its about six inches long and two inches wide. It takes two AAA batteries. Also it doesn't go through objects but it can bounce around if pointed right. I'm not sure how far the remote reaches because I went all the way to the other side of my house and it still worked. Thats more than fifty feet.

I am very happy with my purchase. I only paid [...] dollars for it with free shipping refurbished off of Ebay. It costs [...] at Best Buy so I'm very glad that I found it at that price. I recieved it very fast too. Nothing except for a little bit of hiss out of the front right speaker is wrong with it either. I recommend this product to everyone. :-)

Let me start off first by saying that my experience with Logitech products has been mixed so my review is fairly unbiased. I had a much much smaller 6 piece Logitech setup before this and the subwoofer burned out because it had no ventilation ports (excellent.) However, I bought this set after much research. The way I have my computer set up is kind of like a HTPC, although it sits at a desk. I have a big 27" LCD TV that is great for watching movies so I wanted some speakers that could supplement the experience. I have a motherboard with Dolby Digital support (older Nvidia Soundstorm) so I planned on buying a receiver and some nice home theater speakers. However I changed my mind after reading the reviews on this, and I'm glad I did. It saved me a lot of hassle, and I got a nice integrated system with DTS encoding. As far as sound quality goes, this system is excellent. It is very clear on Half Life 2 and Call of Duty 2, among others. Additionally, when running a DVD through PowerDVD and with DTS enabled, the sound quality is unparalleled for the price. As far as bass output goes, some people have a tendency to exaggerate. At first the bass output is very unimpresive until you tweak some settings. Once you get it figured out, the bass on this setup is king, as far as computer setups go. However, it is not earth shaking like some proclaim. I have a feeling some people have never heard a loud car subwoofer or bigger home theater sub. I will say though, that at about 3/4 volume with bass turned all the way up, all the pictures in my room shake and the disturbance in the living room is very profound. The other great aspect of the sound quality is you can crank it up to max with no distortion. At max volume it is so loud I can't be in my room but it is perfectly loud enough for when having small parties. Being as loud as it is it keeps people from snooping around in my room during these parties :)

There is one somewhat minor problem that leads me to only give it four stars (this may have been mentioned.) The speakers will often make a loud pop noise whenever another electrical device is turned on. Having two roommates, this happens more than I would like. My neighbor, who bought the same speakers after hearing mine, experiences the same issue. There may be a fix for it, I just haven't gotten around to looking. All in all though, I would recommend these speakers.

I have five sets of this system. I buy them for everyone and all of my locations. They are the best quality speaker system I have ever owned and I have owned a lot. However, when I logged in tonight, 11-3-11 to buy two more sets for a girlfriend and my out of town shop, I was blown away, not by the sound but by the idea that these people are trying to now sell this system for nearly 1k when I have bought them over the last four years for less than $350.00. Last system was purchased this summer, before that spring, before that last new years, two sets last summer and the list goes on. I have five sets myself as mentioned and have bought more for my daughter, friends and family. I have paid between $225.00 to $349.00. Now it seems everyone is jacking the price, before christmas is the reason perhaps? All I know is for my price, they are the best, for this price you can buy top of the line polks or a full bose system and still save money getting more power. Do not support these price changing rip off practices. Let these vendors sit and burn with these until they price them more reasonably. This is a perfect example of copy cat marketing. A friend of mine is a retailer in NY, he looked up his price for me and wholesale this system costs him $215.00 as of this posting time. I myself will wait to purchase for less or I will pay the extra shipping and have my buddy in NY order two sets for me.

I, like alot of people, eagerly awaited my arrival of this system. I am quite pleased with the system, but there are a few things I am not fond of.
PROS: VERY LOUD, very good to use as a home theatre system, the control box is very easy to use and the rotary knob is very precise. The subwoofer is HUGE and will shake the room, or in my case, the entire dormitory. Speaker quality is very clear, even when pushed to the limits. The price was astonishing for 1000 watts of power, although, I did not order it from Amazon.

CONS: The subwoofer is huge, thus it does not play rock music very well, as it has no 'kick'. It does play rap, hip hop, or anything where the bass drops ASTONISHINGLY, but this doesnt help me too much. At low volumes, you can hear the sub, but it is not very defined because its so big that it needs alot more power to get it working in its efficiency range. Also, I was wishing that there was a seperate 'subwoofer volume' and 'main volume'. There is a subwoofer control, but that only works like a bass control, playing the bass deeper, but not necessarily louder. In order to get the loud bass, the main speakers also get quite loud, but at the parties we have here, bass is what gets people moving, not high-frequencies.

VERDICT: Although I am still pleased with the system, I do not think that it rivals Kiplisch Ultra line of speakers. My roommate has Kiplisch Ultra 2.1's, and although my sound quality is better, and louder, his subwoofer makes up for the difference, easily playing all kinds of music with no need to change equalizers, and his also has 2 seperate volume controls for main speakers and subwoofer. Its little extras like that that make the difference. It is a great system, but if you are a music lover, this might not be the best system, however for an all around system, pricewise, it is a good deal.

I am very happy with these speakers. I bought them for my computer, but I decided to use them for my TV which is in a different room. I am not too impressed with them for playing music, however they are great for watching dvds in surround sound. I would have given them 5 stars, but I noticed a lack of highs. Sometimes the speakers sound like they are clipping when a high frequency sound is emited. These speakers are VERY clear and the bass definatley rattles the windows of my house. If you are buying speakers for movies and gaming these are the speakers for you. If you are going to be soley using them for music I would look elsewhere. Overall, I am very satisfied.

Excellent speakers, see the other reviews.

but... BEWARE! DO NOT TRY TO UNSCREW THE SATELLITE STANDS FROM THE SPEAKERS. There is a small nut inside the speaker that comes loose if you take the screw out. Then you can no longer screw the stand back onto the speaker. And you have a loose nut rolling around inside the speaker.

This happened to me. I removed the stand thinking it might be easier to mount the stand onto the wall first. If you do accidentaly do this, there is some hope though. Take off the speaker's grill and remove the rummer grommets (where the grill would "plug" into) using some pliers. You will see 4 screws under the grommets. Remove all 4. You can then pry the speaker open (it will require some force, as there is some kind of glue holding the two halves together). Be careful and don't use a screwdriver if you dont want to mess up the paint job. I just used my hands. Took me about 2 minutes of wiggling to get the thing apart. After that, I found the nut rolling around in the speaker and was able to screw the stand back into the casing.

I hope this review saves somebody from making the same mistake I did, or helps somebody fix their speaker stands.

Bad speaker stand design, Logitech. Great speakers otherwise.

I just got my Z5500 speakers about a week ago, and here are my first impressions...

Sound: Overall, for the price, the sound is good. Like other reviews have said, the midrange is weak, and they are not the best speakers for listening to music. Movies sound great so far. I've watched both Fellowship of the Ring DVD up-converted on a Blu-Ray player, and Batman Begins blu-ray, both sounded wonderful. Cable length is probably enough for most applications, but you can always use regular speaker wire if you need longer wire runs. It's probably a good idea to upgrade the wires anyway, but I haven't yet. Despite the subwoofer's huge size, I was a bit disappointed in the bass it puts out. I have it set up in a corner against two walls, and it still doesn't really impress me. It's ok for movies, but some music sounds a bit flat.

Appearance: The Z-5500 system looks good, blending in with most black/silver A/V equipment. Take note though, the sub is HUGE! Read the specifications for it and imagine where you will put it. It's not a small PC speaker set sub like you may be used to. The receiver thingy is also pretty large, although it doesn't really look like it in the picture.

Cons: There are several things about this system that have annoyed me so far, with no realistic fix, which is why I'm only giving it three stars. First, the stands on the surround speakers are a bit tricky to remove. I wanted to mount them to speaker stands, and they look silly having a stand on top of a stand. At a glance, you just have to remove a Philips head screw, but they have filled the groove with epoxy to prevent you from doing this. I couldn't figure out why, so I used some needle nose pliers to get the screw loose, then I realized why they don't want you taking it off. I heard this rattle inside the speaker once the stand was free... There is a hex nut that comes loose after the screw is removed! What a poor design. To get the hex nut out, (and you will want to or hear it bouncing around during playback), take the grill off, take the needle nose pliers and remove the rubber grill holders, and remove the four screws to take the speaker apart. You may have to also loosen the two screws in back that secure the wire holders. Get the nut out, and reassemble. Now you have an extra hole in your speaker!

The other nuances are that there is no auto standby feature. I have a 14 year old set of Sony speakers that can detect when there is an active source hooked up to it to save power. These new ones don't. Also, there is no way to dim the display that I can find, and it's too bright in a dark room while watching a movie. Another annoying thing is that when I listen to digital music from my cable provider, it often hiccups every time I change the music channel, and the rear speakers turn off. Changing the source and changing it back fixes it, but it happens about every time. If you are going to hook up an Ipod or PC to it with the 1/8" mini jack, be ready to hear a LOT of hum coming from all speakers, especially the center. The remote is also a pain; most universal remotes I've tried cannot control the volume on this, so you have to use the small, unlit remote. It may also be a challenge for some to remember which Input each device is on. For example, if your cable DVR is on coax and your blu-ray is on optical, you just have to remember that. I taped some small labels to the remote so that the electronically challenged member of my family can switch between devices with some clarity.

Other thoughts: This is not any fault of Logitech by any means, just a big hiccup in technology that I discovered the hard way. My plan was to hook up both my cable HD-DVR and Blu-Ray player to my TV using HDMI cables, and output the audio to the Z-5500 using an optical digital out cable. Easy enough, and I would never have to change the input on the speakers. The Cable DVR worked great; however, the Blu-Ray has absolutely no sound delivered to the Z5500, regardless of setting. Some Google research has taught me that while you would think any new HDTV would pass along any audio coming in from HDMI out through the optical, it's just not true. Usually only Cable 5.1 gets passed on, but others don't. So if you are planning on hooking up your PS3, Xbox, and DVR to the TV via HDMI and outputting the sound to the Z5500 via one optical cable, get ready to be disappointed. It just doesn't work. Some TVs may support this, but my new Sharp 52" LCD doesn't. To fix it, I had to use optical for the blu-ray, and coax for the DVR, which now means I must change the input not only on my TV, but also on the receiver every time I change between them. Again no fault of Logitech, but you may quickly run out of inputs on this system. I don't have any other devices yet, but if I do get even one more, I'll have nowhere to hook up the sound cable, unless it's a PC using the three mini plugs.

Overall the systems works great for the money, but be aware you may quickly run out of inputs on this system. The sound is enough to fill a fairly large room, but be aware of some shortcomings with this system.