Home > Consumer Reviews > Logitech Z-5500 THX-Certified 505-Watt 5.1 Digital Surround Sound Speaker System

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.

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.

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

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 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. :-)