Logitech Z5500 Digital PC Multimedia Home Theatre Speaker System - 505 Watt (Total)

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

Great bit of kit, but things to be aware of.

There's no denying how great this system looks and how fantastic it sounds. Any of the other reviews will tell you that.
I didn't buy this to compliment my desktop pc. I bought it to be central to my bedroom home cinema experience.
With that purpose in mind, there are a few things to mindful of before parting with your hard earned cash, but it's worth pointing out that these same niggles could be true of almost all 'desktop sound systems' if you try to use them as a 'small scale' home cinema system.
Firstly, as you would have read before, the sub is huge. I considered this before buying, but it's only when you get it out of the box you can truly appreciate how huge. You then have the dilemma of where to put it.
You are restricted in your choices by the fact that the sub must be at least 60cm away from other electrical equipment to avoid interference/damage but can be no more than 2 metres away from the Sound Touch control centre (the box with the volume knob on).
This also then gives you the potential problem of where to site the Sound Touch control centre.
The satellite speakers seem to be very directional. That is to say, if you point them directly at you, you get pin sharp crystal clear sound with plenty of top end. If they're not pointing directly at you, you do loose a bit of clarity and top end. This is only noticeable however if you keep comparing the two. I don't have them pointing directly at me and I am still very happy with the sound.
This brings me on to the next consideration.
The speakers are wall mountable, but you cannot angle them point to where you want. You are stuck with where they want to point. This clearly highlights my point above even more.
A final word of caution is this...
At the centre of my set up is my windows media center. Something of extreme annoyance is the fact that on my system some of the buttons on the remote control for the Logitech have undesirable effects on my media center. For example, if I press the volume down button on the Logitech, it is the equivalent of pressing the back button on the MCE remote. More of a problem is pressing the input source on the Logitech remote to 'coaxial' (which is how my MCE is connected to it). When I press this button it shuts down my MCE PC! How annoying is that!
I've done a quick bit of googling into this and found no-one else with this problem yet, so this could just be me, but worth you noting.

I of course give this five stars, as it is well deserved. I hope you haven't found my review negative as there are many, many positives about this system. But you can of course read those on every other review on this site. I wanted to give you some information that perhaps isn't mentioned at all or at least very often.

Final word.
I'm really pleased I bought this system, despite the few annoyances I have with it, I certainly wouldn't give it back!
Playing XBOX360 through it is just brilliant!

(4 out of 5)

Excellent Piece of Hardware but does have problems.

I know most of you that are reading this have probably heard nothing but praise for this nifty piece of hardware, I can assure that, that is true. however those reviewers may not understand electronics or sounds that well.
First off, if you order this (and you should!!) the box you get it in is absolutly gigantic! its so big that it did not fit through my front door, this is because of the subwoofer (subwoofer is bigger than my pc case! width and height! and i have a medium tower). Sound experience is nothing but out of this world! have it on half volume and you can hear it anywhere in the house, have in on full volume it can filter out nearly 100% of all sounds throughout your house as well as race your LCD monitor across the table! Definatly one worth owning for sound ethuastics or those who have money to burn.
HOWEVER- because the subwoofer is gigantic, it creates a deadly EM (electro-magnetic) field, meaning if you put your pc within 2 feet of the subwoofer or any piece of electronics no matter what it is you can cause some serious damage, especially if its prolonged contact. The field is so strong that it increases EMI coming from the power lines that can sometimes create random pops or puffs of sound to your speakers both soft and hard sounds.
The length of wire for each speaker is more than long enough to accomodate your room, but the master control unit to the subwoofer system has a limited cable.
Despite the amazing quality in sound and thx certified it is definatly worth owning if you can afford it. BUT if you buy this hardware YOU MUST purchase/own a surge protector that can protect the sound from increased EMI fields as well as have enough room so that the EM field within the woofer doesn't make contact with your pc equipment. If you don't you will experience mayhem poofs and puffs coming from your speakers and may risk damage to other components.
This is why i rated it 4 out 5 stars. Amazing but Dangerous!

(5 out of 5)

Wow!

Earth-shaking and definatly mind-blowing. Playing rnb music on this really creates a whole new listening experience. Every vocal, mid and bass-line is heard with the most crisp of sound. Definatly recommend to anyone.
Only downside I would say is you need about 3 other cables just to plug the damn thing into a TV (assuming it doesnt have a digital optical or digital coaxial out).

(5 out of 5)

Best speakers i have heard

I have been looking round for speakers for weeks and took the plunge for these even though they are pricey and i think these are great, my audio pleasure has been enhanced immeasurably.

I currently have these speakers connected to my TV via phono cables to a spitter into the line in, the speakers decode everyday programmes into dolby surround which I thought was excellent and sounded good until, i optically connected my X box to play a 5.1 digital dvd and this is as crystal clear as the cinema.

I can't believe the quality of these speakers, i also connected my PC to these using the three 3.5mm jacks and again these where alot more crisp than my current cambridgeworks 5.1 surround sound.

I found a way of connecting my audigy card via coax cable to a mono minijack(dont use stereo to carry a digital input it wont work)and turned off encoding from my audigy to let the speakers do the work and you have again digital quality coming from your computer providing the source is digital e.g a movie or game.

I would recommend these speakers to anyone who appreciates quality.

(5 out of 5)

Awesome speakers at an affordable price.

I bought these a couple of weeks back. the courier driver looked a little strained as he brought these to the doorstep.
The weight of around 25KG wasn't so much a problem, but taking a look at the subwooofer it was a little bit of a shock seeing how sizeable it is. It measures 17"x13"x13". At least it will suit being positioned pretty well anywhere in the room in an average sized room.
Upon setting the unit up in around 20 minutes and connecting the optical port to an Xbox 360, I feel the size and weight of the unit pale away into insignificence. The sound is simply awesome for a £200 unit. I can't make comparisons with a devoted separates system, but I can compare this with any of the systems to be heard in the average UK retailers. It's far superior. The base from the sub can be as subtle or as pronounced as you like.
Waiting a day or so for my neighbours to leave their house, i turned this up to around half volume. what an experience! Sound is well seperated from all of the speakers and it seems no matter what's thrown at it, be it connecting a dvd player, games console, pc, mp3 player or other device the levels can be adjusted in many ways to achieve the sound you want.
2 days into my experience with this unit, the control panel broke. It started blowing the fuse in the back of the sub, then finally packed up altogether. sorely dissapointed, I phoned Logitech UK with the problem. A little wait on their support line before I got a rather helpful guy to explain the problem to. He decided that it indeed was a fault on the unit and then offered to replace the whole system. It arrived from Holland within 2 days and fingers crossed has been fine since.
All in all, logitech have found a life long customer for their excellent service and if they continue to produce products like this at these affordable prices they deserve it!