seamonkey420's Full Review: Logitech Z-5500 5 Speakers
Intro
Well, as my other reviews/epinions show, i'm a multimedia junkie. most of my upgrades for my pc usually are to enhance this experience. I had previously owned the Altec Lansing 4.1 set (looked very stylish and had decent sound but not great or even 5.1).
So finally, i decided its time to go Dolby Digital. My number one priority of the next speaker system was to have SPDIF inputs (analog and digital) and to be pure Dolby compatible. After searching around and checking reviews, i ordered logitech's Z-680 5.1 system.
The main things that made me buy it was the inputs (pdif, 5.1 analog, standard .5mm input, headphone out, front line in) and the built in THX/DTS/Dolby Digital decoder.
Installation
Unpacked the system and hooked it up. Hooking it up took some time since i wanted to place my speakers in the recommended layout (to get the FULL experience), after an hour of fun cable running and speaker mounting i hooked up the analog spdif cable and off we go! If you have onboard 5.1 sound, you will need to enable that and then hook up the appropriate cables w/your motherboards sound outputs.
The front of the main unit has a line-in and headphone jacks; which is nice for when you want to just put on the headphones and listen for a while or need to hook up another audio source quickly.
Using/Sound Quality
Loaded up PowerDVD and changed my audio to spdif and popped in my star wars 2. WHOA... the intro rolls in and wow, this is what i have been missing!.. finally turn up the sub about 6 notches and i can feel teh explosions and the lightsaber swipes.. in a really small room this system might be overkill; but for a medium sized bedroom or living room it holds it own..
You get options on the main unit for Volume, Subwoofer, Center Channel, Surround Speaker volume controls and other various settings for each different environment. Not the most options i've seen but still enough to let you tweak your sound right.
i have no real complaints on this systme except for the lcd.. its hard to see at most angles; you have to be at a certain angle to really see; but then again after a week or so you will know the menus and buttons like any receiver..
The remote control works really well and has buttons for every feature (always a bonus) so you can change any setting using it.
games sound great, i play a lot of BF:1942 w/the desertcombat mod and the game is so much more intense to play.
If you do not have dolby or spdif on your pc or whatnot, the analog inputs sound good too; there are a 4 preset virtual environments: normal, x2 stereo, movie, music.
Looks
This is a rather subjective topic, but I really like the look and design of the system. I have taken the speaker grills off to get a more modern look. The mounts are very easy to.. mount. :) and they are very sturdy; no cheap feel to them.
So a great 5.1 PC dolby system in my opinion. It has a great subwoofer and since all the speakers are voicematched, you get a very high quality dolby/dts/thx experience! It looks great and has a ton of input options and a nice remote. Unless you need to have 7.1 or 8.1 sound, i would recommend this system to any avid gamer or movie/tv junkie.
The result is the Logitech Z-5500 Digital, a THX-certified, 500-watt 5.1 surround sound speaker system that offers everything you could possibly want....More at PCNation
Shipping from $48.65. Logitech Z-5500 - 5.1 (Six Piece) 505 watts RMS Computer Speaker System with THX and Dolby Digital SupportMore at B&H Photo-Video-Pro Audio
The Logitech Z-5500 speaker system is for gamers and audio visual connoisseurs who require top of the line audio performance. 505-watts of 5.1 digital...More at Nu-Image Corporation
The Logitech Z-5500 speaker system is for gamers and audio visual connoisseurs who require top of the line audio performance. 505-watts of 5.1 digital...More at eBay
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.