My z680's are dead!!

Y

Yakyb

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2008
Messages
474
i thought a shoe in replacement would be the z5500's however after reading a couple of threads im not to sure.

what would you advice be?

i was running a set of z680's on a onboard sound controller froma abit ip35e using Vista 64 (will move to 7 when it comes out)

so would like to upgrade
i was thinking of just getting the z5500's and being done with it but what is your advice please guys. is it worth getting a sound card?

for what its worth i listen to loud metal music, horror films and RPG games primarily.

my budget is the price of the z5500's and maybe £50 ~$75 for the sound card


thanks for any advice ( i havnt been keeping up to date with sound technologies)
 
ashmedai said:
Let me give you a competing review, or more specifically, a little physics.

The drivers on those z5500 sats are what, 2"? Using Pi * radius squared, you get the area. Compare 4 * Pi for those 2" drivers to say 16 * Pi for 4" drivers or 25 * Pi for 5" drivers. For high frequency stuff, it's all coming off the tweeter, and because of the short wavelength it doesn't need a large area in order to generate adequate volume with low distortion. We're going to assume every speaker builder buys a good quality tweeter - this isn't exactly true, but close enough. Now, what about longer-wavelength sound waves - midrange and lower? Well...no matter how well built they are, it's going to have serious trouble displacing enough air with a puny 2" driver without introducing serious distortion.

But what about the sub, you ask? Well, firstly, "kit subs" almost universally suck. Secondly, how is one undersized sub going to make up for five sats all not doing their job? It's not, that's how.

Oh, and the z5500 sats don't have seperate tweeters and midwoofers, just this sort of shared midtweeter thing. Which I've seen done right, it's possible, but in this case...no. Add to this the little thin housings they stick the sat drivers in - there's this thing called a resonant mode which can introduce more distortion, and a well-made cabinet helps keep these from being an issue. I wonder how the z5500 does it? Oh wait...

So...toss those Newegg reviews & so forth. The z5500 is not that hot. In fact, they pretty much suck, especially for music & videos...gaming, maybe you want 5.1 badly and are ambiguous about good sound quality, and find them on a nice sale...who knows. But new, on a $300 budget? Heck no.

Here are two alternative starting points - both using "passive" speakers which will require amplification (a low-budget receiver is quite adequate for this).

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards...TOKEN=54811895

http://www.thespeakercompany.com/LCR...tem-P63C7.aspx (a little high, I believe a bit of a quality advantage over the first)

There are other options at that point. More, if you want 2.0 or 2.1 instead. A receiver to run 5.1/passive from can be had under $100 shipped with a bit of shopping - not a great one, but enough for the job, and the system will hose the z5500s without trouble.

(I really need to stick this somewhere and just paste it instead of typing it up new repeatedly...you'd be surprised how often "hey z5500s are good, right?" comes up. Good marketing I guess...people buy Bose too, after all.)__________________
Click to expand...


well having read this it looks like i may need a little more help anyone want to help me spend £300 :)
 
The z-5500 will be as good or better than your 680s, but if you're looking for a real upgrade, I'd suggest doing a little more research and investing in a receiver + speaker setup. Toss in a sound card with DDL and you're good to go (your onboard might already support DDL).

If you want to be more budget conscious now, you could go for a cheap sound card that does DDL (Any Audigy 2 or X-Fi with digital out, several other brands), a receiver, and a 2.0 or 2.1 setup. Then you could add the surrounds later.
 
I wouldn't pay more than ~200 US$ for z-5500s. I think they are okay for that price. If you have more money go ahead and spend more for nicer speakers.
 
i just want to get the most for my money to be honest
5.1 setup for around £300 (~$400) are you saying the z5500's are not the way to go
 
You can find better a 5.1 speaker system for 400US$. If you find them for ~200US$ the Z-5500 are okay for that price but I would not pay much more for them.
 
do you have any suggestions without wanting to sound lazy, i really do not know where to start!

will i need an amp?
what is the best output to use from my pc?
is a sound card necessary?


as i said not so hot with the audio i gave previously been fairly happy with my z680's using the standard 3*analog outputs on either a audigy 2zs or onboard, i would really like to use this oppurtunity to to get the most for my money and learn a bit about audio at the same time
 
If you were happy with your z680's you should at least check out the z5500. I'm not a fan, but they're your ears :)

Can you do 2.0 or 2.1, or are you set on 5.1 speakers? If the former, then there are excellent powered speakers to be had out there, which wouldn't require you to buy a receiver. You could get two sets of powered bookshelfs and a little sub in your price range, which would give you 4.1

Honestly, the options are endless. You just need to decide how much you want to mess with it and how many satellites/subs you want. Last time I looked, it was more expensive to do a 5.1 setup with bookshelfs with or without the receiver unless you've got stuff you can use laying around. You'll definitely get a lot better sound though.

Seems like a lot of people are starting out 2.0 or 2.1 and then growing as necessary.
 
well this is only for a simple gaming setup so was going to go 5.1 for about £300 from the offset and not upgrade.

im willing to fiddle around if people genuinely think i can get a better 5.1 system for the money

question is can you get a better 5.1 setup for the pc for £300 bearing in mind i am starting from scratch


i have a media centre downstairs that i plan on investing serious money in and by starting off 2.1 then moving to 5.1
 
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