Why does everyone hate the z5500s?

Digital Viper-X- said:
I have a decent sized room probably 20 x 12 or so and I'm using an 8" sub and for HT and music it's more then enough, really how much bass do you need, does it need to overpower everything else? in that case maybe you you do need a 12"
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I seriously doubt you are fully satisfied with an 8" for true HT, unless your standards are actually that low. Even that 8" sub (minivee) with 1000W RMS barely reaches 30Hz and thats with significant drop off. Without a really nice amp to get everything out of an 8" woofer you're looking at a sub that barely moves any air even in the 40s. Watch any of the noted subwoofer test movies, i.e. pod emerge scene from War of the Worlds, and the limitations will be immediately obvious. My speakers match my sub perfectly, if you can say the same with your 8" woofer and bookshelves, than that's really saying something about the limitations of your speakers.
 
Well, depends on the room setup. I think an 8" is fine if you're watching movies from your desk and computer. But you're right. If you're watching a movie from the couch and the TV is over 10 feet away, the sub will be worked really hard to play good rumblings... unless you have tiled floors or something.
 
Is not only "rumbling" but the really LFE information would be lost. No way you are going to get the good stuff near the 20hz or even lower area.
When AV123 (company I used to work for) had the x-sub, it was highly regarded and used for movies as well but I was always clear to mention that it would deliver very nice tight bass down to around 27Hz in room @ -3db. That way customers knew up front what to expect.
Regards
 
alg7_munif said:
What new HTiB that costs the same or less than Z-5500 but sounds better? People keep mentioning about these HTiBs but don't give an example. Btw I said new, if you want to compare with used speakers, why don't you compare with used Z-5500 as well.
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Go to your local electronics store, and look at any of the low end Onkyo or Panasonic models... In all likelyhood for $250-300 they're much better than a set of Z-5500's (and will definitely eclipse them as far as connectivity options). The sad thing is, those HTiB sets pack even more value into the box (a receiver + DVD player w/upconversion, etc.) and they're still somewhat overpriced in some cases, just not as overpriced and mega-overhyped like the Z-5500s are. /shrug It's still a compromise though...

You're still better off piecing it together yourself in the long run, even if it costs more. Or going with a set of bookshelves 'till you can go surround, or simply opting for a set of 2.0 active monitors (w/o or w/o subwoofer) if you're mostly listening to music on them. The only way the Z-5500's provide any kind of value are if you are primarily a gamer and don't use them for much else, and you're paying $200-ish, that's about it.

jterp7 said:
true..but I'm not sure I'd want the kind of active monitors and sub that can be had for 250 combined..that sounds like it would have more compromises than a HTIB to me. Cheap 8" subs are not worth it either IMO.
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Well, on the sub I'd agree... But you can always upgrade from something like an ESW-8 to something else later and keep the monitors though (as far as using them w/the PC or in a bedroom where you don't need surround, etc).
 
Impulse said:
Go to your local electronics store, and look at any of the low end Onkyo or Panasonic models... In all likelyhood for $250-300 they're much better than a set of Z-5500's (and will definitely eclipse them as far as connectivity options). The sad thing is, those HTiB sets pack even more value into the box (a receiver + DVD player w/upconversion, etc.) and they're still somewhat overpriced in some cases, just not as overpriced and mega-overhyped like the Z-5500s are. /shrug It's still a compromise though...

You're still better off piecing it together yourself in the long run, even if it costs more. Or going with a set of bookshelves 'till you can go surround, or simply opting for a set of 2.0 active monitors (w/o or w/o subwoofer) if you're mostly listening to music on them. The only way the Z-5500's provide any kind of value are if you are primarily a gamer and don't use them for much else, and you're paying $200-ish, that's about it.



Well, on the sub I'd agree... But you can always upgrade from something like an ESW-8 to something else later and keep the monitors though (as far as using them w/the PC or in a bedroom where you don't need surround, etc).
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You mean those HTiBs with dinky satellites that are smaller than the satellites of the Z-5500 and a subwoofer that is smaller than my bookshelf speaker? I'll take the Z-5500 anytime over those cheap HTiBs.
 
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logitech z5500 easily the best sub $500 system you will ever find for all time
 
logitech z5500 is easily the best system you will ever find no matter what
 
Pretty sure they all were... Hence the 'for all time' and 'no matter what', sarcasm is not your strong suit is it? :p (either that or I'm hopelessly more optimistic!)
 
jterp7 said:
I seriously doubt you are fully satisfied with an 8" for true HT, unless your standards are actually that low. Even that 8" sub (minivee) with 1000W RMS barely reaches 30Hz and thats with significant drop off. Without a really nice amp to get everything out of an 8" woofer you're looking at a sub that barely moves any air even in the 40s. Watch any of the noted subwoofer test movies, i.e. pod emerge scene from War of the Worlds, and the limitations will be immediately obvious. My speakers match my sub perfectly, if you can say the same with your 8" woofer and bookshelves, than that's really saying something about the limitations of your speakers.
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I sit about 6 feet from my TV, I have set of paradigm(not bookshelfs) but fairly big, I'm pretty sure they're 8" no idea what they are as the tag was removed, but they sound great :) I'm talking about someone coming from a logitech Z5500 setup.

My room is "hard" ? I dunno spaceman was explaining it to me, basement, hardwood floors, no carpets
 
Impulse said:
Pretty sure they all were... Hence the 'for all time' and 'no matter what', sarcasm is not your strong suit is it? :p (either that or I'm hopelessly more optimistic!)
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With this forum and those speakers I can never tell...
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
I sit about 6 feet from my TV, I have set of paradigm(not bookshelfs) but fairly big, I'm pretty sure they're 8" no idea what they are as the tag was removed, but they sound great :) I'm talking about someone coming from a logitech Z5500 setup.

My room is "hard" ? I dunno spaceman was explaining it to me, basement, hardwood floors, no carpets
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Oh yeah, then a good 8" is fine. I mean, 10" or more would have been better, but the 8" will do with your room acoustics and you sitting only 6' away.
 
GJSNeptune said:
I think Eminem recorded his new album with a set of Logitech z-5550.
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LOL. I wouldn't doubt it.

Also, Criccio, I think the rest were all kidding too.. at least I hope.

These random tards who pop in and say that, should really come back to see what people say about it.

In ending,

Z-5500 are best sub $100,000. Fact.
 
What do you do if your sub blows on a HTiB or custom? Get an upgrade.
What about a front channel? Upgrade

What about the Zomg-5500s? Put em up on craigslist. Thats where you get top dollar for the high end stuff, like the 5500's. :D

Never again will I go with "PC speakers". I am just using the Mirage Nanosats, which are as small as the logitechs, but the sound quality is 1000x better to my ears.
 
The 5500 take way too much heat. They are PC speakers, which are 'good' for gaming. If you have a budget of 200, these will serve you well. Unless Logitech is pushing the Z5500 as audiiophile, high end speaker system, then the bashing is warranted. But I don't see that. Just compare the Z5500 to other 5.1 PC speaker systems in the same price range. Before I turned into a audiophile, the 680s served me very well for gaming and movies.. I utterly loved them.. When I opened my eyes to audio, they became less impressive, and gave them to a friend..BUT i will always have fond memories of my 680..They enriched my gaming experience and made DVDs come alive.
 
kool bubba ice said:
The 5500 take way too much heat. They are PC speakers, which are 'good' for gaming. If you have a budget of 200, these will serve you well. Unless Logitech is pushing the Z5500 as audiiophile, high end speaker system, then the bashing is warranted. But I don't see that. Just compare the Z5500 to other 5.1 PC speaker systems in the same price range. Before I turned into a audiophile, the 680s served me very well for gaming and movies.. I utterly loved them.. When I opened my eyes to audio, they became less impressive, and gave them to a friend..BUT i will always have fond memories of my 680..They enriched my gaming experience and made DVDs come alive.
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Most people think they are the *BEST* speakers EVAR. Like, for music, they are garbage.

I completely agree about the gaming part. But even then, there are some speakers (minus 5.1) that are also great in that price range for gaming, and if not, then headphones which trump both usually.

That IS the problem, a lot of people think they are high end, top stuff. People refer to them as "audiophile" quality on reviews on New Egg/NCIX/Tiger Direct. Also, Logitech's commercial for them is around a TV set, not a computer, from what I remembered. They were advertised as being a 5.1 system not dedicated to the PC.
 
I think for what the Z5500's are and what I paid (~$230) a couple years ago, they were the best 5.1 PC-based speakers I could get. I would hardly recommend them for home theater use but I think they're great for something that you can sit at your computer area and not have taking up a ton of space. As for the sound quality, the mids aren't great but they definitely sound better than crappy cube speakers and the subwoofer isn't bad but it probably lacks most in the under-40Hz range.

My guess is that they have the subwoofer tuned to fill in for the mids; I remember when I first bought the Z5500 (and put my home theater stuff in the living room), playing Oblivion I could hear my footsteps in the woofer and I hated that. I eventually sorted that out... or got used to it. There were also those crystals in the Shivering Isles that had some crazy low hum to them that would play well from my' Polk Audio 12" but were barely audible with the Z5500's sub.

If I had the extra cash I'd now be willing to go with the $500 Onkyo 7.1 HTIB package and if I was loaded I'd have a pieced-together setup because nothing beats full-range speakers!
 
Z-5500's are plastic consumer garbage. They sound like my little sisters pink boom box while she and her friends draw chalk animals on the sidewalk.

The plastic enclosures leak like a sieve, the amp is dirty and sounds like crap, the poorly constructed driver distorts easily with any dynamic sounds. They are only really good for bleeps and bloops and playing poorly encoded 128k mp3s too loud. You could probably game with them if you don't mind the sound though. The sub is boomy and it tries to play too high.
 
bobdole369 said:
The sub is boomy and it tries to play too high.
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Ugh, that's my biggest recent pet peeve. I went from 2.0 to 2.1 recently and I have been messing around with the subwoofer. The sub sounds like puke when it plays too high. Thank god I can control the crossover frequency else I would have to shoot somebody.
 
bobdole369 said:
Z-5500's are plastic consumer garbage. They sound like my little sisters pink boom box while she and her friends draw chalk animals on the sidewalk.

The plastic enclosures leak like a sieve, the amp is dirty and sounds like crap, the poorly constructed driver distorts easily with any dynamic sounds. They are only really good for bleeps and bloops and playing poorly encoded 128k mp3s too loud. You could probably game with them if you don't mind the sound though. The sub is boomy and it tries to play too high.
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same here, but my sister doesn't draw chalk animals on sidewalks..

i'll never use another set of "pc speakers". at least get a cheap receiver and start from there, big or small.. either get a set of sat's and a sub, or a good set of stereo speakers..
 
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