Z5500 as HT. Rear softer than front

C

Chris

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 16, 2002
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have Logitech Z-5500 that I use for home-theatre.
My problem is the rear speakers are quite softer than the front speakers. In a real HT setup, aren't they supposed to be equally loud ?
 
how do you have them hooked up, and what settings do you have it on?
 
Settings. Its all about settings with the 5500's. If you have them hooked to an HTPC and sound card such as the X-Fi, there are multiple settings to and adjustments to output them at in software, effectively making the surround speakers loud or soft. If you have them hooked to a receiver, the same thing should apply and plus you should try the settings button on the remote module if all else fails.
 
I wonder what volume setting do people usually use to watch their "noisy" movie (war, etc.), and what's your room size ?
My room is about 3 x 4 meters

People say Z-5500 is doom loud, but I actually have to set 80% volume most of the time to get adequately loud. It's much less powerful than I thought. I know I can BOOST the sound further, but I always assume this is only a trick setting that actually pushes the speaker beyond its rated power? Logitech also seems to hide this setting. If this considered, for a 500W RMS speaker, the normal volume range 10-100% is not actually very loud.
 
Chris said:
I wonder what volume setting do people usually use to watch their "noisy" movie (war, etc.), and what's your room size ?
My room is about 3 x 4 meters

People say Z-5500 is doom loud, but I actually have to set 80% volume most of the time to get adequately loud. It's much less powerful than I thought. I know I can BOOST the sound further, but I always assume this is only a trick setting that actually pushes the speaker beyond its rated power? Logitech also seems to hide this setting. If this considered, for a 500W RMS speaker, the normal volume range 10-100% is not actually very loud.
Click to expand...

If you have to set the volume at 80% to watch movies, the sources you are listening to must be recorded extremely low. I use the Z5500s as well in my apartment hooked up to my cable box, computer, and HD DVD player. I set up the distance to each speaker in the computer and HD DVD player and have not touched the settings since then.
 
Does the sound coming from a soundcard ALWAYS amplified ?
I mean, is this true for all soundcards in computer ?
Why? Aren't most pc speakers are active anyway?

If I have my Z-5500 connected to a dvd player, and the sound is much quieter than on PC at the same volume setting (because no soundcard amplification), can I say that it is safer to put louder volume on the speaker ?
 
I don't use any soundcard because my Z-5500 is connected only to my DVD player.
The sound is not as loud as people say, because no amplification like what you get in a soundcard.
 
Hmmm. I heard from some guy a while ago that with the z-5500 you were able to adjust the volume for each speaker. If this is true, you might lower the volume for the front speakers, so it matches the rear ones. And then raise you overall volume. That way they are all the same.
That's pretty similar what I'm doing with my speakers now (NOT z-5500). I lower the volume of all 4 speakers by -5dB, and then raise the overall volume. That way I get better sound out of my center channel.
Anyways, how far away do you have those rear speakers that they sound softer? That might be a reason.
 
Actually very near, about 3 feet.
Yes I can increase the rear speaker volume, but it is still much softer even at max setting.
I think something is wrong with my speakers. The rear speakers are supposed to be softer than the fronts, but certainly not so soft that I can hardly hear them.
 
Chris said:
Actually very near, about 3 feet.
Yes I can increase the rear speaker volume, but it is still much softer even at max setting.
I think something is wrong with my speakers. The rear speakers are supposed to be softer than the fronts, but certainly not so soft that I can hardly hear them.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that is really close. And even at max you have problem hearing the rear speakers...hmm.. yeah, sounds like they might be defective. Stuff happens.

Have you tried putting it in a PC? and if so, do you get the same results.
If you do, you might have defective speakers, because If you say that you can barely hear it at MAX, then there is something wrong.
 
Which input are you using? Make sure the switch on the back of the control pod is set properly. Also, all of the amplification is done within the Z5500 sub/amp. Your sound card generally does not do any real amplification.
 
Chris said:
I wonder what volume setting do people usually use to watch their "noisy" movie (war, etc.), and what's your room size ?
My room is about 3 x 4 meters

People say Z-5500 is doom loud, but I actually have to set 80% volume most of the time to get adequately loud. It's much less powerful than I thought. I know I can BOOST the sound further, but I always assume this is only a trick setting that actually pushes the speaker beyond its rated power? Logitech also seems to hide this setting. If this considered, for a 500W RMS speaker, the normal volume range 10-100% is not actually very loud.
Click to expand...

I thought this was just me, but I have the same problem. I had the Z-5500's orginally hooked up to a XBOX 360 through a fiber optic cable and the sound level's were not that impressive. At 50% it was not that loud, and at about 80% I noticed little difference.

I then hooked them up to a dell onboard pc soundcard and they were a little louder than when they were on the 360, not by much though. I have not tested them on a decent sound card as of yet though. I use to have a old set of 5.1 logitech's back in the day (real old set) with a old school sound blaster card (not to sure of the specs,this was probally in 99-00) but they were a lot lounder than my current z-5500. I made a thread a while ago on a different forum about it, some idiot said it was the way logitech makes there new speakers.. which I highly doubt.

Edit: Im gona try the speakers on my onboard sound on a DFI Ultra-D, post back with results soon.

Chris said:
have Logitech Z-5500 that I use for home-theatre.
My problem is the rear speakers are quite softer than the front speakers. In a real HT setup, aren't they supposed to be equally loud ?
Click to expand...

On your control panel hit the level button twice this should bring you to surround adjustment. With the knob bring the bars up to your likeing. Should work... ill post back with the other issue that I have been having.

Edit#2: (Vista Business) Ok, I just finished messing around with the settings, found some rather strange things happening. I downloaded the latest vista drivers for the onboard sound.. In the audio software that came with the driver I set the speaker setup to 6ch speaker. Also in Vista sound options I setup 5.1 in the options (6ch). Using the Input: Direct, and Effect: 6ch direct, only my center, sub and rear speakers worked. The 2 front speakers were a no go.. this was done by playing a MP3. I then used Vista's test utility in the sound prefrences to test each speaker for audio output, this was done using the same settings that were not giving me output for the 2 front speakers. I clicked through all 6 speakers, and each of them played the sound including the 2 front that were not working during a mp3 playback. What was also weird is that I could not change the effect using the direct input on the control panel ? In 6 chl direct, I push the test button and audio comes out of all the speakers.. left, right, center, rear left, rear right, sub..

I then tried the Input: Stereo, all the speakers worked during MP3 playback, but did not sound as good as the Direct Input. Im using the the regular 3 wire analog setup that comes with the speakers... any ideas ? or am I just bugging out ? BTW I am still gettin low sound levels, especially with stereo... I can go about 3 and no sound at all comes out, I have to go about half way (50%) to get a regular listening volume..
 
HA HA HA...this is like a puzzle for me.

Frankly, either I'm extremely fussy, the Z-5500 is not good enough, or something is really wrong. I don't even know what to conclude.
Below is the strange behavior that I experience with my Z5500 (all tested with my Z-5500 directly connected to DVD Player w/o computer) :

VOLUME DROPS IN MOVIE vs CD AUDIO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using Audio CD on my DVD Player + optical cable, the audio is loud even at 40%. But using DTS/DD5.1 the volume drop is quite noticeable. It is not loud at all. I have to increase the volume at least upto about 70% to get equal. Does DTS/DD5.1 actually make the volume much softer ?


SUB PERFORMANCE ON ANALOG vs DIGITAL
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using 6-channel direct (analog) on Audio CD, the sub is very boomy & strong...but not tight at all. Using optical, the sub is reduced by HUGE amount, but it is still there. In fact, the sub has become a little pussy cat. With such behavior in analog mode, you might think that the sub must play better than digital in movie, right ?

WRONG.....

In fact, it goes the reverse. On Analog, the movie (Jurassic Park) the sub performs really bad compared to digital/optical.
With optical, when T-Rex roars, it roars GREAT. When it thumps on the ground, it thumps my room.
With analog, the roar becomes weak. I hardly feel vibration at all.
When T-Rex thumps on the ground, I can not feel the thump at all.

The only thing that makes me believe that the amp IS NOT fried is the fact that it proves to work nicely with digital connection in movie, or audio cd in analog (very boomy & strong sub). What confuses me is the way the sub works so differently with analog & digital in movie & audio CD.

All in all, I'm not really impressed with its performance in movie as a home-theatre (either digital/analog). It fails in 2 areas :

1. In low-action scene (rather quiet), the speakers fails to produce the ambience of the environment. For ex: the sound of grass movement, distant traffic, etc. are hardly audible because the sound is becoming too soft. Small detail sound are diffucult to be heard. Only the vocal is heard. It works well though in high-action scene. For ex: fighting, T-Rex roars, explosion, etc.

2. Sound positioning is very unpredictable. The effect of rear speaker s is hardly noticable in most cases, even at max volume. Only in very loud scenes, the effect of rear speakers is heard. I don't know whether it is caused by poor decoder or what.
 
Well, they are computer speakers aren't they? Why would it matter than how they do on your DVD player?
 
Sorry for late reply. I was busy.
Yesterday, I asked my brother's friend to come. I want to know what his opinion about Z-5500 performance in a home-theater setup.
Anyway, he is a hi-fi & home-theater maniac, and he has very expensive home-theater setup in his house (in a special room).

He made several findings about my problem :

1. He found that the stereo connector that I bought to connect my DVD player to Z-5500 control panel (to create 6-channel direct) did not fit into socket perfectly. The connector was a little too big. We changed the cable and my problem with analog connection was solved. Now, the sub in analog & digital is about equally strong, but digital connection sounds better because it sounds deeper & more precise.

2. He found too much resonance from the sub in either mode, which I agreed. It makes the sub fail to produce a sharp & fast attack during explotion, gun fires, lighning strike, etc. The depth is only mediocre (not bad...just ok).

3. The center speaker is too weak and muddy. I AGREE completely on this one. The center staging performance is bad, and this is why I always have the impression that it sounds more like a loud TV speaker in lots of vocal conversation. The sound is too directional. He agrees that Z-5500 is not good enough for drama movies because the vocal will sound too focused while subtle background sound is too soft. He complaint that the center speaker is too small for a good home-theatre setup. The center should be quite more powerful than the Front Left/Right, or else the vocal will be drowned. He wished that the center speaker of Z-5500 to have 2 woofers instead of 1.

4. The satellites are just not high quality enough to produce highly detailed/subtle ambience sound because of poor staging performance & inadequate clarity. That's why I don't feel the effect of subtle sounds most of the time. In fact, he found my TV speaker is better with producing those subtle background sound than my Z-5500 in DTS mode. He made a suggestion that I never thought of. He increased the TV volume to match the center speaker volume to improve the vocal & subtle ambience effect, so they can blend nicely & transparently with Z-5500 and let the high special effects like explotion, gunfire, etc be handled by Z-5500. IT WORKS. The vocal is so much clearer, and the subtle ambience sound is improved noticably. I'm VERY GLAD with this finding.
Now, better subtle sound, much better vocal, and they are combined with powerful sub for special effects. This is the most important finding for me. The TV speakers blend so nicely in the vocal that I couldn't tell which and which.

5. His final conclusion: it is to be expected with the low price tag of Z-5500. He refused to say Z-5500 being bad...."Just OK". He didn't look impressed though when he said this. LOLLL Maybe he just didn't want to let me down ? . He wished that I asked him before buying a home-theater because he had a couple of options which will perform much better than Z-5500 for only $100-125 more, like Yamaha, and ONKYO. (he didn't specify the model though).

All in all, he said "No need to sell it. It is much better now. Just use it for your small room, and it should be enough. It's not as bad as you think". LOLLLL....he said that because he knew I didn't look ecstatically happy.

Well, I guess I just have to live with it for now.
 
Oh, Glad you solved that finally. Anyways, I'm getting those speakers myself. They might not be as good as Home-theater setups, but I bet they are a lot better than my Cyber Acoustic 5.1 80watt speakers.. They're not that bad now, but they kinda sucked before I had my X-fi.

Anyways, just wanted to Congratulate you again for finally resolving your problem.
 
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