[Back!] Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Surround System $220 shipped at Amazon

I would buy them here in Japan...they weigh 55 lbs so it would cost a fortune to ship although the price here is considerably more...grrr...

Most US sites won't ship direct to Japan but If I had it shipped to the US, and then re-shipped to Japan, the cheapest option would be [size=-1]$72.75[/size] for 4-6 week delivery :(

Did I mention that Amazon Japan sucks ass? It does.
 
I have had my eyes on these for a while. I asked for amazon credit for christmas so hopefully I have enought where I don't feel bad about getting these.


Also have you guys seen the sub for this thing? I saw some pictures from a review and you could kill someone with it if you got into a fight near your surround sound. Thing is a fucking beast
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']Also have you guys seen the sub for this thing? I saw some pictures from a review and you could kill someone with it if you got into a fight near your surround sound. Thing is a fucking beast[/QUOTE]
Great, great system. Replaced the Z-680s I had on my desk.

I thought the Z-680s 'woofer was huge, but this is ginormous. If space is at a premium, you'll definitely want to check for room as it's just monstrous. When you get it crankin' though...wow.
 
If I wasn't saving for my HDTV first, I'd get these.

I'm planning to get these for my speaker system within a month or two. My friend has a set, and they are absolutely amazing, and Logitech already impressed me with my Z-2300s.

Great deal OP.
 
I have the 5500s too and I agree with SteveMcQ, they sound great but that sub takes up alot of space. Considered the Z-5450 so I wouldn't have to run wires back to them, but you still need to run power cords to them and that would still have been difficult. They also cost more (usually) and have less power. Got my 5500s back in October from Buy.com for $204.99 delivered!
 
Forgot to mention, another reason I didn't go with the 5450s is that I have seen mixed reviews on them. People seem to absolutely love them and report no issues while others report a hiss through the rear speakers that they can't get rid of.
 
The 5450's just aren't worth it in my opinion. They're "wireless" but still need to be plugged in to something, so that doesn't count as wireless in my book.

Not a bad deal here...not as good as the z-680's being on sale for $150 a couple weeks ago, but those never shipped for anyone so I guess this one wins by default.
 
The wireless one has a DD decoder but I didnt see that the wired ones did.

If I got the wireless one I wouldnt need anything else for my setup?

Thanks
 
[quote name='BREVITY']The wireless one has a DD decoder but I didnt see that the wired ones did.

If I got the wireless one I wouldnt need anything else for my setup?

Thanks[/QUOTE]

99% sure the wired ones also have it. The 680's did, and this is basically the next incarnation of those.
 
Not the same model but I have speakers from justdeals.com which is logitechs refurb distributor. Deals are pretty good plus they offer free shipping which can be a god send for these huge logitech subs. FYI I have the thx Z-560 4.1 setup and you can hear it in the next county.
 
The 5500's are the next step up from the 680's and the 5450's are a wireless step up from the 5500's. Basically all have the same features more or less (whatever that DTS 96/24 thing is) and are THX certified so you know they're powerful beasts. As for the woofer, I don't mind the size at all since the sound and rumble they produce FEEL as big as they look. :) You can't understand how awesome the woofer is until you've sat near it and turned it up on a bass heavy song or game explosions. :bouncy:
 
Although IMO the 5450 set has the coolest looking control unit out of the 3. I'm tempted to upgrade to the 5500's since my 680 just look so kiddy (grey plastic) compared to the way the newer models look with their polished sleek metal. :drool:
 
You should be able to use this coupon for 5% off up to $100 off

CUSTAPPRSAVE For 5% off your ENTIRE Electronics Purchase Exp: Dec-21-05

Credit goes to whatsyourdeal.com
 
the funny thing about the wireless is that they really arent because they still need power heh. Plus I have amazon prime now hmm

on a side note, are you trying to make me broke Cheapy =p?
 
Grrr Cheapy I have been watching the Z-5500 for a month now and I was planing on picking them up after Xmas. I hope they will have some around the 30th now.

This is a great price if you are looking for some great speakers for your consoles or pc.
 
These wireless ones were the ones reviewed in the most recent OXM I think. I seen it in the 360 forums.

Its got great reviews as far as I have seen.
 
problem with these speakers is I won't be able to get my Digital Out from my Audigy 2 Card since Creative Uses a Propreitary 1/8th SPIDF Jack =/..............

and the Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 Speakers are one of the only ones with that jack. I'd ahve to goto analog....
 
Ok I think I am going to get those wireless ones. But first are there any coupons I could use on it? Anyone know a code I can use?
 
How do I say you'd be better off investing in a receiver and two main speakers and then building a proper 5.1 over time without seeming like a troll or a threadcrap?
 
[quote name='sarausagi']How do I say you'd be better off investing in a receiver and two main speakers and then building a proper 5.1 over time without seeming like a troll or a threadcrap?[/QUOTE]

How is this not a "proper" 5.1? It may not sound as good as some expensive, dedicated home theater setup, but for those who want the high-end of the middle/lower class, this does the job just fine.

Plus some people don't want to build, they want to buy once and get it over with. They could certainly do worse than buy these, in that case.
 
[quote name='Zoglog']problem with these speakers is I won't be able to get my Digital Out from my Audigy 2 Card since Creative Uses a Propreitary 1/8th SPIDF Jack =/..............

and the Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 Speakers are one of the only ones with that jack. I'd ahve to goto analog....[/QUOTE]

they really should start selling the front panel as a seperate accessory
 
i personally don't hear a big enough difference between good expensive speakers and good cheap speakers to warrant a piece by piece system.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']How is this not a "proper" 5.1? It may not sound as good as some expensive, dedicated home theater setup, but for those who want the high-end of the middle/lower class, this does the job just fine.

Plus some people don't want to build, they want to buy once and get it over with. They could certainly do worse than buy these, in that case.[/QUOTE]

I guess you're right, they can't be as bad as those $150 HTIB that Circuit City sells off brand..

But still, I don't know about anyone else, maybe it's my HT mentality, but I just feel wrong paying $220 for 5 speakers and a sub. My fronts [just left and right, not the center] alone cost $150 [original $200] for the pair and that's truly considered "low end" compared to some of the $500 - $1000 pairs out there.
 
If these truly support dolby digital, dts, etc, can someone tell me how you control them? Is it via the computer? Buttons on the speakers? Or something? I ask this because I switch between 2 channel, Dolby Digital, Dolby Prologic, DTS, and multi channel several times a day, not to mention switching sources [PC, DVD, SACD, PS2, TV, etc]
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']they really should start selling the front panel as a seperate accessory[/QUOTE]

I actually have the front panel, however you can't drive regular computer audio through the from SPDIF coax or optical jacks. You can only drive passthrough. At least from my experience that's how it worked. Maybe I was mistaken. Either way I read in a review these things do kick but they are a bit excessive and expensive.
 
[quote name='Zoglog']problem with these speakers is I won't be able to get my Digital Out from my Audigy 2 Card since Creative Uses a Propreitary 1/8th SPIDF Jack =/..............

and the Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 Speakers are one of the only ones with that jack. I'd ahve to goto analog....[/QUOTE]
actually, all you need to do is go to radio shack and get a 1/8th to coax MONO adapter. then enable spdif passthrough and youre golden. I might be over simplifying it because I did this years ago on a live 5.1, and i remember that it was a pain to get it done right with creatives bloatware installed. using the basic drivers in windows on the other hand makes it a piece of cake. I get both DD5.1 and DTS perfectly on my system
 
[quote name='sarausagi']If these truly support dolby digital, dts, etc, can someone tell me how you control them? Is it via the computer? Buttons on the speakers? Or something? I ask this because I switch between 2 channel, Dolby Digital, Dolby Prologic, DTS, and multi channel several times a day, not to mention switching sources [PC, DVD, SACD, PS2, TV, etc][/QUOTE]

You can hook up any analog source to this, including 5.1 analog sound cards which use 3 stereo (or 6 mono) cables. You can also hook up any digital source which uses coax or optical connections, such as the ps2, xbox and many high end sound cards. the ps2 uses an optical connection and i think all creative (at least live and audigy) use coax. a few sound cards have optical, which is immune to emi on the cable but easy to damage, but most have coax, which can be affected by emi but is much more resiliant to physical damage.

Keep in mind, there are a limited number of inputs, so if you have 4 components they wont all be able to be connected directly to the unit at the same time. So either the connectectors will need to be swapped continuasly or it needs to be accompanied with an audio selector switch or some kind of mixer (think dj equipment).

I dont know how this setup works, but my yamaha pc speakers with dd5.1 and dts overrides any other signal if an optical signal is present. so if i turn on my ps2 which is connected via optical i no longer get any sound from my pc, which is connected via digital coax. and analog isnt even allowed to play without manually flipping a switch in the back to analog. since i dont have any logitech systems, my guess is that you can run one analog source, one digital coax and one digital optical signal at a time as it probably wont play two sources at the same time. and it cant play two digital sources without 2 processors. Youre probably going to have to switch between sources with a button, but only from 3 connected sources.

The 5450 on the other hand has 7 inputs, including 2 optical.
 
[quote name='zaq2g']actually, all you need to do is go to radio shack and get a 1/8th to coax MONO adapter. then enable spdif passthrough and youre golden. I might be over simplifying it because I did this years ago on a live 5.1, and i remember that it was a pain to get it done right with creatives bloatware installed. using the basic drivers in windows on the other hand makes it a piece of cake. I get both DD5.1 and DTS perfectly on my system[/QUOTE]

yeah Passthrough works fine, but I'm talking about audio for games and EAX
 
[quote name='Zoglog']yeah Passthrough works fine, but I'm talking about audio for games and EAX[/QUOTE]
From what creative cs has told me, theres no way to do eax with digital, it has to be analog using three 1/8th stereo connectors. One cable is for front l/r, one for rear l/r and one for center and sub. So eax can work with this unit using the 6 channel analog inputs.

[edit] additionally, the reason for this is because eax is processed on the pc. the only way it could work digitally is if the reciever was an eax decoder and you could send raw eax encoded streams. i personally have never seen an eax hardware decoder, so im not really sure if one even exists.

if you look on the back of your sound card, there should be a bunch of 1/8th inch connectors. there should be a light green, black and some kind of really light orange. IIRC, the green is fronts, black is rear and the orange one is center/sub. these connectors correspond to a 1/8th inch stereo minijack input on the z5500's, im not sure if they are color coded, but i believe they are.

for others who are not concerned with eac, these 3 inputs can also be used as 3 separate stereo ins via a small toggle switch. this will allow a total of 5 devices plus i think there is an in on the side, although im not really sure. so we have either 4 stereo ins, 1 digital coax and 1 digital optical or 1 stereo, 1 6 channel analog, 1 digital coax and 1 digital optical.

hope all this helps and not messes people up
 
The 6 channel analog inputs are color-coded. As mentioned, you've also got the Coax and Optical if you choose to connect your systems to it.

There is an input button both on the control unit (where the hardware decoding for DTS and DLPII are done) and on the remote so you can switch between the inputs.

Unless you're a real audiophile, this is about as good as it gets. This thing really cranks for what you're paying for it. It's just the best 5.1 set you can get for your desktop.
 
ok, i just verified all that info i posted above (yeah, i should have done it before, but i was lazy) and heres what logitech says
  • Digital optical for DVD or CD players, PlayStation®2, Xbox®** 1 1
  • Digital coaxial for DVD or CD players or PC sound cards (requires coaxial cable, sold separately) 1 1
  • 6 channel direct (3 stereo-mini connectors) for 2, 4, or 6 channel PC sound cards OR 1
  • 6 channel direct (3 stereo-mini connectors) for 3 stereo analog mini audio sources, like CD and DVD players, Playstation 2, Xbox, or 2 channel PC sound cards (some devices may require stereo mini to dual RCA adapter, sold separately) 3
  • Analog stereo-mini (on side panel of control center) for portable CD, MP3,or MiniDisc® players 1 1
the red numbers are input count for with eax, blue is without eax. so thats a total 4 ins without 6 without.

as for the switch look at the pic here. there is a small switch all the way on the right which toggles either 6 channel analog (for eax and such) or 3 separate stereo ins.
 
[quote name='cochesecochese']Hey guys.

I was wondering if you could help me compare these to my old set? I used to have these before I dropped the receiver and the whole set crapped out on me. Are these comparable? I paid pretty much the same amount at the time.

It's just been a long time since I've made such a big purchase and I need a kick in the ass to decide.
[/QUOTE]
I can't say it enough, but this is the best 5.1 set you can buy for your desktop. The receiver unit is really quite robust on this set with the weighted, pro-style knobs. It's got enough inputs for desktop usage. More power than you'll probably need for a small room. It's got the decoders onboard. Great, great subwoofer. There's really not much you can complain about with this set.

Like I said though, the 'woofer is HUGE. Make sure you have space for it.
 
I'm still resisting woot. But man.......... I really don't need it at all. Neighbors have already complained about my current speakers. I don't want to get kicked out lol
 
Deadpool, the later versions of the 5500's use standard speaker wire. They changed from there stoopid plug in's after everyone complained about them.
 
Thanks Cheapy I was looking for a cheap, decent quality surround sound system for Call of Duty 2, that just begs for surround sound.. I noticed a bunch of you seem to know a lot about this stuff.....So I have one simple question...

I just bought the surround sound system and nothing else. What types of cords/cables etc am I going to need to connect this system to my XBOX 360 and make it sound like it should???
 
[quote name='strayfoxx']I just bought the surround sound system and nothing else. What types of cords/cables etc am I going to need to connect this system to my XBOX 360 and make it sound like it should???[/QUOTE]

You are going to need a Digital TOS Cable. There is a port for it on the 360's video cable.

It looks like this:



Not sure what the best place to get one is, but I'm sure Radio Shack has them and I found the above picture on Circuit City.com

I'd really like to order these to my parents place and have them ship it to Japan (its hard to find here and much more expensive), but it will cost $190 to ship them if I want to see them in the next month.
 
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