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Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker Review

A good set of speakers can take your listening experience from something you do to something you live. Remember when you first added a subwoofer to your PC speaker setup or upgraded from the base speakers your system shipped with to something with some quality? If you watch movies on your PC or play games with surround sound capabilities, adding a 5.1 surround sound system can be a dream come true. Could adding a 500 watt 5.1 surround sound speaker set do anything for you? Let's take a look at the Logitech Z-5500 Digital.

Company:

Logitech, www.logitech.com

Price:

$267.00 US at NewEgg.com

Ratings

Price:
Install/Setup:
Usability:
Support:
Average Rating:

Getting Started

You have not doubt read a few reviews of the Logitech Z-5500 Digital surround sound system. Many of these are by gamers and pretty much any review is going to be positive. These reviews can't help not be positive given the quality product Logitech has made here. The 3" drivers in the satellite and 10" drive in the subwoofer are excellent quality. For many of you the price seems quite high. At the time of writing you can buy the Z-5500 from NewEgg.com for under $300 dollars. When the system first came out it was over $500. Considering what you would pay to piece together a similar system with similar quality, $300 isn't so bad.

Setting up the Z-5500 is simple. All the satellite speakers hook into the subwoofer and the control unit connect to the subwoofer. If you have a room prewired for surround sound, you can utilize these existing wire runs. This will help in keeping down the clutter the wires can leave. You then connect one or more music sources to the SoundTouch Control Center. The Control Center is the focal point of controlling your sound to the speakers. You can choose various input types, quality, and sound levels here. The Control Center has an easy to read LCD screen that is backlit. The weighted control knob has the classic feel of a rack stereo system. The included remote control also makes control a snap.

As noted in the Features and Specifications section, you have multiple input options. Up to 6 if you need. If you are utilizing surround sound, then you are limited to 4 (3 stereo-mini connectors, one coaxial, one optical, and one analog stereo-mini connector for portable media players). After you are connected to the Control Center you are ready to unleash the 500 watts.

Click on picture to enlarge image

Usability

To test out the speakers we connected them to one of our test systems via an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 PCI audio card. In the control panel, we configure the speaker set up for 5.1 surround sound. We have spent several weeks now playing movies, listening to music, and gaming with the Z-5500. The Control Center makes using these speakers simple and easy. Basically we found ourselves changing the effect mode from surround to stereo or stereo 2x. When playing back audio in stereo on a surround system, you simply lose the rear channels and possibly the center channel. With the stereo 2x effect, basically all satellite speakers are used. This is a great feature if you play a lot of music in addition to movies or gaming.

It didn't matter what type of movie we watched when testing. Movie sounds and music were clear and strong. Gaming in surround sound is equally impressive. Listing to sounds move around you can make you a little jumpy if you are playing something like Doom3 or make you trigger happy at sounds behind you in BattleField2. Music as you can imagine was impressive. Again, using the Stereo 2x effect we were able to listen using all the satellite speakers. It didn't matter if we listened to rock, classical, musicals, or my personal favorite acoustic bluegrass, sounds were crisp and sharp. The only negative here was the inability of really being able to unleash and get the subwoofer to thump. I think this is more of a limitation with the M-Audio control software rather than the Logitech system, but I haven't hooked up the speakers to a different audio card to verify.

Features and Specifications

Features
Powerful, Distortion-free Bass	The new, larger 10-inch long-throw subwoofer driver with flared bass port delivers 188 watts of thunderous bass.
Innovative Driver Technology	Polished aluminum phase-plug satellites combine two drivers into one--the clarity of a tweeter with the richness and fullness of a separate mid-range.
Digital Equalization	The Z-5500 Digital actively adjusts frequency response in real time for the cleanest, most accurate sound reproduction.
DTS® 96/24 Support	Enjoy studio-quality sound thanks to the Z-5500's support for 96 kHz / 24-bit digital audio streams.
Powerful Controls	The Digital SoundTouch™ Control Center lets you control volume to all speakers, set inputs, and much more. And the separate wireless remote is great for home theaters and video game consoles.
Innovative Satellite Design	Cloth grilles are removable for a pro-audio look. Pedestals rotate for easy wall mounting or desk placement. Center channel can be mounted on wall, above or below monitor.
Connect to Multiple Sources	Connect to multiple sources: Simultaneously connect 6 audio sources including PCs, video game consoles, and DVD, CD & portable music players… and control it all from the Digital SoundTouch™ Control Center.
Digital SoundTouch™ Control Center
	Digital LCD: Clear, crisp high contrast display Input: Select audio source (optical, coax, or direct) Effect: Select digital surround sound effect Settings: Adjust parameters of digital surround sound effects Mute: Mute the entire system Level: Adjust volume, subwoofer, center, and fader levels Pro-audio style knob: Oversized, weighted control knob with digital precision System Power Auxiliary input jack: For convenient connection to portable audio devices (CD, MP3, MiniDisc®, etc.)
Other Features
	Dolby® Digital is the universal standard for 5.1 digital sound. DVDs, PlayStation®2, Xbox®, digital cable, satellite TV, and HDTV all use Dolby Digital. The Z-5500 Digital includes a hardware Dolby Digital decoder for full, rich 5.1 sound.
	THX® certification is the "seal of approval" for speaker quality. It is an absolute assurance that these speakers accurately recreate the full sonic experience of a movie theater. The Z-5500 Digital is one of a select few speaker systems that meets the rigid standards for unparalleled THX-quality sound.
	DTS® Digital Surround delivers 5.1 digital sound that rivals master soundtracks. DTS soundtracks are included in many DVD videos, DVD Audio discs, and PlayStation®2 games. The Z-5500 Digital includes a hardware DTS decoder for master-quality sound. The Z-5500 Digital also includes support for DTS 96/24, an enhanced, higher-resolution, studio-quality format available on many DVD video and DVD Audio discs.

Pros:

• Excellent quality on all parts
• Superb Sound
• Control Center is simple to use

Cons:

• Price
• Lots of wires and cables

Adding It All Up

As you can imagine listening to the Logitech Z-5500 is heavenly. It doesn't matter if you are listening to movies, music, or gaming. Sounds are true and clear. A great benefit of this system is the Control Center's versatility and functionality. It's what makes this speaker system so great. You get every penny's worth for what you pay for this system. If you truly understand the quality product you get for the price, you wouldn't hesitate to get a set for yourself. The only reason I can think to not get these yet, is to first take a look at the new Logitech Z-5450 Digital 5.1 surround sound system that utilized wireless rear channel satellites. We will let you know once we take a look! Until then, happy listening.

Because of the fantastic quality we are awarding the Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 surround sound speaker system the UpgradAdvisor.com Recommended Upgrade Seal of Approval!!!

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