Seriously,Klipsch or Logitech??

[TheWart]

i own both and love both. klipsch at home (more money b/c family product) and the logitechs at school (poor college fragger). i would have to give the edge to klipsch, although with proper equalizer tweaking they sound very similar.

 

[gunf1ghter]

Originally posted by: ahsumdude
I have the Klipsch 5.1's. Yes indeed they are incredibly awesome. They sound better than my home entertainment center.

I hear that alot, but say "you must have a crappy home entertainment setup".

Any home theater worth it's salt will bitch slap the Klipsch (or any other multimedia computer speakers) back into the 1970's of quadrophonic hi-fi.

 

[Workin']

Just to add, unless you are on a tight budget, the Logitech's don't belong in this debate, they are not on the same level of the upper echelon sets. There's a reason they cost about half what the others do, you need only look at the build quality.

That's probably the first time I've ever agreed with Pariah. The Logitechs are junk, at any price. Unless you like knobs that fall off and grilles that are crooked. And sound that is nowhere near accurate for music reproduction.

I have the Klipsch 5.1's. Yes indeed they are incredibly awesome. They sound better than my home entertainment center.

I would never admit that! Did you get your home entertainment center from the boombox department at Wal-Mart?

Everyone has different preferences about what sounds "good". That's why there are so many models of speakers on the market.

My opinion is that the Altec-Lansing 641's are the best multimedia speakers at any price. There are others that are good, but the 641's are best. I've had a set for a few months and I am newly amazed every day at the level of performance they provide for well under $200. Of course they don't compare in any way to my $6000 stereo, but they aren't meant to.

 

[gunf1ghter]

Workin,

Although your opinions are that the Logitech's are junk I (and many friends, reviewers, etc) think that they are excellent, especially at the price of under $200.

 

[socketman]

I bought the Logitechs. And I REALLY like them. I looked at the klipsch but I noticed at higher volumes the base started to saturate. When I cranked over the logitech's, that didnt happen.
There will always be systems that can out-perform the logitechs. But for price/performance... i think they are the hard to beat.

As for the logitech's failing, like many electronics that fail... the user was probably abusing it.

 

[Brandino]

This all really depends on what you like. Go to the store with a portable cd player, and hook up each speaker system to play your music.

After doing this I chose the Altec Lansing 641's. The Klipsch's were nice, and the Logitech's as well.. but I felt that the $200 641's matched sound quality of the Promedia 5.1's ($400). As for the Logitech's.. I felt they had a lot of bass, but it wasn?t really good quality bass. It seemed sloppy and too abundant for my tastes. Overall, I think the Altec Lansing's offer the best quality sound with excellent tight bass, and great performance from the satellites. Again though, this is my opinion. Go see for yourself what you like.

 

[cmaMath13]

I know that you want to focus on performance, but I couldn't tell a difference so the issue is value. There is NO question that the Logitech is the best value! You can find them for MUCH lower price.

 

[Workin']

Originally posted by: cmaMath
I know that you want to focus on performance, but I couldn't tell a difference so the issue is value. There is NO question that the Logitech is the best value! You can find them for MUCH lower price.

I found the lowest price for the 560's was $124. I found the 641's for $109!! Considering that the 641's completely and totally outperform the 560's, and the knobs don't fall off in your hands, and the subwoofer isn't failure-prone, and they can be even less expensive than the 560's, which is the better value? Right - NO question - the 641's! You just have to be a smart shopper.

And gunf1ghter, I'm happy that you like your speakers. I SAID it was my opinion. All the reviews I've seen of the 560's are at gamer sites, where to be blunt I don't think they would know musical accuracy if it hit them in the head. If your frame of reference for sound quality is boomboxes, then the 560's sound great. If your frame of reference for sound quality is high-end (or even low-mid-end) audio, then the 560's sound like crap. I'm sorry but that is a fact. Too be fair, and as I said earlier, the 641's certainly don't qualify as high-end audio, either. But they are a far sight better than the Logitech's. And the Klipsch's, for that matter, especially if price is any kind of factor.

 

[cmaMath13]

Workin',

I am not familar with the Altec 641 speakers. I thought the post was about Klipsch or Logitech. Regardless, if the Altec's sound better and have same wattage as Logitech, the go for them. I personally don't care for Altec. I had a set of them die on me (only speaker ever to die on me).

 

[MasterHoss]

Klipsch claims a less than 1% failure rate on the PM 5.1s ... a lot of people on the Klipsch forums started complaining about their failed sets... Klipsch released a revision... more failures, another revision... I believe they've done 5 or 6 revisions so far.

Logitech... I think 3 major revisions.

My friend has the Z560s and no problems. I have the PM 5.1 and PM 4.1 and no problems for mine.

 

[Workin']

Regardless, if the Altec's sound better and have same wattage as Logitech, then go for them.

Don't fall for the more-watts-is-better fallacy. The only time that's a valid comparison is if you are comparing amplifiers ONLY. With integrated systems like these multimedia speakers a power rating is next to useless, because the efficiency of the speakers can make a huge difference in the sound level output, and furthermore the power rating has ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING on sound quality.

Look at it this way - if I say my vehicle has 130 horsepower, is that a lot? Who knows? It depends on other characteristics of the vehicle. 130 HP in a motorcycle is a lot, in a full-size SUV it's not even close to adequate. Watts are the same way - it all depends how much they have to drag around, so to speak - if the attached speakers are very efficient, 30 watts can be "a lot". If the speakers are not so efficient, 300 watts can be "not so much".

Not to mention that to double the apparent sound pressure level, you need TEN TIMES more power. So all other things being equal, 40 watts is not twice as loud as 20 watts. 200 watts is twice as loud as 20 watts into the same speakers. Most listening is done at well under 1 watt output! Typical speaker sets will put out SPL's of about 86-90db with 1 W input - and that's actually fairly loud.

I've measured the output of my 641's with test signals and music using a sound level meter, and clean peak levels of 113-115db are easily obtained. That's loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage in less than 2 hours of continuous exposure, and a bit louder than the typical rock concert (and also right at the threshold of pain). The Guiness Book of World Records lists the loudest rock concert at a sustained 115db - which was loud enough to render some audience members unconscious!

 

[stingrae]

THANX a lot guys for all the replies...one thing abt Altec 641s,the website is very unclear abt the wattages of the spkrs..is it 400W RMS n 200W for the sub-woofer????...pleeze clarify

 

[Doomguy]

That's probably the first time I've ever agreed with Pariah. The Logitechs are junk, at any price. Unless you like knobs that fall off and grilles that are crooked. And sound that is nowhere near accurate for music reproduction.

Just to add, unless you are on a tight budget, the Logitech's don't belong in this debate, they are not on the same level of the upper echelon sets. There's a reason they cost about half what the others do, you need only look at the build quality.

Do you actually own the logitech Z560s? Every review disagrees with you there about sound quality and the build quality of the speakers.

I found the lowest price for the 560's was $124. I found the 641's for $109!! Considering that the 641's completely and totally outperform the 560's, and the knobs don't fall off in your hands, and the subwoofer isn't failure-prone, and they can be even less expensive than the 560's, which is the better value? Right - NO question - the 641's! You just have to be a smart shopper.

You hear cases of people having their Z560s die because so many people went out and bought them.

Are you speaking from personal experience with the speakers or not?

All the reviews I've seen of the 560's are at gamer sites, where to be blunt I don't think they would know musical accuracy if it hit them in the head.

So 3dSoungeSurge is just a gaming site as well? Hate to break it to you but most computer speaker reviews are done at gaming sites. So what you're saying is all the reviewers did a good review on your speakers but didn't know what they were talking about when they reviewed the Z560s? Yep, that makes perfect sense.

 

[herbage11]

Love my Z560's. They sound superb on music and not too bad for gaming either. Glad I made the choice of 560's for the price/performance you cant go wrong there.

 

[geckojohn]

We're getting some nice feedback from this thread. The Altec Lansing 641 subwoofer is enormous.. about the size of a desktop computer case. They seem really impressive.

Any new review's on these speakers recently?

 

[cmaMath13]

Ok,

I do remember reading a review on the Altec Lansing 641's in MaximumPC Magazine. They earned a score of 8. Logitech earned a perfect 10.

Logitech Z-560 Review

Altec 641 Review

 

[herbage11]

Nice score 10/10 impressive. The sub on the 560's is not small either by any stretch of the imagination. That thing rattles the walls with the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz driving it .

 

[Pariah]

"Do you actually own the logitech Z560s? Every review disagrees with you there about sound quality and the build quality of the speakers."

I don't need to own speakers for 6 months to not like the build quality. I don't own any of the 3 sets in question here so I don't have any alterior motives of justifying to myself why I bought them. That said I have been able to listen to all three at my own leisure. I didn't say that the Logitech's were junk at any price nor do I agree they are, I don't think you can do any better at that price point (I haven't heard the Altec set), but they are not as good as the other sets being discussed here. If you read the reviews no one is saying they are as good as the others, maybe in 1 or 2 areas they are comparable, but as a total package the others are still better.

"Logitech earned a perfect 10."

From that review:

"Our 20Hz-to-20KHz sweep is brutal on most speakers at maximum volume, but the Z-560?s speakers handled it without any noticeable distortion. In fact, at maximum volume, the Logitech speakers caused the screws on neighboring Lab benches to vibrate, but we weren?t able to detect any infidelity in the sound."

Which is then followed by this gem:

"It?s worth noting that we were wearing earplugs and earmuffs to protect our hearing whenever we turned these speakers to max volume."

Anyone else see the humour in the combination of these statements? These "reviewers" are conducting listening tests wearing earmuffs and earplugs and then claiming they couldn't detect any distortion or infidelity? You have got to be kidding.

 

[cmaMath13]

Just to add, unless you are on a tight budget, the Logitech's don't belong in this debate, they are not on the same level of the upper echelon sets. There's a reason they cost about half what the others do, you need only look at the build quality.

No offense, but I don't think you have any idea of what you are talking about.

I owned the Klipsch 2.1 system and currently own the Klipsch v.2-400 system. I have looked at/listened to the Logitech and must say they are on PAR with my Promedias (quality and sound) and can be found for about half the price. Enough said.

Here are a couple of reviews of Logitech:
http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/z560/4.1thx.htm
http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/Z560/

 

[Byte]

I've currently own klipsch 4.1s and have tried the Logitechs and Creative 5300 for about a week in my house and must say the logitechs suck crap. Sure the bass is hard, but it overall sounds like farts in most things. The Sats are terrible in highs. Even the Creatives sound brighter and crisper than them. I'd recommend klipsch or creative over logitechs crap speakers.

 

[Brandino]

I think the only valid argument here is for people who have gone and listened to each speaker set side by side from the same source. Comparing speakers from different occasions and places is just dumb when taking into account acoustics, memory, etc.

Either way Stingrae, the only person's opinion that matters is your own. Go to the store and have a listen.

 

[Workin']

"Do you actually own the logitech Z560s? Every review disagrees with you there about sound quality and the build quality of the speakers."

Of course I don't own them! But I did look long and hard at all the speakers being discussed in this thread. And I had to go to 5 stores before I found a set of 560's THAT WAS NOT BROKEN just so I could get some idea of what they sounded like. If that doesn't speak to shoddy build quality, I don't know what does. And you don't have to own something to tell that it is cheaply made. You can tell that by looking and touching in a store.

The dude that said they sound like farts cracked me up, and it's pretty true. I'm willing to bet that anyone who thinks the 560's have accurate music reproduction capabilities has never actually heard what accurate music reproduction sounds like.

And I'm sick of all the goobers who are sucked into the hype of the 560's, and absolutely refuse to take an objective look at what they are saying. Or hearing. For music the simple fact is that the 560's suck in comparison to some other choices. If all you do is game, and you can live with shoddy workmanship (hey, the low price has to come in somewhere), then no doubt, get the 560's - don't even listen to anything else. But if music reproduction is important to you then you owe it to yourself to get something else.

Although I have the 641's, I really don't care what you or anyone else gets - just base your decision on the things that are important to you and don't get sucked into the hype. Use your own ears and your own judgement. If it's really important to you, buy your stuff at a place that will let you return it, and try them out in your own home. Listening in the store, at least the way Best Buy, et al, have their stuff set up, is an exercise in futility since with a sub/sat system your room and the location of the speakers plays a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE role in the ultimate sound.

 

[Nefrodite]

it depends which you can afford, like anything else in this world

 

[BD2003]

Had both the z560 and Promedia, and I'm using the BA7800s right now.

Z560s blew out on me. Speaks for itself on build quality.
Promedia was ok, but bass was muddy.
7800s are pretty good, but bass is lacking.

Sigh.

 

[Doomguy]

Workin': Wow, you went to five stores and all the of the logitechs had broken knobs. If what you've said is correct it only proves that they can't take the abuse that people in those stores put on them. I've never heard one case of anyone's knobs breaking off at home.


What's the point of critizing those reviews? You realize those kinds of sites also review Klipsch and Altec Lansing speakers, don't you? You also keep ignoring reviews from respected sites such as 3dsoundsurge. Are they a crappy review site or not?

I've never bought an Altec-Lansing product because every time I considered them there was a better product for the same price. I bought the Yamaha YST-M50 instead AL ACS-48 because from my research the Yamaha speakers were better even though there were few reviews of them. I have no doubts that the AL-641's are good speakers but you seem to have some sort of hate towards the Logitech Z560s even though they are a proven set of speakers.