Z-5500. ok to use 16 gauge cables?

[Arcanedeath]

16 gauge will work fine but unless you need longer cable runs there is no point in replacing the 18 gauge that comes w/ the speakers as you will notice no difference, for people willing to spend a bit I always rec a decent Onkyo or Yamaha HTIB setup as opposed to computer speakers, they generaly cost a bit more but sound worlds better than even the best PC speakers.

 

[alcoholbob]

Some people are very opinionated I see! The Logitech Z-5500s are a decent product at their given price range. Comparing them with more expensive speakers and saying they suck seems to be a pointless excercize. Firstly, because the price disadvantage. Secondly, if you are going to say the Logitech Z-5500s suck, you really need to pick something better than Klipsch multimedia speakers IMO; you are talking about a very small subjective difference on the wider scale of consumer products.

Does the Z-5500s really come with 18 gauge? That's *fairly* wide. Most multimedia speaker sets I remember (Klipsch Promedia, Logitech), come with the thinner 22-guage. 18 to 16 gauge would be a small improvement, 22 to 16 *might* be an improvement, but the gains are limited to the speakers internal wiring. Many home theater speakers are internally wired with anything from 10-16 guage wire. But I'd be surprised if those Logitechs were internally wired with anything more than 20-22 gauge. This would be your power transfer bottleneck, rather than the short run of cable you use between amp and loudspeaker.

 

[talbot3]

triggerhappy,

It is true that the logitech's are not "good" speakers, but you will not prove that by comparing them to klipsch promedia's. The promedia and the z5500 are close in quality. Maybe if you were comparing them to klipsch reference or heritage line you could call the z5500 crap, but in their price range it would be difficult to put together a 5 speaker plus sub system that can compete sound *and* pricewise.

 

[aboothman]

Originally posted by: TriggerHappy101
You sir are tone deaf and ignorant.

Piss off

 

[houndawg]

well then, i guess i'll keep the stock wires & save myself the much needed dough since upgrading won't do any good.

CVSiN -- to answer your question, i have the Z-5500D which is a newer version that comes with bare wires at the ends as opposed to the RCA type on the previous Z5500 model.

check it out at :

http://www.xtremeresources.com/modules....ile=index&req=showcontent&id=74&page=4

and :

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-298-3.htm


thanks so much for the insight u guys

 

[CrispyFried]

Originally posted by: TriggerHappy101

Originally posted by: houndawg
what i would like to know is if these speakers are indeed every bit as loathesome, how then did it obtain THX certification?

THX means crap. Its just a marketing ploy. All you need to do is pay THX some good ammount of money - and they give you permission to write THX on your speakers.
Hell - im sure if you wanted to make cell phone speaker THX certified - you could.

lol not exactly, there is a minimum standard of dynamic range and freq response. but its mainly for movies, not music.

 

[elite6]

A lot of people on these forums are smug with their high and mighty attitudes towards certain products. This may stem from being audiophiles, rich folk, or both.

But speaking from my perspective as an average person who uses his computer for gaming, and listening to music (all genres) and not being rich, I can say that the Z-5500's fit the bill for both audio quality and for cost.
They sound thunderous in games, and for most music, to the average person with a good sound card in their computer, they sound great.

For a home theatre, I feel that these speakers produce the bare minimum quality needed, and would suggest a slightly better home theatre tailored setup. These are better suited for smaller environments. I use these with my computer in my home office and as stated, think they sound great. (On the same level as my olf ProMedia 2.1 speaker system).

This is my perspective, and the only one I can speak from.

From an audiophile's perspective, I doubt these speakers would satisfy them, nor would the ProMedia 5.1 Ultra's. For them, perhaps Swans, Bang and Olufsen, Nakamichi Soundworks, or some other custom setup would be better.

Just my $.02.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: CrispyFried

Originally posted by: TriggerHappy101

Originally posted by: houndawg
what i would like to know is if these speakers are indeed every bit as loathesome, how then did it obtain THX certification?

THX means crap. Its just a marketing ploy. All you need to do is pay THX some good ammount of money - and they give you permission to write THX on your speakers.
Hell - im sure if you wanted to make cell phone speaker THX certified - you could.

lol not exactly, there is a minimum standard of dynamic range and freq response. but its mainly for movies, not music.

My main reason for not caring about THX is that it DOES cost money. So often the companies that need the extra advertising it provides are the ones that are willing to pay for it. Many of the best products available today are NOT THX certified. So, yes it means you are getting at least something decent...but other than that it doesn't mean much

 

[houndawg]

well then, i guess i'll keep the stock wires & save myself the much needed dough since upgrading won't do any good.

CVSiN -- to answer your question, i have the Z-5500D which is a newer version that comes with bare wires at the ends as opposed to the RCA type on the previous Z5500 model.

check it out at :

http://www.xtremeresources.com/modules....ile=index&req=showcontent&id=74&page=4

and :

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-298-3.htm


thanks so much for the insight u guys

 

[darkswordsman17]

Thought that I'd weigh in my opinion since I recently picked up a set of Z-5500s. In fact, it was partly due to threads like this one that made me want to try them out. Its too bad that I don't still have the Gigaworks with the DDTS-100 to compare it to, but I do have my home theater system comprised of the following: Onkyo TR-602 Reciever, Dayton 10" sub, Polk CS1 center, Polk R50 fronts, and Polk R15 surrounds.

Now I really like my home theater system. Its not killer, but I think its quite good, especially for the price (I paid about $700 shipped for it all). For watching movies its absolutely stellar, with one exception. I have to turn it up before it really starts to sing. Now, this wouldn't normally be an issue, as especially for some movies, the louder the better. However, I unfortunately live in an apartment building, and so I refrain from watching movies mostly because I don't want to bother the other people since I have to turn it up to really get much out of it. Music is good, but also suffers from needing to be turned up. I had an SACD capable DVD player for a while and at low volumes it sounded just kinda ho-hum, but once I turned them way up it was very good. Games are ok, but not really exceptional.

So I hooked up the Z-5500s to see how they'd sound in the front room. I figured I'd need to turn the volume up about halfway to get them to make much sound, but I was surprised that I had to turn them down, to about 2 bars (5 or 6 being about halfway), as they were quite loud. They were nice and clear even at the low volume level. I actually even had to go adjust the sub as it was a little too punchy compared to the speakers at the default level. I was liking them. Listened to some music (several CDs I had picked up recently), and was again impressed. Then I figured I'd check out a couple of movies to see how it'd compare there. This is where I finally saw a weakness in them. War of the Worlds has a scene relatively early on in the film where the bass is just astounding. In fact once I heard it on the Datyon, I was fully convinced at that subs greatness. You could really feel it, and even if I turned it down, the thing would still reproduce a great sound/feeling. I figured it was probably one of those very low frequency sounds that people were so impressed with the Dayton's capability to reproduce. So I go to that scene, and find that (not surprisingly) the Logitech sub can't match it. I turn the sub up higher than it was default and it still can't muster the same feeling, although it certainly was putting out a very decent sound.

Now, I was intending to use the Z-5500s in my room (which is considerably smaller than the front room) and so I'm sure the bass will be fine for that. However, I have to say that I am actually planning on replacing my home theater setup with the Z-5500s. The reason is that the clearity for the volume difference makes a world of difference for me in the apartment. I'm actually glad that the sub can't match the Dayton, as I'm sure my neighbors will be as well. That and I'll save myself $500 or more (should be able to sell my HT setup for maybe $800-900).

Adding more to the having to turn my home theater setup high, I actually had taken to listening with my Sennheiser HD-555s to hear things. The Logitech have a kinda comparable sound in my opinion (although I will admit the headphones sound better). Its a little overly bright, but I have to say I like it.

So, like has been pointed out sound is very subjective, and also, in some situations, its just not very feasible to go with a nice big full speaker setup.

 

[NanoStuff]

Just FYI there are 'high-end' speakers designed for nearfield listening, many quite large. Typically referred to as 'nearfield studio monitors' and they're perfectly 'feasible' for smaller rooms, some better for this purpose than others despite their large size.

The 5500s are good speakers for the asking price, I can tell you that, but saying "I don't want bigger speakers because I have a small room" is just no excuse If anything, large nearfield speakers would be more suitable for smaller rooms because of their full range frequency response at ear level, that is woofer proximity.

 

[rstrohkirch]

There is nothing inherently special about using some system labeled as "near-field" vs using a quality bookshelf in the near-field.

Also, how is choosing speaker size based on available room space not a valid excuse?
If you're happy with the output of the smaller set then you've taken care of 90% of most peoples concerns.

 

[NanoStuff]

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
There is nothing inherently special about using some system labeled as "near-field" vs using a quality bookshelf in the near-field.

There is. Certain speaker's off-axis characteristics for the tweeter are such to give narrow dispersion. Near-field monitors are also typically active.

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
Also, how is choosing speaker size based on available room space not a valid excuse?

Because the assumption is that one will not benefit greatly from a large speaker in a small room, when fact is one will benefit greatly regardless of room size.

 

[rstrohkirch]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
There is. Certain speaker's off-axis characteristics for the tweeter are such to give narrow dispersion. Near-field monitors are also typically active.

Somehow I knew you'd mention dispersion
The studio monitors are designed for on-axis listening, so what?
90% of all bookshelf speakers made are designed to have excellent on-axis response properties. It's not like the studio monitors off-axis response is vastly different either.

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
Because the assumption is that one will not benefit greatly from a large speaker in a small room, when fact is one will benefit greatly regardless of room size.

I'm sure plently of people know they will benefit from a larger speaker in a smaller room, or in that respect they know what they will gain. Output

Which is the primary concern, or atleast near the very top, for a vast majority of people pc speakers.


There is nothing "super neat" about studio monitors besides the fact that they are generally actively crossed and powered.

 

[NanoStuff]

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
Somehow I knew you'd mention dispersion
The studio monitors are designed for on-axis listening, so what?
90% of all bookshelf speakers made are designed to have excellent on-axis response properties. It's not like the studio monitors off-axis response is vastly different either.

It's not about excellent on-axis response, it's about having little off-axis response. Also note I made no assumption that only near-field monitors are near-field speakers. The bottom line was that a large near-field speaker of one form or another would be very suitable for a small room.

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
I'm sure plently of people know they will benefit from a larger speaker in a smaller room, or in that respect they know what they will gain. Output

That's the misconception, they will gain plenty more than just 'output'. Not only will you gain a lot more on the low end, which is very important for stereo bass, but you can also assume that a near-field monitor will sound much better than any small set of multimedia speakers.

Originally posted by: rstrohkirchThere is nothing "super neat" about studio monitors besides the fact that they are generally actively crossed and powered.

Well, the fact that they're actively crossed is great enough in itself, but you don't necessarily need studio monitors. Typical bookshelf speakers would be a very nice upgrade regardless of room size.

 

[rstrohkirch]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
It's not about excellent on-axis response, it's about having little off-axis response. Also note I made no assumption that only near-field monitors are near-field speakers. The bottom line was that a large near-field speaker of one form or another would be very suitable for a small room.

It IS about their excellent on-axis response, if they had rather poor on-axis response then what would be their benefits? Plus, wide dispersion is actually a characteristic selling point for some of them so it's not an inherent bonus that studio monitors have controlled off-axis response. I also doubt that the ones that do have a narrow top end have some magic response plot where 15-30deg off-axis is not existent. I don't think they want that small of a sweet spot...feels like a ribbon.

I might also add that it's rather unlikely that there are some major benefits when the users are sitting only about 3-4 feet away for either set.

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
That's the misconception, they will gain plenty more than just 'output'. Not only will you gain a lot more on the low end,

That is what your're gaining...output. If you're current drivers are -15db down@40hz with xx voltage and your fancy new ones are now -5db down then you've gained more output =]

which is very important for stereo bass,

Not sure what you mean here since the frequency region I call bass may be different then your's.

but you can also assume that a near-field monitor will sound much better than any small set of multimedia speakers.

Ya but I was comparing a bookshelf system to a pair of marketed "studio monitors". I was assuming they were willing to spend $xxx on the monitors then they would at least be willing to spend close to that on something else.

Well, the fact that they're actively crossed is great enough in itself, but you don't necessarily need studio monitors. Typical bookshelf speakers would be a very nice upgrade regardless of room size.

 

[Auric]

Wire gauge is only a factor in minimizing power loss over distance and that supplied with PC speaker kits like Logitech and Klipsch is probably sufficient since short runs and relatively low power are implied. If the length as supplied is longer than needed, any minor benefit may be acheived by trimming it rather than replacing it with a lower gauge. As for THX certification, the requirements are not published so it may be considered mostly marketing, especially in regards to low cost gear and one might presume even more especially to that from Creative since it is a part owner in the company.

 

[PSUPef2k]

Originally posted by: TriggerHappy101
No - I just get frustrated when people don't know the difference between good sound and bad.

The 5500s are utter crap. I had my friend bring his system over and we ran a blind demo run and the difference is unbelievably obvious. Not only did the satellites on the 5500s sound like TV speakers - but the sub was a one note wonder. The z5500s just can not compete with the Klipsch promedia 4.1, 2.1s or the 5.1 ultras.


If you don't like getting ripped off, and you like nice full sounding speakers - get the Klipsch ultra 5.1s

at least they don't die after 6 months like a set of 5.1 ultras.

 

[PSUPef2k]

are the Z-5500's on tigerdirect currently the ones with the speaker wire that is NOT hardwired to each speaker?

 

[HurleyBird]

yes

 

[PSUPef2k]

yes the ones on tiger direct are the new version? This is CRUCIAL for me because I need to get new speaker wire to make successfull runs to where I want to put the rear speakers.

 

[HurleyBird]

yes, they are the new ones. The old ones are phased out and would be VERY hard to find.