Logitech Z-5500 Worth the Cash?

[Kev_Dawg]

Is it really worth the 500 canadian dollars at all? I have a epox motherboard onboard sound so would the speakers be a waste like my onboard supports 5.1 surround sound cuz I have a 5.1 surround sound head phones and it sounds real good. So ya the url is below you tell me if its worth the cash.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10051737&catid=20399

[dr_hardware]

Kev, does your motherboard onboard sound card have a Digital Output ? ( CoAxial ) [ a RCA output located near the sound outputs ( mini-jacks ) ]

[Kev_Dawg]

Kev, does your motherboard onboard sound card have a Digital Output ? ( CoAxial ) [ a RCA output located near the sound outputs ( mini-jacks ) ]

Here is my mobo I dont think it has it why is that bad???

http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/products_content.php?ps=322

[joeMan]

Kev, I bought my girls the Logitech 2.1 system with comparable sub and 2 satelites and it ROCKS. Very good and smooth bass, nice punchy mids, and crisp highs. Also judging by the per spkr watts and total watts you won't go wrong with it. Just keep shopping price, maybe a better deal will pop up somewhere.

[dr_hardware]

Kev, it has a CoAxial output.
So you can go for the Logi's.
They sound real good.

[Kev_Dawg]

Kev, it has a CoAxial output.
So you can go for the Logi's.
They sound real good.

Haha thanx for the help and all but I'm so lost LMFAO wut is CoAxial esplain to me please:)

[Kev_Dawg]

I also see it says

Support SPDIF Coaxial output.
Support SPDIF Optical output

What is SPDIF and coaxial all mean I'm sure I didnt connect my 5.1 surround sound headphones to those jacks or did I oh man I'm so confused now LMFAO

[Android Vageta]

Like I have said before. Think you should go with the Z-5300's and get a nice sound card and keep the other $200 and buy something useful with that money.

[BB_One]

Kev, it has a CoAxial output.
So you can go for the Logi's.
They sound real good.


WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! This darn coaxial / optical output ( SPDIF ) is nice BUT a major problems for speaker systems, if you are a gamer.

In short, when using SPDIF as an output, you will not get 5.1 surround sound out of games if they have not been design to output AC-3 audio format, you will only get right and left channel.

This is the exact problem I am encountering using a Audigy 2 ZS, and no way in heck can I get multi channel to come over the coax to be decoded by my home theater system. DVD are fine (because they are produce with AC-3 support), but games are not. Only SoundStrom was able to do on the fly (real time) AC-3 encoding.

So an expensive soundcard in the pc, with an expansive home theater and guess what!

Been trying for months now to find a codec that will encode real time in ac-3 format the sound output, no luck to date.

[RyderOCZ]

@ BB_One,

PM me with a good time to call today or this evening...I might have a couple Ideas about that digital audio thing.

EDIT: sorry no thread Hijack intended :o

[Just Learnin']

I have an Audigy 2 Platinum & Creative GD580 5.1 speakers, I overcame the issue BB_One speaks of by bypassing the speakers sound mixer and plugging the speakers directly into the amp from the soundcard. I have to use the volume control on the keyboard now and set the speakers mixer control to analog out. All mixing is done through the sound card and I get 5.1 sound now! Took a long time to get this working but these aren't really designed for a PC. More for a Playstation/XBox. I have read where I can buy a seperate decoder to get around this issue but am happy with the way they work now. From what I have been able to discern home theater and other speaker systems not specifically designed for PC's have this issue.

As far as I know the Z5500's do not have this issue, PC dedicated sound system with a built in decoder, and I was sort of considering them myself. Is this true?

[Rukee]

$500.00??
You could get a dual core CPU and just continue to listen to your 5.1 headphones. ;)

[dr_hardware]

Kev, it has a CoAxial output.
So you can go for the Logi's.
They sound real good.


WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! This darn coaxial / optical output ( SPDIF ) is nice BUT a major problems for speaker systems, if you are a gamer.

In short, when using SPDIF as an output, you will not get 5.1 surround sound out of games if they have not been design to output AC-3 audio format, you will only get right and left channel.

This is the exact problem I am encountering using a Audigy 2 ZS, and no way in heck can I get multi channel to come over the coax to be decoded by my home theater system. DVD are fine (because they are produce with AC-3 support), but games are not. Only SoundStrom was able to do on the fly (real time) AC-3 encoding.

So an expensive soundcard in the pc, with an expansive home theater and guess what!

Been trying for months now to find a codec that will encode real time in ac-3 format the sound output, no luck to date.


BB_One, this happens only with Creative Labs' Sound Cards, because they're using a DIN- Digital Out.

With "normal" CoAx outputs, you get everything.

And for you:
You can use the CoAxial & the analog outputs ( mini-jacks ) together ( so you'll just have to switch the source from the Control Pad of Logis' to play games )

[Just Learnin']

I've seen these speakers @ FrontierPC for $363.75 Canadian.

[Kev_Dawg]

Thanx everyone I appricate but with the link of my mobo will my onboard sound decent atleast till I get my soundcard and my motherboard does support 5.1 surround sound cuz i use it for my headphones

[Kev_Dawg]

My friend just went to see the speakers I want and he said the box of the speakers is real BIG sooooo is that true how big is the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 surround sound box?

[Android Vageta]

Omg...let me explain this to the members. Kevins parents will get ****ed if they find out he spent $500 on PC speakers, so he has to hide the evidence. So this is why hes asking such a retarded question.

Kev, get the Z-5300's, get a nice soundcard, get the relief of not having to worry about the parents beating you with toasters.

[Kev_Dawg]

LMFAO well that yes... but not much I got a backup plan its just I wanna know how big it is because I got no ride to bring the box home so my friend will have a 45 min walk and TTC street car and subway ride. SO I wanna know if its a heavy box etc

[joeMan]

Take a little dolly with you, like a warehouse handtruck kind. Rent one from a local U-Haul or Ryder or something. Your life will be much easier if you are going to cart the things home that far. Even an old shopping cart or something would help. A wagon even.

[Just Learnin']

Shipping weight is 55 pounds Kev!

[Kev_Dawg]

Shipping weight is 55 pounds Kev!

AHHHHHHHHHH!!! god damn thank god I'm going to have a friend wif me hes going to help me carry it were gunna take turns.... :) :D

[Just Learnin']

Hi Kev,
Did you ever get the logitech's, would love to know your opinion of them!! :)

[Kev_Dawg]

Hi Kev,
Did you ever get the logitech's, would love to know your opinion of them!! :)

So far not yet It was delayed for me to get it it was sold out soooo I gotta wait till the end of the month cuz of 2 reasons gotta get the cash and then gotta call to see if they got it in stock. When I do buy them you guys will hear from me about the speakers!!!! :rock: :beer: :thumbs:

[Just Learnin']

:look: $349.00 CDN Kev!!!! :look: Z-5500 (http://www.dangeo.com/proddetail.php?ref=4&sku=50650&promoid=30) :cool: :rock:

[Kev_Dawg]

Ok I found a store that is selling the speakers for 300 and something dollars near where I live. I am wondering shall I buy the new xbox or buy the speakers. I am not really a consol gammers I am more of a PC gammer. Also I have a onboard sound, and I am sure its a good onboard sound its on a nforce 3 ultra board. So if I buy the speakers would it sound good as it's suppose or it wont? I hope I get good responses cause I am a little confused at the momment. If you want to see my motherboard and the sound that is on the board here is the info on my board cause the url wont show for some odd reason.

Epox Nforce 3 Ultra EP-9NDA3+

Specification


CPU Socket:
Support Socket-939 based AMD Athlon-64/ Athlon-64 FX up to 4000+ with 2.0GTs Hyper Transport

System Memory:
Four 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM sockets
Support single-sided or double-sided 2.5v DDR-333/400 DIMMs with dual channel architecture in 128/256/512Mb technologies
Support Asynchronous clocking mode between FSB and DIMM
Support up to 4GB system memory

Chipset¡G
nVidia nForce3 Ultra AGPset

Expansion Slots:
Five PCI connectors compliant with PCI v2.2
One 1.5v AGP- 8X/4X connector compliant with AGP v3.0

USB:
Eight USB connectors compliant with USB2.0 from embedded USB controller (4 connectors at rear panel)

P-ATA IDE:
Two IDE ports (up to 4 IDE devices) with UDMA-33, ATA-66/100/133 support from embedded IDE controller

S-ATA RAID:
Two S-ATA ports from nForce3 Ultra with up to 150MBps bandwidth
Two S-ATA ports from Marvell 88SR3020 SATA PHY
RAID 0,1,0+1,JBOD support

LAN:
1Gb Ethernet from onboard VITESS VSC8201RX Gigabit Ethernet PHY.

1394a:
Two 1394 ports with up to 400Mbps bandwidth from onboard VIA VT6307 1394 controller

Audio:
Selectable 2, 6 or 8-CH audio from onboard Realtek ALC850 AC¡¦97 v2.3 compliant CODEC.
Support Aux-In, CD-In, S/PDIF-in and S/PDIF-out
Support Front panel audio for Mic-In and stereo Line-out only. (Front panel Line-out electrically shared with rear panel Line-out)
Support Auto Jack Sensing for fool-proof audio device installation
Support SPDIF Coaxial output.
Support SPDIF Optical output

I/O:
Onboard Winbond W83627THF LPC I/O controller
Legacy peripheral interface for PS/2 keyboard & mouse, FDD, Parallel, Two Serial, Game and IrDA (v1.0 compliant), ¡K
Support Hardware Monitoring function such as fan speed monitoring and CPU temperature sensing.
Support Smart FAN Control and Intelligent Fan speed control for chassis Fan

BIOS:
4Mb Flash EEPROM with Award Plug & Play BIOS
Support ACPI S3 (Suspend To RAM) mode in ACPI compliant O/S
Support EZ Boot for fast bootable device selection
Support Magic Health for system hardware status report during system boot-up
Support Cool¡¥n¡¦ Quiet

Special Features:
Support KBPO (Keyboard Power ON) function
Support Wake-On-LAN by PME
Support USB resume in S3
Onboard Post-Port LED display
Support AGP-Master for protection against improper AGP card insertion

PowerBIOS for excellent over clocking features:
Support Asynchronous FSB/DIMM timing mode and 1MHz fine tuning on AGP clock
Support BIOS adjustable CPU clock and voltage, AGP voltage, DIMM frequency and voltage settings.

Powerful utilities for Windows:
EPTP (EPoX Thunder Probe) for system hardware monitoring
Magic Flash for BIOS update without requiring DOS flash utility and bootable diskette
Magic Screen for personal bootup screen design

Useful software bundle:
Symantec Norton Internet Security and Pro Magic for system backup and security

Form Factor:
305mm x 245mm x 40mm, ATX Size

Accessories
User¡¦s manual, IO shield
CD for drivers, utilities and bundle software
Round IDE & FDD cables.
S-ATA data and power cable.
Game + COM Bracket cable.

OS Supported:
Windows 2K/XP(32/64bit)/Server2003(32/64bit)

[Kev_Dawg]

The guy at the store has the speakers reserved for me cause there is only 1 left, whenever I want to pick it up I got to tell him I am coming. So before I make a move, should I get the speakers with the infomation I just posted of my motherboard on top, or should I not? :scratch:

[Just Learnin']

Kev dr_hardware answered your question already on the first page of this thread! :yup: He said you are good to go with those speakers! :rock: What was the price you got on them? :scratch:

[Kev_Dawg]

Kev dr_hardware answered your question already on the first page of this thread! :yup: He said you are good to go with those speakers! :rock: What was the price you got on them? :scratch:

This is the site (http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=1675) he wants that price, it's a good price too knowing the other stores want 500 dollars lol.

[Just Learnin']

Looks like a decent price! Mmmmmmmmm CASH! (drool) :rotflmao:

Just ordered an X800 XT AIW myself, would not mind those speakers though!!!! :yup: :yup: :thumb: Let us know when youv'e managed to get kicked out of the house!!! Hehehe :lol:

[Kev_Dawg]

Looks like a decent price! Mmmmmmmmm CASH! (drool) :rotflmao:

Just ordered an X800 XT AIW myself, would not mind those speakers though!!!! :yup: :yup: :thumb: Let us know when youv'e managed to get kicked out of the house!!! Hehehe :lol:

My mom is a lil mad cause she knows it'll be more louder, my speakers right now is only 100 watt power for the sub. Now when I get the 500 watt sub peek level is 1000 watt with all speakers loud picture that, my mom is gunna go nutz LMAO. When I get it up and running I will come here and report back. The speakers will be in my hands next week I hope. :rock:

[Kev_Dawg]

I just got the speakers hooked it up, tested the 5.1 surround sound feature to the speakers. Now that I know how it sounds, I will tell you how good it is and it is AMAZING!. The bass sounds so rich and the sound quality is outstanding, the 400 dollars I spent was worth every penny!. Now let me get back to playing some music, cause I want to HEAR THE RICH BASS HAHA :mischeif: :D :cool: :beer: :rotflmao:

[Just Learnin']

Wooot!!! :rock: I want them too Kev!! :yup: Have you been kicked out of the house yet???? :bonk:

[Kev_Dawg]

Wooot!!! :rock: I want them too Kev!! :yup: Have you been kicked out of the house yet???? :bonk:

Hahahaha I am waiting till my mom comes home, when she comes home I am going to put the subwoofer volume to max and blast the volume in general. I can't wait till she comes home, my walls are shaking and the subwoofer volume isn't even loud it's on medium LMAO. :rock:

[Kev_Dawg]

I just came across a problem, and that problem is when I am on MSN Messenger and when a user sends me a voice clip there voice aint loud on the front left and right speakers. There voice is so faint for some odd reason I dunno why, the front keft speaker is close to me and the front right speaker a bit far from me. When I do the sound test to see if the 5.1 channel is correct, well all the speakers play I hear sound from all the speaker even the subwoofer of course. Is there a way to fix this at all, or is there a driver that logitech never included in the box for me to use? :scratch: