- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 135 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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26 out of 43 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"MY EXPERIENCE: DEFINITELY NOT FOR MUSIC!"
Pros: Good bass, sufficient quality, sufficient power.
Cons: Sound not clear, very much muffled : no treble!. Expensive for the quality.
Summary: After reading the many favorable reviews on Logitech Z-5500 on the Internet, I bought one set. Logitech announces that these speakers are multi-purpose, and I was planning to set-up a music center, with the self-amplifying speakers attached to a tuner and a dvd-player. To my surprise, the highly rated speaker system turned out a very bad sound when music is played: the sound was strongly shifted towards bass, lacking treble sounds, so that the sound from my popular music was very much muffled! I tried many music pieces I was familiar with: the sound had good strong bass, but the high notes (treble sounds) were absent, so that the sound was not clear, was muffled, and sounds that shound ring and chime (like high toned guitar, piano and violin sounds) were also totally muffled. The resulting musical quality was totally unacceptable to the careful listener. The subwoofer level adjustment on the speaker set was not of use for changing the tone of the sound produced: with this control,the sound went from slight bass, with no treble, to very strong bass, again with no treble. And there is no other bass/treble control or equalizer on this expensive unit. Then I tried the soundcard equalizer. After reducing the bass tones and increasing the mid-tones moderately and the high tones (treble) fully, things returned to normal. The speakers then produced good sound. Yet I was planning to use these speakers with a tuner and a dvd-player set which do not have bass-treble controls of their own (typical of these components), so the speakers were useless to me! I contacted Logitech telling them the problem and asking some specific questions, like the speaker impedances. They, summarily, told me that whatever Logitech wanted to say about the product is on web pages and brochures and they cannot answer any other questions!(Neither it seemed, that they did care my having problems with their product). Since Logitech did not answer any of my questions, I was unable to decide whether this problem is singular: a production error for this particular unit, or whether is typical of all speakers. Summarily, I am now after a court order for the speaker system to be returned, since retailers do not accept returns in Turkey. (I wish to point out that Z-5500 is sold for more than 600 US dollars in Turkey, including taxes). I wish to express my deep disappointment with the people who reviewed Z-5500 so favorably, with the Logitech Company, and with the Z-5500 itself. My rating of this system is 3/10 (poor). The hardware is there, but the necessary adjustments (the expertise, the thought part, an understanding of quality in sound reproduction, I should say?) are not.Updated
In this review I have described the experience that I had with the z-5500 system I have bought, in an effort to make others decide more easily what this system is like. Since I have written the review, I received many comments, whose sincerity I do not doubt, saying that the Z-5500 is a good system and that there must have been something wrong with my system. I have also followed the literature on Z-5500's. I am now made to believe that the problems I have described in the Z-5500 do exist, but in a rather slight form, and not as strongly as I had experienced them. The problems I have described terefore seems to be particular to the unit I have tested, a production error, and not general for the Z-5500's. This was a possibility I had indicated in the review. Unfortunately, Logitech did not answer my questions that could have clarified the situation.Please be aware that the review may not be general for the Z-5500 system, and many others find it to be a good system.
- 19 replies to this review
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are you using a high bitrate source? it DOES matter what and where your source is coming from. have you tried the digital inputs for music? i have mine on digital and they're fantastic. i've tried it and you CAN hear the difference from analog to digital.
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Listening to music - you will have very awful experience, I agree that these have no tight bass... and the treble is completely missing, but watching movies - it has the best of experience in sound
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Remember, you need a decent sound-card to get the best out of them, otherwise your likely to be disappointed.
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Wow, are they really that bad? I was thinking about buying them too. They seemed good. What do you think is better, the bose companion 5, or this
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you just expect the speakers to do every thing u need a good sound card like the new creative ones
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From the sound of your review it appeared as if you are one of those people who needs a $1000+ system, because you can hear minor problems. People like you should buy Bose, and not look for a bargain. This speaker set is phenominal
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This is my first post ever with CNET though I have been reading CNET reviews for some time now.
Just purchased the z-5500 very happy with the quality/clarity of the speakers!
Changed the origanal wires with solid thick cable wire! Just a simple post for people to read!
Have a great day people! -
I totaly agree with your comments on the z5500 .I have just unrapped and plug mine in and my first inpressions are weres the treble and midrange punch .With no control for this on the unit itself you relly on what ever you plug in to it,to have sound adjustments options.But the distinked lack of richness to the sound can never be fully substituted buy E/Q controls alone.This system needs tweeters and larger component speakers to match the hugh bass,but then what would the system cost.....
Overal a little disapointed with the lack treble control and the hype that they get.
This system could be so much more with these things being addressed.
Do you get what you pay for ??????? -
It's a PC speaker system for crying out loud. What exactly were you expecting out of it (rolleyes).And in my opinion it is the best PC speakers I have ever owned hands down. It sounds great when you're using it w/ a soundcard then you can use the soundcard's EQ to fine tune the sound. I have a home theater system and these don't compare but it can definitely compete. If you wanted "crystal clear" treble then perhaps you should've just invested in a real home theater system.
But then again, that's YOUR opinion and what sounds good to me may not sound good to someone else. To each his/her own. -
I'm afraid your wrong dude.. These speakers rock.. I'm a sound engineer for a melbourne sound recording studio and i was impressed with all apsects of these speakers. Despite lacking what we might call split touch/high end treble frequencies found only in good audiophile gear.. they do a good job. I reccomend u stop being such a uselss mangina. Why were u listening to that queer music anyway. Please dont bother posting any more reviews here.. they are utterly useless and misleading.
ohh and bad luck you paid so much for them.. haha. -
Yes, you'll find that the Z-5500 sound terrible on some music, if you play a music DVD with Dolby or DTS sound it will sound perfect but normal music, cd's, mp3's (stereo 2 channel sources ) will not sound as good, a sony or marantz hi-fi even a 20 year old stereo system will sound much better because of the size of the speaker(larger), the logi's are small and made for digital sound, u can still compare the Z-680's and Z-5500 with DVD entertainment systems of $1000 and more and the Logi's will compare well when looking at DTS capability and quality but will defnitily loose out when ordinary music is compared...but I'll still give the logi's a 9, I still cannot believe how good DVD movie sound at 96khz is reproduced by this wonderfull small speakers.
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It's more expensive, but the sound is very balanced. Logitech should have spent more time and money on the speakers and spent less on that nifty little control pod and all it's more or less, useless, features.
Klispch has been specializing in audio equipment for 60 years. Logitech has only been in business for 25 years. Logically, which is the better company to buy high-quality speakers from? -
Theres 6 3 inch drivers attached to this thing...
no treble? if it wasnt for the sub you'd break glass.
first you say theres no treble, then theres too much bass. you can turn down the sub mang.
Three possibilites here:
1) Had speakers out of phase. Red to red, black to black, otherwise things sound muddy and muffled.
2) Faulty unit. You bought it in turkey, rough times/temperatures for eletronics...
3) You cant figure out how to use it. -
What do you listen to? Classical? I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, but these speakers are (1) not professional speakers, and (2) they are bassy like that because they are meant mainly for gaming, which requires a LOT of bass. (3) These speakers work excellent if you are into techno (check out Benny Benassi - Satisfaction), or anything bassy. I would not recommend them for classical music, or something that has enough treble in it to shatter glass.
Although I've loved listening to these speakers, I do have one complaint to log against them. The design of the subwoofer is very close to that of its predecessor. I also own a set of Z-5300s and, although they are not nearly as powerful, the subwoofer design pumps out more detailed and fuller bass. The new design (used on these and its predecessor), with the speaker being exposed to the outside, seems to create more vibration and annoying buzzing noises when you turn it up too high. I wish they had kept the old design (such used on the 5450, and the 5300) - in my opinion, it did not pump out MORE bass, but it did do a better job at keeping the level of detail of lower-end sounds.
Other than that, I have no complaints against these whatsoever and believe them to be extremely good speakers. -
What do you listen to? Classical? I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, but these speakers are (1) not professional speakers, and (2) they are bassy like that because they are meant mainly for gaming, which requires a LOT of bass. (3) These speakers work excellent if you are into techno, or anything bassy. I would not recommend them for classical music, or something that has enough treble in it to shatter glass.
Although I've loved listening to these speakers, I do have one complaint to log against them. The design of the subwoofer is very close to that of its predecessor. I also own a set of Z-5300s and, although they are not nearly as powerful, the subwoofer design pumps out more detailed and fuller bass. The new design (used on these and its predecessor), with the speaker being exposed to the outside, seems to create more vibration and annoying buzzing noises when you turn it up too high. I wish they had kept the old design (such used on the 5450, and the 5300) - in my opinion, it did not pump out MORE bass, but it did do a better job at keeping the level of detail of lower-end sounds.
Other than that, I have no complaints against these whatsoever and believe them to be extremely good speakers. -
what are u talking? how can it be shifted too much towards the bass??? on the control pod you can TURN OFF THE SUBWOOFER. that eliminates basically all the bass. of course music sounds crappy with no bass at all but you can adjust the level of the sub and if you turn it all the way down IT TURNS OFF.
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what are u talking? how can it be shifted too much towards the bass??? on the control pod you can TURN OFF THE SUBWOOFER. that eliminates basically all the bass. of course music sounds crappy with no bass at all but you can adjust the level of the sub and if you turn it all the way down IT TURNS OFF.
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Maybe if you are looking for professional sound you should be looking elsewhere!
I bought the Z-5500's and loved them !!
The sound is excellent and bass and treble response is very good considering the lack of an actual separate tweeter. I think Logitech did an excellent job producing this speaker system and should keep up the good work! -
This is a great sounding set of speakers, but it is hardly what I would call audiophile quality. You called this set "expensive," but I think you simply do not know what you are talking about. If you wanted something at the very high end of sound (especially music listening) you would be hard-pressed to get an audiophile-quality set-up for less than $1000 dollars. I owned the previous version of these speakers--the 680s I believe they were called--and they sounded great with music, movies, and games alike. I would be more likely to cite the source you had plugged into these speakers than the speakers themselves as the problem.
Where to buy
Z-5500 Digital Speaker System:
$349.99 - $401.80
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$379.99 | Yes |
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$369.95 | Yes |
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$349.99 | Yes |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$401.80 | Yes |
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$369.95 | Yes |
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