Logitech Z-5500 Digital Soundroom

[DanishDevil]

Originally Posted by Legend of Leroy Bad

Really SACD is Super Audio CD, 24-bit multi channel audio CDs, with sample rates from 88.1kHz-2Ghz.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Audio_CD

They will sound amazing. Use a good Optical cable from your SACD player to the head unit. You will be blown away.

An SACD is basically the precursor to DVD Audio discs.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by DanishDevil

They will sound amazing. Use a good Optical cable from your SACD player to the head unit. You will be blown away.

An SACD is basically the precursor to DVD Audio discs.

and i've never seen a DVD-A in person either

sigh... freakin ipod generation.

anyone know a good source to get (legal preferably) some of this uber quality music? i'd like to see how good it really is. (digital format, plz)

[twicksisted]

Originally Posted by Mussels

and i've never seen a DVD-A in person either

sigh... freakin ipod generation.

anyone know a good source to get (legal preferably) some of this uber quality music? i'd like to see how good it really is. (digital format, plz)

Different media may be able to contain larger amounts of data, and they may be different formats availible that are capable of outputting a higher resolution, but at the end of the day is down to how the actual audio file was produced, mixed and mastered that determines what it sounds like.

Most professional recording studios mix and master in 24bit 48khz... then after mastering the file is set at 16bit 44.1khz for audio CD's, Vinyl & MP3.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by twicksisted

Different media may be able to contain larger amounts of data, and they may be different formats availible that are capable of outputting a higher resolution, but at the end of the day is down to how the actual audio file was produced, mixed and mastered that determines what it sounds like.

Most professional recording studios mix and master in 24bit 48khz... then after mastering the file is set at 16bit 44.1khz for audio CD's, Vinyl & MP3.

yeah... any links, or someone want to PM/email me a good high quality file? I'm interested in this DVD audio and such that you are mentioning.

[DanishDevil]

I got a sample CD with my X-Fi. Only piece of DVD Audio I ever saw in person. It really didn't take off...

[Legend of Leroy Bad]

Why is the Z-5500 so hard to find in stores? Major electronic stores like Best Buy and Circuit City don't carry it. Its seems like its online only.
Also does anyone have any expereince with buying from eCost.com? They have a sale for $165.99 USD.

[DanishDevil]

BUY IT!!! That's an AMAZING price. I've heard the name, but I don't have any personal experience.

[Legend of Leroy Bad]

I have another question. When connected by the s/pdif to my computer, and playing stereo audio. Will the subwoofer still work? Will it only be 2.0 and not be 2.1? In the my manual it says my computer supports Stereo, 4-Channel, and 6-Channel Audio.
I have an Asus A7V8X-X for the record.

Oh and by the way I recommend to stay far away from eCost.com I found two websites that have reviews for it, and they rate an adverage of 1.8/10 from a pool of about 70 customer reviews!

[DanishDevil]

Yes, the sub will work.

And thanks for the heads up on eCost. I won't add it to the first post.

[Mussels]

the sub will work, it will just leech the bass out of the front two channels, rather than have its own channel for exactly the right amount of bass.

[DanishDevil]

I would just set it to PLII Music anyway. It sounds pretty damn good for crummy MP3 music

[gerrynicol]

just got a new monitor, so had to set them up a bit differently. After many attempts to get it looking good, here goes.

[Legend of Leroy Bad]

Are there any speaker stands from the surround speaker? On the Logitech website there is a video demo of the satilites on stands, but noone seems to know which they are.

Also to gerrynicol:
How did you get your center speaker to balance on your flat screen monitor like that?


Oh and Geek.com has the Logitech Z-5500 on sale for $159.99!. I ordered it last night! And the store has decent reviews this time.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...0403-R&cpc=SCH

[gerrynicol]

Originally Posted by Legend of Leroy Bad

Also to gerrynicol:How did you get your center speaker to balance on your flat screen monitor like that?

I have a couple of foam pads on the bottom and use the feet to prop the back up.

see pic.

[Black Panther]

Nice idea gerrynicol!

Originally Posted by Black Panther

Has anyone here made heads or tails about which settings are saved when you switch off your set?
Mine apparently seems to save settings in a very random way.

I think I discovered the 'random' way in which settings are saved.
I put the settings I wanted, then switched off the speakers before switching off the pc.
Voila my settings got 'saved' now and everytime I switch on the pc I get them correct.
wtf...

[Legend of Leroy Bad]

Ok It finally arrived. My Z-5500.
I have an embarrasingly lame camera, but here are some photos.









Everything works ok. I seem to get Boost 11.

For the life of me I can't seem to get 5.1 with S/PDIF using Windows Media Player 11 with files nor DVDs. I can get 5.1 with PowerDVD with DVDs only but not files.
With the 6-Channel Direct cable everything works well, but I would have liked to use the S/PDIF cable I bought specidically for this rig. Any help?

[DanishDevil]

What does your head unit display while you're trying to get that? Are you using Coax or Optical?

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Legend of Leroy Bad

For the life of me I can't seem to get 5.1 with S/PDIF using Windows Media Player 11 with files nor DVDs. I can get 5.1 with PowerDVD with DVDs only but not files.
With the 6-Channel Direct cable everything works well, but I would have liked to use the S/PDIF cable I bought specidically for this rig. Any help?

you only have 2 channel audio sources, so its not going to work 5.1 - windows media player also sucks.

[DanishDevil]

You should be able to just set it to PLII Music...I can with Coax. Not sure about Optical, though.

[Mussels]

optical and coax work exactly the same - i think he was talking about 5.1 as the unit reports it, it would be telling him he's ony getting 2.0 audio

[DanishDevil]

Gotcha. Yeah these speakers aren't going to turn MP3s into true 5.1 sources, but PLII Music works nicely to remedy that

[Legend of Leroy Bad]

Sorry for the confusion, the pics I posted are not related to my problem. That pic of the display is reflecting a Audio CD at a 88.2kHz sample rate. I don't know why it says 96kHz connected by TOSlink.

Anyway as for my problem, my unit says Input: Coax and Effect:Stereo when the source is a 5.1 DVD and a Divx file with 5.1. I only get it to DDigital when playing a DVD through PowerDVD. But not with Windows Media Player 11. And agian this is with the coax connection. With the 6-Channel direct everything is great.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Legend of Leroy Bad

Sorry for the confusion, the pics I posted are not related to my problem. That pic of the display is reflecting a Audio CD at a 88.2kHz sample rate. I don't know why it says 96kHz connected by TOSlink.

Anyway as for my problem, my unit says Input: Coax and Effect:Stereo when the source is a 5.1 DVD and a Divx file with 5.1. I only get it to DDigital when playing a DVD through PowerDVD. But not with Windows Media Player 11.

because media player doesnt support it. thats why i call it a crap player.

Remember digital audio (optical and coax) are ONLY 2.0 - you need pre-encoded data to get 5.1. you also need the SPEAKERS to decode it. If your software changes it to 5.1, it WILL NOT come out the speakers if they're decoding it. You will need SPDIF passthrough to get that working (an option that powrDVD definatly supports)

[Legend of Leroy Bad]

Ok I got you. But heres what I don't get, the divx file I have has 5.1 AC3 audio. Played from my PS3 -> Optical it is definetly 5.1 (not PL II) but when the same file is on my computer it is only stereo with Coax and 5.1 with 6 channel. Why is this?

[Mussels]

because your software is decoding it, for use over analogue.

You would need it to work via PASSTHROUGH, often called SPDIF - whatever codec is controlling this on your PC, needs to be setup to use passthrough so that the speakers, and not the PC, is decoding it.