I purchased a set of Logitech Z-5500 Speakers for my PC room about a year and a half ago and I thought I'd write a little ditty about my impressions of this setup. This system would work quite well as a HTIB setup, actually much better than many HTIB's that I've heard.
The Logitech Z-5500 includes a 10-inch long-throw subwoofer driver with flared bass port delivers 188 watts(continuous) of thunderous bass and 5 Polished aluminum phase-plug satellites that combine two drivers into one--the clarity of a tweeter with the richness and fullness of a separate mid-range. Power to the Satellites: 317 watts RMS (2 x 62 W front, 2 x 62 rear, 69 W center).
Frequency response is listed as 33 Hz — 20 kHz(they don't list to what +/- range, but I've measured the 33Hz at about -6dB, and 36Hz at -3dB).
The Brains and Heart-n-soul of the system is the Digital Soundtouch Control Center, which has built-in decoders for Dolby Digital and DTS processing.
Digital LCD: Clear, crisp high contrast display
Input: Select audio source (optical, coax, or direct)
Effect: Select digital surround sound effect(6ch Direct, Stereo, Stereo x 2, DPII Movie, DPII Music)
Settings: Adjust parameters of digital surround sound effects
Mute: Mute the entire system
Level: Adjust volume, subwoofer, center, and fader levels
Pro-audio style knob: Oversized, weighted control knob with digital precision
Auxiliary input jack: For convenient connection to portable audio devices (CD, MP3, MiniDisc®, etc.)
All right, that's enough of the specs, of which more can be read right here, Click
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...CONTENTID=9486
How does this beast sound?
Let me just say that I have
NEVER heard a PC system that even begins to come close to performing as good as this system(Ok, the Klipsch 5.1 Ultra Pro Media comes close, but isn't as good). The sound is full, detailed, and balanced. Upper frequencies have a nice presence without being Shrill, midrange is quite natural and reporduced accurately, bass is certainly what the doctor ordered with this design because, if you so choose, you can totally drown out the entire midrange and treble with low frequencies. If you dial(way, way down) the sub to a calibrated level, the result is a bass sound that is enveloping, thick, and boomy, but not overly boomy. For a PC sub, I am totally FLOORED by the subwoofer. For HT, it's not going to extend as low as the likes of the popular subs from SVS or HSU, but, that's not what this sub was born to do. If you haven't had the chance to give the Z-5500 a demo, then you will be in for a real treat.
I should mention that I am listening through my PC with a Creative Audigy2 ZS sound card in a 9 x 13 room with a carpeted floor. The Audigy2 ZS sound card is important to mention because this is an EXTREMELY nice card. It has a S/N raito of 108dB with full 96kHz/24bit and DVD-audio capability, as well as a nearly endless number of options to clean-up and modify the source signal. The signal that I am feeding the Z-5500 is absolutely clean, so that certainly maximizes the speakers performance. I have both a digital coax cable and the 5.1 analog cables connected so I can use either my card's decoder or the Logitech's decoder. While the Logitech's decoder is awesome, you simply can't get any better than the Audigy2 ZS. If you are in need of a sound card, DO NOT hesitate to get the Creative Audigy2 ZS, it rocks!
I would say that the Z-5500 could very well be used as a HTIB. The performance is absolutely good enough to be used where the typical HTIB is used. The only concern would be a lack of digital inputs. The Z-5500 has 1 digital optical and 1 digital Coax, and 3 sets of analog inputs and an analog mini input(MP3 player, iPods, portable CD players, etc...) If you really needed more digital inputs, you have to use a digital switcher, which would get the job done. This setup is IDEAL for a college student in a small space where you won't need a large number of inputs anyway. You could hook up a DVD player(digital), XBOX(digital), PC(5.1 analog), and cable TV(analog). That should cover your needs well. The entire system will disappear into the room, but the sound will generously fill the space, and fill it Oh, so well. Did I mention that the Z-5500 can go LOUD.
It can go extremely loud! In my PC room, I hit a max dB level of 118! I couldn't beleive how loud it could be pushed and still not suffer from dynamic compression. Even at levels of 110dB+, the sound is amazingly clear and detailed. Bravo! to whoever made the decision to go with this amp because it is quality. Another bonus to this system is that you could(although you certainly wouldn't have to)swap out the satellite speakers and put in your speakers of choice.
NOTE: Early versions of the Z-5500 came with Satellites hard wired to the subwoofer, using an RCA-type connection so you couldn't eaisly swap out the satellites. Enough people complained, and Logitech quickly reacted by using standard push-pin connections on the amp and satellites, allowing you to use your own speaker wire and even hook up different speakers.