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Logitech Z Cinéma Advanced Surround Sound System

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• Reviewed by: TomSnodgrass

  Updated: 05-09-09

  Overall Rating: 3 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: 1) Extremely easy to set up. 2) Volume integrated with windows media center.

  Weaknesses: 1) Cables too short. 2) Speakers don't automatically power down when system is computer sleeps. 3) Power button on remote powers down speakers only.

  Overall Evaluation: I bought this speaker system as I wanted a speaker system that fully integrated into the windows media center remote control. I want to have 1 simple remote that operates just like any normal tv and any one can pick up and use. A system that does not require you a person to have several remotes to do each and every task. This system accomplished that. It does have several draw backs though. 1) The volume isn't that much more than the speakers in my 46" 1080p monitor that I was using previously; however the sound is much better. I was hoping to have significantly more volume for listening to music. In addition the volume control is not very good. The only usable volume settings are volume = 20 to volume = 25. I think it's better when using other players besides media center; but I bought it for media center. 2) The speaker cables are really a joke. They are only 6ft long and there is really no way to extend them. The left and right have completely different cable types and completely proprietary to this speaker set. 3) I'm using the old remote that came with my windows media center PC; because the power off button on the logitech remote powers off the speakers rather than putting the computer system to sleep as it should. The right way to to this is to have this button put the computer system to sleep and then the speakers should monitor for the computer going to sleep and sleep themselves the same way my monitor does. But all this doesn't really matter as I am happy with the remote that came with my PC. Thee good: 1) The system was extremely easy to setup. Just plug it in and use it. Don't bother installing the software on the CD. If you get the remote annoying logitech display whenever you touch the remote control, launch the z-cinema remote control and select display settings-> off. 2) The volume control of the speaker system automatically integrated into media center I have been able to use my standard media center remote control with no effort. Would I by again? I can't find anything else better on the market that integrates volume into media center. I wish someone would come out with system like this that integrates volume into media center with a full 5.1 or 7.1 system that had 500 watts, wireless rear speakers, standard speaker wire for the front satelite speakers.

• Reviewed by: d_esmond

  Updated: 09-30-08

  Overall Rating: 3 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:3 Months

  Strengths: Great highs, mids, and bass (hard to achieve for a computer speaker system!), nice remote, Sleek, attractive design

  Weaknesses: USB-only interface was a mistake, no front-panel controls, short cables, propriety connectors, buggy software!

  Overall Evaluation: Hardware-wise, these are worth their price tag. Not only do they look great, but the satellites have both a decent-sized woofer in addition to the tweeter. The sub puts out plenty of tight, clean bass.However, Logitech made several descisions that drop their value. First is that they made them USB-only. USB audio has some advantages (no need for a sound card and an extra D/A conversion, software volume control corresponds to hardware volume control, among others) but its also fraught with disadvantages too. For one, any slowdown in your computer will have a tendency to affect the sound as well. If some process hogs up your CPU time, you are likely to hear glitches in the audio coming out of the speakers. Another problem with a USB-only interface is that the speakers then become wholly dependent on the quality of their software driver. With most speakers there are no drivers because they use a simple one-way connection to pump audio out. Because this set depends so much on its driver, any bug in that driver (and there are several) will affect the experience (not to mention limiting this set's usefulness on Mac, Linux, and older Windows machines).I really wish Logitech had allowed for regular 4-channel analog and optical/coaxial digital inputs that could bypass the USB functionality of these--I would likely have taken advantage of a digital audio input to drive them rather than the flaky USB driver. It does have a 2-channel minijack input (to hook up an iPod or other such device) but without the USB connection you lose some of the actual functionality of the set.The software is somewhat intrusive (it pops up a somewhat ugly full-screen overlay of the speakers' current settings) and it's definitely bloated and a bit buggy. I hope Logitech will continue to fix bugs and streamline the software but I am not optimistic.That said, these are the best-sounding 2.1 speakers I have heard. Normally sat/sub systems butcher mids because the sats are too small to play them and the sub is too big to play them. Because the Z Cinema uses larger than normal sats (they look more like bookshelf-size speakers than traditional satellites) it is able to better reproduce the mids--which is of great comfort to music buffs such as myself.The remote is good, but really only of much use if you're sitting a distance away from your PC. I use these at a desk so I find myself instead wishing Logitech had put some controls on the speakers themselves (that said, due to the USB interface you can control most of the functions from the software.Other reviewers have mentioned the short-ish cables. It's true, they are pretty short and not easily extendable. It's an odd decision because these speakers appear to be aimed at people who will use them at least in part for movies and videos, yet it would be difficult to use them with an HTPC connected to a large screen monitor because the cables are not long enough to get enough separation. That said, I only use them at my desk mainly for music so the short cables weren't a problem.For the right scenario and person who wants sound a cut above 99% of other computer speakers, these would be a good choice. Otherwise I hope Logitech will take these back to the drawing board. The audio components themselves are great, but the usefulness of this set is strongly reduced by not having flexible input choices and the option of "divorcing" the set's control from the PC itself.

• Reviewed by: iseestars

  Updated: 07-16-08

  Overall Rating: 4 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:1 Months

  Strengths: Very accurate high-mids/highs/bassSRS TruSurround HD broadens the sound stageUSB eliminates the need for a soundcardRemote controlNo distortion at full volume

  Weaknesses: Poor auxilary input functionalityHeadphone out doesn't give as good sound as the speakers themselvesNo on-unit volume controlsMax volume is considerably lower than many other speakers

  Overall Evaluation: I paid $100 for these after rebate and for that price, they are excellent computer speakers. They accurately capture high-mids/highs unlike standard cheapo computer speakers. They don't sound muddy at all.The subwoofer that comes with it is beefy and can provide good punch, but it will NOT shake your room. It instead delivers reliable, accurate bass. You can still use it for things like hip-hop, etc... as long as your goal isn't for the rest of your house/residence to be able to hear it several floors down.There's a slight hole in the lower-mids. It was very bad when I first got these, but filled out after break-in. They were also very chimey. One con to these is that the break-in period is somewhat longer than usual, but it does pay off. I turned treble down all the way and bass up all the way during breakin period until normal listening was more tolerable.These speakers are USB and have their own sound card. This means that they bypass any on-board or add-in card you may have installed. This can be a good thing because you can run them off any windows pc pretty easily. It can also be a bad thing because it's dependent on the software. This means several things:1) If your soundcard has sophisticated equalization options and other features, they are totally lost on this.2) These add an extra layer, which means if your machine is maxed out it can contribute to slowdown.Some assorted other things:* You can't use these in conjunction with a standard soundcard. You have to close out any apps and kill the process for it under XP if you want to switch between the two. In Vista, you have to reboot your machine.* The aux input isn't very useful because SRS is disabled when you use it.* The headphone out is poor quality. Sound ends up being very trebly (even on quality headphones with good bass). This is confounded by the fact that you can't use these in conjunction with another sound card.* Controlling the virtual center and surround channels is only available in MCE or Vista and even then it's somewhat buggy. It doesn't always give you access to them.* The remote is very good, but it also a mixed bag. You have no controls on the speakers themselves. You also have no ability to add additional speakers to this system.That said, these are fantastic speakers and I would definitely buy them again at this price. The SRS really broadens the sound stage and makes things come alive. SRS off also sounds very good. The gap in mid-range is only noticable with SRS on, but only when comparing it to other audio equipment.This is somewhat of a niche product. These actually do an admirable job with movies. The midrange gap is noticable, but only if you have better equipment to compare it to. You can hear voices etc... fine unlike many cheapo speakers. If you prefer to be able to hook this up to many devices, the z-2300 is probably a better setup to get and cheaper. However, these are probably slightly better speakers.These are ideal for a computer or HTPC setup in a small room. They will not replace a full surround setup. The virtual surround makes them sound better than a standard 2.1 setup, but doesn't create anything near true surround.Make sure you do your research and understand what these speakers are and what to expect from them before you get them. I'm very happy with these, but I'm not trying to replace a full surround system and I'm not comparing them to $300 speakers.Overall these are excellent computer speakers for $150 or less. Anything more than that and you should seriously consider looking at other options or possibly a receiver/sub/2 fronts from somewhere like av123.

• Reviewed by: titanguy58

  Updated: 07-09-08

  Overall Rating: 4 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Beautiful design, remote control with many functions, sound is fantastic, high quality and very well built.

  Weaknesses: The speakers are a bit overpriced.

  Overall Evaluation: These speakers are very versatile. They work great for music, movies, and gaming. The range is great. The remote control is very useful and has lots of functions. This set is one of the best looking speaker systems out there.

• Reviewed by: deshwasi

  Updated: 07-08-08

  Overall Rating: 4 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:20 Days

  Strengths: Stylish, Good Sound, Nice remote, No messy wires

  Weaknesses: none

  Overall Evaluation: These are a great pair of speakers for folks who do not want to wire themselves around with a 5.1 setup but still want some surround sound. the speakers are unique in the sense they connect to the PC using USB cable and bypass the sound processing of the PC completely. they sound excellent while playing music and do provide some surround when playing surround-sound movies.

• Reviewed by: tpc3416

  Updated: 06-27-08

  Overall Rating: 4 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:1 Weeks

  Strengths: Crisp Highs. Good bass from an 8" ported subwoofer. System rarely distorts due to protection circuits, and protects drivers from damage. Very attractive design and remote.

  Weaknesses: Lacking some midrange. Uses protection circuits to limitoutput. Speaker cables are not removable and only 6 feet. Surround not as good as a true 5.1 setup.

  Overall Evaluation: After "reading between the lines" in the reviews, and deciding these weren't all that they were cracked up to be, I ordered them for chitz-n-giggles to see for myself why so many others thought they were so great. Money was not an object (I've always been into audio), and I had it narrowed to the Z5500's, and the Klipsch ProMeda 2.1's. Altec Lansing hasn't had anything top of the line for years, which is sad. They used to have some very impressive 2.1 sets. For the attractive price after rebate, this Cinema Z was an obvious "trial" set I could unload on line IF need be. I am replacing a set of Labtec Edge 418's with a 5.25" woofer (flat panel satellites with the world's best 5.25" sub - no joke, excellent midrange and rolled off highs - typical for flat panels). I've had these for ~8 years, so they continue to impress. My main system consists of a Denon flagship 4802R AVR driving a 7.1 set of Polk RTi/CSi/FXi series speakers and an SVS Plus/2 sub. I've done a dozen or so reviews at Audioholics and the AVS Forum, so I know a little about a little. I ordered them on Sunday and they arrived today (California to Ohio - very fast shipping, and arrived in perfect condition). That's always a nice start. Thumbs up Buy.com. Set up was a breeze. I don't have Windows Media Center on this particular PC (just Player), but I don't plan on doing anything but listening to music, and these worked upon simple setup. The songs I used to demo the 2.1 setup were: Donald **** * Morph the Cat * Tomorrow's Girls * The Goodbye Look Steely Dan * Hey 19 Diana Krall * Cry Me a River * If I Had You Drumline Soundtract * Drum Battles Mike Stern * Upside Down Morphine * You Look Like Rain (very hard track for speakers to reproduce properly) Pat Metheny * All the Things You Are * Cafe Del Mar * Minuano Patricia Barber * Two for the Road Sound Effects * THX Subwoofer Test The Rippingtons * Smooth Jazz Cafe Underground Bass Masters * UBM Subwoofer Test (failed miserably under 40Hz) Yes * Owner of a Lonely Heart Allison Krauss * Now That I've Found You * When You Say Nothing At All * The Lighthouse's Tale Blues Travelers * Run Around I know, the list is extensive, but these are some of the best recordings and bass tests out there, so download them and you'll see why. These speakers shine in some areas, and lack in others. For the money, they are actually a very good buy. The remote is amazing (worth $75 alone - has a quality feel, too), and the software is well thought out. The satellite speakers (I would almost classify them as bookshelf due to their size) are beefy. They have a very capable 3" midwoofer. Then they have an oversized 1" dome tweeter which is usually meant for home audio tower speakers. Normally, when you have a huge 1" dome tweeter, you also have a capable midrange and woofer. Here, you have the 1" dome, no midrange, and a mini 3" midwoofer. Female voices sometimes struggle with these speakers. Highs are crisp. Bass is strong, but a bit rolled off under 35Hz. The subwoofer is lightweight, and the amp is more than adequate to power the driver. HSU makes an HT 8" sub that trounces this, but you pay dearly for that technology. This 8" puts out some decent bass from 35hz to 110Hz, but there is port noise at high volumes. You need to give this sub ample room between the wall and tower. It's too bad there aren't crossovers and gains on the back of this sub - but what can you expect in this price range? The 10" sub in the other Logitech subwoofers allow for deeper bass, as well as higher output. That tight, punchy bass you hear in a quality home speaker and bookshelf is lacking with these subs. They use mid level drivers, and thin mdf cabinets. Adding extra insulation inside may make a difference. All in all, for the average listener wanting a 2.1 setup for music, gaming, and the occasional movie, these are above average PC speakers for the price. At full retail pricing, you can do better. At under $150, they're hard to beat. They don't have the tactile bass response of the ProMedia's, nor the midrange of the Z5300/5500 satellites. They have outstanding highs (very few bookshelves have a 1" dome tweeter). The 10 band eq on Windows Media Player is a must. Raising the midrange too much will become fatiguing - as will the treble. When set properly, these have excellent musical ability, especially at low volumes (perfect fora home office). Apply a nice house curve and these won't disappoint.

• Reviewed by: jccastillo81

  Updated: 06-26-08

  Overall Rating: 5 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:1

  Strengths: The sound. Very nice.

  Weaknesses: A bit too over priced but if your a smart shopper you can buy this at a great price like I did.

  Overall Evaluation: I just finished installing these speakers. Took me about 15-20 mins, very easy to hook up and set up. Set up took me about 5 mins. the remote is a very nice device and it is very easy to learn; took me about 15 secs. Over all the sound that came out of these speakers was very nice. I replaced my Creative Labs I-TRIGUE L3800 and it was worth it. I recommend these speakers to everyone!

• Reviewed by: bbangt

  Updated: 06-21-08

  Overall Rating: 4 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:7 Days

  Strengths: good! I have just used my friend's speakers for one week. these speakers any good. I think they are comparable to z5500, and the appearance is very good! Guess I'll buy one

  Weaknesses: price is a little bit higher, just buy one from buy.com, cost me more than 140 bucks

  Overall Evaluation: for some people the question is how well these perform at 2.1 sound and if they are better at surround than other 2.1 speakers. true surround always sounds better, but not everyone wants a full surround system at every tv and every computer they have.

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