Tired of puny little squeaks from cheap speakers? Throw them aside and bring in the REAL stuff! Today, we will take a look at a set of mid-range 5.1 speakers the Logitech Z-640! Let's see if it really can rumble! Link : Logitech Z-640 5.1 Speaker Set Review!
We're not really Logitech super-fans, but my two roommates and myself each have a different model of Logitech 5.1 speakers. Since I've had the opportunity to compare them all, I thought people might be interested to hear about my experience. One of my roommates bought the Z-680's a couple years ago and is still using them today, now in coax digital mode to decode the Dolby Digital 5.1 signal from his nForce2 motherboard. These speakers were the coolest I'd seen (until I got mine) - great bass, great satellites, and great features (AC3 decoding, prologic decoding, nice looking, digital and analog inputs, controls located on a control box instead of the speakers). I don't really have any complaints about these guys, except that the subwoofer is heavy and the first set my roommate brought home from the store was broken (some of the speakers produced no sound, or only static - I don't remember). My other roommate has the Z-640's on her computer. Since it's located in a common area of our apartment (the dining room), we often watch movies and TV shows together on it. This is a good speaker system for the price. The mid-range is a bit lacking, so it is sometimes hard to catch quiet dialogue in some movies (even with dynamic range compression enabled). My big complaint is that even with the subwoofer volume at its lowest, it still produces sound (and as the reviewer said, the knob is on the back of the subwoofer, which is hard to reach even though my roommate has it sitting on her desk next to her monitor). I've also heard that some people have had their Z-640 subwoofer blow out after a few months, even when having the volume at a reasonable level. My roommate has had these for almost a year now, though, and they still work great. I just bought the Z-5500's for myself a couple weeks ago, and they're awesome. They're basically the Z-680's with a new look. The only functional differences I've noticed are: - the speaker wires are attached to the satellites and connect to the subwoofer via RCA connectors instead of bare wire leads. This is annoying only because the rear speaker wires are too short for me to run around the walls of my room without looking a bit tacky. I'll probably end up splicing them or buying extension cables (which may be expensive because I'll need ones capable of handling a full-power signal) - the control box now has a switch that allows the analog inputs to be used as 3 independent stereo inputs (selectable from the control box) instead of one 6 channel input. I'll probably never use it (since I connect to my computer using 6 channel analog), but it might be handy if you are planning to use them with multiple video game consoles/VCRs/DVD players instead of a computer - the stands/mounting brackets for the satellites are plastic and are more permanently attached to the speakers than those on the Z-680s. They swivel to adjust beween stand mode and mounting mode, and they still look nice, so it's not a big deal. They're also made of very thick, sturdy plastic, so don't worry about breaking them accidentally. Also, I was able to mount them to my walls in under 10 minutes - much less painful than I expected. So far I have no complaints about the Z-5500's. What's annoying is that a lot of games coming out these days don't take full advantage of 5.1 sound cards and speakers (e.g. Doom 3, Vampire: Bloodlines, Deus Ex 2). EDIT: I have a question for the reviewer: Why did you put your center speaker in front of your monitor? We all put them on top of our monitors instead. The Z-5500's center speaker even tilts downward a bit to accomodate this setup. I thought about mounting it on the wall, but I decided to put it on top of my monitor to provide a better sense of where the "center" of the front sound field is (I'm finnicky about that and like to move the speaker around, especially since I have two monitors).
The article has just been updated! Tired of puny little squeaks from cheap speakers? Throw them aside and bring in the REAL stuff! Today, we will take a look at a set of mid-range 5.1 speakers the Logitech Z-640! Let's see if it really can rumble! Here are the updates:- Corrected mistakes in pages 1, 3 and 7. Please note that the speaker cables should be extended using RCA cables. Link : Logitech Z-640 5.1 Speaker Set Review Rev. 1.1!
well it just makes me easier to adjust the volume because it's nearer to me Other than that, I often use the headphone jack, so if I put the center speaker on top of my monitor, the wire would be hanging in front of my monitor
Ah, I didn't think about the headphone jack. I'd probably move the speaker to the side of the top of my monitor when using headphones, and it'd probably annoy the crap out of me I guess for me that means the Z-640s are at a disadvantage from having the headphone jack on the center speaker instead of on a control box.
Yeah, I had been thinking about selling my Z-680's to buy some Z-5500's but I like that mine use speaker wire. Those Z-5500's though look super slick. I hate how mine hiss though.
Viper: I wouldn't bother upgrading unless you have the money and nothing else to spend it on. The Z-680's really sound just as good as the Z-5500's and have 99.9% of the same features (heck, I can even use my Z-5500 remote to control my roommate's Z-680's!) I do like the silvery look of my Z-5500's though
SB cards I decided to buy this set, because the price is acceptable and i'm not so much to the music. but then i discovered that i have onboard sound card and i guess it doesn't support 5.1 system. well, then i found two cards from the internet which have got positive feedback from users: Sound Blaster Audigy LS and Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit. they almost cost the same and i don't know which one to prefer. now i saw that reviewer has Live! 24-bit. any justifications? but as i understand Sound Blaster Audigy LS supports kx drivers but Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit dosn't, right? i know its not posted under proper thread but i cannot make new one and this thread had more common with me than others.
A few comments/corrections. First, in the article it was mentioned that the z-640 is a $100 sound system when, in fact, it retails for an average of $60 and can even be found online for as little as $25, $35 if you include shipping. You continually compare this sound system to higher priced systems, but not once is it compared to products within the same price range... Like Creative's SBS 560(45W/70W peak) or Altec's Lansing 251(60W/90W peak). Both of which the Z-640 kicks a** over. Also, you mention that RCA extenders are the only way to extend your cables. I personally, have installed bananna jacks on my satellite speakers and get excellent results using 18-guage speaker wire from wal-mart($9.95 for 100ft). This only took a couple hours(and $15 at Radio Shack) including the wiring which took forever because while I was in the middle of this I found a spot where water had gotten in from outside and rotted the drywall I was trying to staple into. BTW: I haven't yet seen a similarly priced speaker system with bananna or clip jacks. They all just have set-length RCA cables, and most have shorter cables than the Z-640. Finally, my personal performance review: the Z-640 is the best speaker system for the price range. It has great treble, fantastic bass, and decent mid-range... as opposed to most other similarly priced speakers which usually only have decent mid-range and crappy treble and bass. Oh, and I almost forgot. The article claims that the sub is a 6". It's not. I've actually opened it up and looked at it. The box is dual-chambered with a vertical wall seperating the front of the box from the back. The subwoofer is 3" and is set in this wall facing the rear. All things considered, Logitech did a d*** good job with this one. They've produced a better system than CL or Altec while at the same time using smaller speakers(Altec's drivers for the 251 are 3" and both CL and Creative use a 6" B.R. sub)
z 640 subwoofer not working read the article on the z 640 review. Since I can't find the z 640 product on the logitech site I thought maybe you could help. All other speakers are working except the subwoofer. I have set up the sound properties to be a 5.1 suround sound. I think the subwoofer was working before I hooked them up to my new computer. The old computer was XP and this one runs Vista - don't know if that makes a difference. Can you help?
This might sound stupid, but did you remember to turn on the subwoofer? The volume control knob behind it.
