Title : Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speaker System	Category:
Author : Willz	Published On : 17-08-2006
Rating : N/A	Views : 74017

The Subwoofer

Ok, this speaker system is complemented by one massive beast of a subwoofer for a computer 5.1-speaker system.

Just to illustrate its gigantic size, here is a comparison of the Z5500 subwoofer (bottom) to 2 other average computer subwoofers:


Right, this subwoofer features a 10” high excursion driver. Some people have been fooled into thinking its a 12” driver due to the grill. The 10” driver has a dedicated 188W RMS, and that’s a hell of a lot for a computer sub. In fact most decent all in one home theatre subs don’t have as much power as this sub. The sub is a really good performer. I had the volume turned up to the highest levels and this sub did not distort at all.

The bass was absolutely amazing, my whole room was shaking, and I had to turn it down because the neighbours soon started complaining. The sub on some notes is really defining, that’s just how powerful it is! The bass is a little boomy, some people will like that, but some people won’t.

It’s only a minor thing that can easily be solved if you don’t like it by altering your equalizer or turning the subwoofer down a little more. The sub has a sturdy front metal grill, making the sub look really cool, although I think it would have been better if they gave you the option to either have the sub grill on or off.

Also, here are 2 videos, the first one is to show the 4" port pushing lots of air, second is to show just how much bass this sub can put out, on the second video i was at the other side of the room in the bass hotspot of my room, at points of the strongest bass you can see my sound sensitive cathode reach


On the side here is the 4” tuned flared port--so big I can almost fit my arm down it to my elbow. When the sub is really turned up, that port also shifts some air. To again illustrate the massive size of the sub, I placed one of the satellite speakers on top.


Now, on to the rear of the sub: this is were everything connects. You have connections for the Digital SoundTouch Control Centre, power cable and speakers. In the older revisions of the Z5500, speakers were connected to the sub via RCA connectors, which makes extending cables harder. Now the z5500 uses connectors like proper home theatre systems.

The amp is located inside the sub and is passively cooled by a fairly large heatsink. When you’ve had the volume up high for quite a while, the heatsink does get really hot, almost too hot to touch, so this needs some good ventilation.

I wouldn’t recommend having the back of the sub closer than 6” to a wall. The heatsink does do its job well though, considering that its cooling a 500W/1000W amp! If the amp does get too hot, then the speaker system will shut off thanks to some thermal protection Logitech has implemented.