Title : Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speaker System	Category:
Author : Willz	Published On : 17-08-2006
Rating : N/A	Views : 74062

Digital SoundTouch Control Centre

Everything is controlled from here. Like I mentioned earlier, the control centre houses the decoding for Dolby Digital, pro logic and DTS. First off, you’ll notice the size of this control centre. It’s pretty big, but this isn’t a bad thing. It has a nice big screen that’s a lot easier to see than the Z680’s control centre. There is a large knob for the volume, looks like the sort you get on hi-fi’s, the control centre is really stylish and sleek looking; it’s modern but has been kept simple.

The features on the control centre are:

-Input: Optical, Coax, Direct (this is standard and most sound cards like integrated sound uses this.
-Effect: 6 Ch Direct, Stereo, Stereo 2x, Dolby Pro Logic 2 Movie, Dolby Pro Logic 2 Music.
-Settings: Setting like Panorama, Dimension, Centre width, Surround delay.
-Level: Allows you to adjust volume of Subwoofer, Centre and surround and master volume.
-Mute: Mutes sound on or off.
-Power: Power on or off.


The back is were you connect everything. On the left you have the standard 3.5mm jacks, coax and optical connections. There is also a little switch on the right for switching between stereo and all 6 channels. In addition to these connectors on the right side you get 2 extra connectors for headphones and other devices such as MP3’s or CD players etc. I find that sometimes the control centre can get quite hot at the back, but keeping it in an open area should help keep it cool.


The screen is simple, clear and easy to understand, although they could have made the screen a little more interesting. The actual screen is colourless, they could of made the screen a nice colour such as light blue, or some other funky colour but nothing too over the top that could make the control centre look cheap and nasty, I also thought that the power light could maybe rotate through a series of colours like, blue, green and red or something similar, but its nothing to put you off of this product. Its hard to read anything on the display at any more than a 80 degree angle, though.


Now let’s get onto the remote!

The remote allows you to change all of the settings you would use the control centre from, much easier too. There are separate sub, centre, surround, and master volume buttons. This is also the case for direct, optical and coax inputs. It’s very useful, and even though the control centre is about 10” away from me, I still use the remote.