Digital Trends

Logitech Z-5500

December 3rd, 2007 | by Brandon King

Features and Design

You may be asking yourself, “Why are we seeing a review of a two year-old product on the always hip, always up-to-date Digital Trends?” The answer is simple: They still can’t be beat when it comes to overall quality. And frankly, the longstanding crème de la crème of Logitech’s speaker line deserves a little attention for smacking down the competition for so long.

As of publication, Logitech has three 5.1 speaker options available: The budget-priced X-540, the gamer-targeted G51, and the home theater enthusiast-ready Z-5500. Just looking at the power rating is enough to give the reader an idea of where each lies in terms of the performance (and price) spectrum. The X-540 tops out at 70 watts, the G51 sports 155 watts, and the Z-5500 coyly flaunts its 505 watts or raw power. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that the low-end X-540 is the result of several revisions since the Z-5500 was introduced, and that the G51 is the latest addition to the family. This makes us suspicious that a refresh to the Z-5500 is in the works (though no details on rumored replacements have yet surfaced on our radar).

Anyways, the Z-5500 comes packed with four 62 watt satellite speakers, a 69 watt center channel unit and a 188 watt subwoofer. Each satellite driver measures 3”, with the subwoofer fitted with a 10” high-excursion ported driver. The THD is a disappointing-on-paper 10% which, although most home theater enthusiasts would scoff at that number and only consider <5% an acceptable range, in practice we found sound accuracy to be surprisingly excellent. All speakers run to the powered subwoofer, which is controlled by the wired remote.

The wired remote itself is where all the action occurs. There are ports for up to 6 input devices and a headphone out port, which disables the speakers when in use. Mind you, we’re torn over whether we actually like the inputs running to the control pod, as it adds some wire clutter to the desktop. Other options place inputs on the subwoofer, which might be more ideal from a neat-freak’s perspective. But truthfully, we liked the accessibility of having all the inputs within arm’s reach. All cords can be bound to the remote’s wire though, ultimately making this a non-issue. Options include 6-channel direct input via three stereo mini-plugs, optical, digital coax and stereo microphone.

Image Courtesy of Logitech