Hi all,

I currently got a Logitech Z5500, I am happy with the sound level, but not with the quality.
So I was thinking of upgrading, and buying a A/V Receiver. Now, my first plan was to hook up the Z5500 speakers and subwoofer to a receiver, and buy better speakers later, so I don't spend a lot of money at once, but in 2-3 steps.
I've looked through some forums, and they say it is possible to get the subwoofer working with a db-15 connecter, the satellite speakers should work.

So I actually want to ask you guys for two things, is it possible, if it is, also easy to hook up the Z5500 subwoofer to a receiver?

If not, I would need a receiver and subwoofer (atleast as powerfull as the Z5500).

About the receiver, I've been looking at one from Pioneer (I love Pioneer, and their receivers look awesome IMO). This one kinda catched my eye, and the reviews were quite positive. Link for receiver.

So I want advice on the receiver. Is this one good, or should I look for something else?

Things about this one I like are; It seems quite future-proof with HDMI 1.4a, 3D-Ready, blue-tooth support, internet radio, and quite some clever other stuff.

The whole idea behind my upgrade is it to last, and to be future proof. About the price for a receiver, the cost of the Pioneer would really be the max I want to spend on a receiver.

I hope people here can help me out. Thanks in advance.

Anyone?

Do you use your speakers with your PC or with something else?

I currently only use them for my PC.

But, that's because that's all I can do...

When I had my Bose321 set, I'd listen alot to FM radio, TV via it, watch dvd's with it, all that I do via my PC now, but it would be great to do this without, you know?

i dont even know what a zz5500 is but if you have on optical out from your pc's sound card it should be quite easy to use your avr to output your sound.

Quote from anttt69 :

i dont even know what a zz5500 is but if you have on optical out from your pc's sound card it should be quite easy to use your avr to output your sound.

Z5500 is a speaker set from Logitech. I got an on-board optical output from my motherboard that I currently use on the Z5500. avr means a/v receiver?

Also, like I said in my post, the satellite speakers will work, but I'm not sure about the subwoofer, since it has a VGA-type 15 pins input at the rear DB-15 cable.

If it's quality you're after then you should get a dedicated sound card, like a SoundBlaster. It's not your speakers fault, onboard sound cards are the bare minimum when it comes to audio, I've always disabled mine and used SoundBlaster cards, and the quality is excellent. Not to mention that you'll get more fps in most games, since the sound processing is much better with a dedicated card (I have experienced this myself when I switched from onboard sound to a dedicated card).

I agree the quality will be better, but I think receiver would be a great bonus too, maybe mix of both, or first soundcard to test how it sounds.

Are good ones expensive?

About the kind of soundcard, beneath is a picture of the motherboard I'm using, and with two graphics card in it, I only got the two most right white slots left.
http://ic.tweakimg.net/ext/i/imagelarge/1214583639.jpg

I have asus xonar d2 which is great, its around 100euros

lol I have the same motherboard as you Bose, my SoundBlaster is in the PCI slot above the top video card. I think you should get a sound card first and see how it sounds. I don't know how the new PCIe x1 sound cards perform, I have an older PCI one but it's excellent. A good SoundBlaster is about $100 new, but I think it's worth it.

Quote from shiny_red_cobra :

lol I have the same motherboard as you Bose, my SoundBlaster is in the PCI slot above the top video card.

Haha, great.

But I mean, I currently use the optical output of the onboard, and I don't see how the digital signal would be better with a soundcard, it just outputs the signal. With the 3.5mm plugs I'd say it does matter, but I don't see how it does with digital output...

It's not the signal quality that's the problem, it's the data contained within that signal, it's not as good as the data contained within the signal from a dedicated card.

If you open up the Z5500 you can just cut the cable going from the internal amp to the sub, and then wire the new amp to the sub.

Hmm yeah... But wouldn't a receiver sound better?

My brother has some old JVC set, speakers receiver and sub, less powerful then my Z5500, but the sound is much more clear, especially at higher volumes, and he uses on-board aswell.

Quote from Jakg :

If you open up the Z5500 you can just cut the cable going from the internal amp to the sub, and then wire the new amp to the sub.

You mean the subwoofer speaker directly to the reciter? Would the receiver be able to amplify it?

Quote from Bose321 :

You mean the subwoofer speaker directly to the reciter? Would the receiver be able to amplify it?

I assumed from the fact you could run the speakers directly from the reciever it has a built in amp?

All onboard sound cards are trash... upgrade to something decent (ideally with optical) first of all. If your using 3.5mm jacks, a lot of your sound quality is relying on the DAC of a motherboard with cost £70, and has to do millions of jobs. A dedicated sound card will sound a lot better.

The wattage doesn't mean too much, either, certainly not for quality.

Yeah it does, I believe 110W per channel. But I'm not sure if that includes the subwoofer channel...

And yeah, I'd also would like a good soundcard.

Get a soundcard with optical-out if going digital or with better op-amps if its analog. Auzentech (any will do) Xonar (even the bog standard one with optical) or x-fi combined with custom PAX drivers and to top it off Foobar 2000 with wasapi audio plugin which should output bit-perfect output without processing. Although this is the most cost effective solution you are still limited by the sub-par sound quality from the logitech speakers. They don't have the necessary punch to deliver the full range of a music track will allow.

Also to add to the receiver option, only go that path if you want to buy all channels (be it 2.1/5.1/7.1) plus the cost of a good sub that can reach at a minimum of 28hz and have a good amp to back it up. This option is much more expensive but will give you that satisfaction you want with your music.

EDIT: I should know because I've done both; bought an Auzentech X-Plosion and replaced it with a bit better op amps and added my own flavor of speakers and a good sub. If you want 2 channel look into Audioengine 5 speakers and subs from polk audio or velodyne or better. For 5 channel setup look for something like jbl, harman kardon, Klipsch or better and use the sub companies I recommended for a 2 channel setup.

EDIT-2: oh and look into marantz and denon avr's if you really want future-proof and quility......ugh I am becoming an audio junkie...another obsession to add to my list

Personally I would recommend not buying the Pioneer in your first post, I recently bought one and I find the sound very tinny compared to the Technics class H it replaced, also the dolby decoder is very slow and sound lag can be a problem.

Quote from anik360 :

Get a soundcard with optical-out if going digital or with better op-amps if its analog. Auzentech (any will do) Xonar (even the bog standard one with optical) or x-fi combined with custom PAX drivers and to top it off Foobar 2000 with wasapi audio plugin which should output bit-perfect output without processing. Although this is the most cost effective solution you are still limited by the sub-par sound quality from the logitech speakers. They don't have the necessary punch to deliver the full range of a music track will allow.

Also to add to the receiver option, only go that path if you want to buy all channels (be it 2.1/5.1/7.1) plus the cost of a good sub that can reach at a minimum of 28hz and have a good amp to back it up. This option is much more expensive but will give you that satisfaction you want with your music.

EDIT: I should know because I've done both; bought an Auzentech X-Plosion and replaced it with a bit better op amps and added my own flavor of speakers and a good sub. If you want 2 channel look into Audioengine 5 speakers and subs from polk audio or velodyne or better. For 5 channel setup look for something like jbl, harman kardon, Klipsch or better and use the sub companies I recommended for a 2 channel setup.

EDIT-2: oh and look into marantz and denon avr's if you really want future-proof and quility......ugh I am becoming an audio junkie...another obsession to add to my list

Marantz website is not loading the receivers for some reason. The denon ones look OK, but less W per channel, less features, so how is it more future proof?

I really start to wonder what I should do... Receiver would set me back atleast 600 euro I think, and a soundcard ~100 euro. How much would speakers and a proper sub cost?

Quote from lap traffic nz :

Personally I would recommend not buying the Pioneer in your first post, I recently bought one and I find the sound very tinny compared to the Technics class H it replaced, also the dolby decoder is very slow and sound lag can be a problem.

In the reviews I've read they all did not come across this problem... Maybe faulty one, or wrong settings?

Quote from Bose321 :

snip!

Again more watts per channel doesn't necessary mean better. Denon avr's are high quality and better to own like a marantz and to my opinion really better than pioneer has for their crap stuff. If music is your route for getting speakers I would suggesthttp://www.amazon.com/Klipsch- ... id=1285603063&sr=1-12 for rears, http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch- ... id=1285603264&sr=1-22 for front but if room space is your concern then get 2 pairs of the bookshelf's and adjust the gain. For a sub http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch- ... id=1285603479&sr=1-55 or http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Aud ... qid=1285603364&sr=1-2 should give you some deep low bass without distortions. The center http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Aud ... qid=1285603574&sr=1-3 is really good for the price but needs a bit more tweaking to get natural highs. Pick an avr from Yamaha, marantz, denon or onkyo (did some broad research on current offers) but avoid pioneer, sony and etc. Of course all these equipment will need clean power so add a power conditioner to the setup. These will cost you of upto and over 700-900 euros

EDIT: I should add that my living room has all polk speakers and we use the same polk sub I mentioned with a denon avr 591 with ps3,360 and Dish HD reciever hooked up to a 50" samsung PN50B650 plasma from 09' and my room has all handpicked speakers ( I had to assemble them) and a hsu VTF-1 which replaced a re-branded hsu/dayton sub and all hooked up with a Yamaha RX-V765BL 7 channel avr (only use 5 channel) outputted via optical out on my Auzentech X-plosion 7.1 cinema

EDIT-2: do incremental upgrades. Buy them one buy one and see and feel the sound harmonics change. Like buy the speakers and reciever first, then buy the sub to replace the trash ones logitech has and compare the sound quality with both the logitech and the custom stuff you bought. Of course you can shop around and find much cheaper prices. This is going to be a long upgrade routine but you'll enjoy the end results as I am

It is meant to take a bit longer yeah. I honestly can't believe Pioneer is rubbish. Pioneer has some nice, imo future proof features, internet radio (which would be awesome), 3d, bluetooth, iphone controlable etc.

I also care about how it looks. The Z5500 set looks crap, and the Pioneer does look awesome...

About these speakers, I don't really think I can put these speakers somewhere, especially those huge pillars. I got a small 3x3 meter room, and I'm glad I could even fit the current Z5500 speakers. Those subwoofer will do great I think, the 12 inch one looks quite nice.
But yeah, those bookshelf speakers are quite big, and I'm not sure if I can get them on my desk without losing space. The center speakers are not going to fit, I currently got my center speaker on top of my monitor/tv.

And I am seeing that this will cost alot of money, so I would really need to wait long, or get a job. Because I got my drivers license also next year.