Logitech Z-2300 [ The Last of the Titans : Reviewed]

[beetle004]

Is it possible that you failed to notice a difference bet the two as far as movies and gaming are concerned because you listened to them in a shop? I mean speakers usually sounds great in stores but not that great when you bring them home.So is it possible that these aren't as gud as z2300 after all?


One final thing:-- since these will be used with my 40 inch tv and will be listening to them from a distance (unlike while sitting in front of the computer),can you tell me whether these speakers which are angled upward will be ideal for that scenario ?

 

[rishiguru]

Is it possible that you failed to notice a difference bet the two as far as movies and gaming are concerned because you listened to them in a shop? I mean speakers usually sounds great in stores but not that great when you bring them home.So is it possible that these aren't as gud as z2300 after all?

One final thing:-- since these will be used with my 40 inch tv and will be listening to them from a distance (unlike while sitting in front of the computer),can you tell me whether these speakers which are angled upward will be ideal for that scenario ?

Take a look at the picture below and tell me what you think of it



At least for me Z-623 will be more than enough for movies & games. Z-623 is super loud so i believe sitting at a distance will not cause any problem. But the last choice is yours so you have to decide. Best of luck!!!

 

[denom]

rishiguru,

1 Question, why spare the control pod? you should have opened that too & showed us the innards of it Then that would have been a comprehensive & exhaustive report

Conduct such 'Tests' on floorstander/book shelf/surround speakers too for benefit of the HFV Brotherhood!

As for the picture shown above, something is not right! The chap is air drumming when the footage on the TV screen shown is that of an axe being given a good tickle! (just my observation, do not take offence!)

 

[rishiguru]

rishiguru,

1 Question, why spare the control pod? you should have opened that too & showed us the innards of it Then that would have been a comprehensive & exhaustive report

Conduct such 'Tests' on floorstander/book shelf/surround speakers too for benefit of the HFV Brotherhood!

As for the picture shown above, something is not right! The chap is air drumming when the footage on the TV screen shown is that of an axe being given a good tickle! (just my observation, do not take offence!)

Here are picture of Z-2300 control pod innards







Control Pod Schematic


Hope this satisfies your need.

 

[beetle004]

Thanks rishi for clearing all doubts!!

 

[denom]

YAY!!! Rishi, you da man!

Pls Pls Pls Continue the good work with the next set of speakers.....

 

[doors666]

is that hot glue that they are using?

 

[rishiguru]

is that hot glue that they are using?

Industrial glue

 

[rishiguru]

There was an issue regarding the true power output of Logitech Z-2300 and also the highish THD value in the specification I quoted before.

Z-2300 Specifications

Total Power: 200 W
Subwoofer: 120 W @ 8 ohms @ 10% THD @ 100Hz
Satellites: 80 W (2 X 40 W) @ 8 ohms @ 10% THD @ 1kHz
Frequency response: 35 Hz - 20 kHz
Signal to noise ratio: @ 1kHz > 100dB
Sound Pressure Level (SPL): 117db

Today i found my Z-2300 instruction manual where the real figures are stated:

Total Continuous Power(RMS): 200W
System THD: Better than 0.05% before clipping
Total Peak Power(RMS): 400W
Subwoofer: 120 W @ 8 ohms @ 10% THD @ 100Hz
Satellites: 80 W (2 X 40 W) @ 8 ohms @ 10% THD @ 1kHz
Frequency response: 35 Hz - 20 kHz
Signal to noise ratio: @ 1kHz > 100dB

 

[akhil7j]

Z-5500 is the top model of Logitech speakers. They always say too much about it. I bought it 3 months back and sold it in just 1 month. I ain't an audiophile but still i know what is good music experience. I have heard Altec Lansin and I would say, they perform better than Logitech. Power is never a criteria of buying speakers. No matter if you buy 1000W RMS Speakers but it they dont sound good, its a wastage of money. Logitech is good in Keyboards, mouse and other hardware. But in sound; i will never ever think of it. I had a real bad experince with it. And just after 15 days of buying z5500 i thought of buyin a good setup. No matter if i have to stretch my budget far too much. This is the decision i took just after selling it.

http://www.hifivision.com/speakers/...ter-setup-need-your-valuable-suggestions.html

I will never suggest logi to anyone. I am a gamer, i listen to music, i watch hell lot movies. And i dont watch crap. Always 720p or 1080p with DTS audio. In z5500 there was a lot of distortion if i used to increase the volume. THD is 10%. Just too much.! I think they just mention 10% but its more. And last but not the least after incresing the volume the 60% the speakers used to create noise, vibrate and produce "ddddrrr ddrrrr" sound. Pathetic experience it was.

If you want computer speakers and 2.1 i will suggest JBL Creature-III. The sound is far better than logi. Yes the power is less but music experince is far better than logitech.

No hard feelings rishiguru but i am just sharing my experince. And I hope you dont deal with logi.

 

[theironhorse]

2.1 jbl creature... i have both jbl creature black and logi 5500 and

some one's telling that jbl is better.. whoa man....

and altec lancing better than logi z-5500

and logi was making sound above 60% vol... it never happened to me ...

 

[akhil7j]

Well it did happen to me and before selling, i actually had to put cotton in the speaker packing. Then the crappy sound decreased.. But didnt go... I wish if i had clicked the pics and posted here..

Anyway i am happy to sell it off. JBL doesnt have power thats what i said. But the music experience is good. I didnt say the movie experience is good. JBL has 1% THD and Logi has 10%.

 

[rishiguru]

akhil7j i think you got a defective speaker set. Logitech would have replaced it, if it was under warranty. I do not personally own the Z-5500, but i have heard it many a times on the Logitech Brand Store at nearly 75% volume and though i can stand at most 2 minutes before my ears bleed, i can safely say, that Z-5500 makes no distortion at that volume.

Secondly, you compare Logitech Z-5500 with Altec Lansing. Well AL have many models and it would have been nice if you had specified the model. Any how since AL does not make a 5.1, or to more precise, no body buy AL 5.1, i will refer to their top model the MX-6021.

I personally own the MX-6021, and i can safely say every time i want to hear a song, watch a movie or play games i always use my Z-2300 instead of MX-6021. Every time I listen to the MX-6021, I get a type of sound with a crispy boom. Z-2300 lacks this crispy boom and feels blunt compared to the MX-6021. So, any normal person will naturally come to the conclusion that MX-6021 is better than Z-2300. But, man You Couldn't Be More Wrong....

People normally perceive this crispy, bacon frying or shrilly kind of sounds as the clarity of the sound system which in reality, i am sorry to say in not the case because they over exaggerated and not the real sound. It is like a default equalizer preset on the speaker system with accentuated high frequencies. And also in the quest of perceived clarity as in the case of MX-6021 my ears are not able to pick up some finer details of a complicated music.

After using the Z-2300 for about a week my ears got settled to its sound characteristics and i was able to hear much more finer detailing in the upper ranges of the frequency spectrum that my MX-6021 was not able to produce with its perceived unreal clarity. I was amazed and thoroughly thanked the Logitech engineers in my mind who did not go after unreal sound which have perceived clarity but after real sound. Remember though both units costs the same.

So you have to decide, do you want to go for real sound or sound with perceived clarity. Audiophile's always go out for real sound, so i got the Z-2300 and i rate it way above my MX-6021.

You said :"If you want computer speakers and 2.1 i will suggest JBL Creature-III. The sound is far better than logi"

Please stop comparing between a 5.1 with 2.1. Compare a 5.1 with another 5.1 or a 2.1 with a 2.1. And truly speaking comparing the Z-5500 with the JBL Creature-III is just to much for me to digest, really.

You also said: " i actually had to put cotton in the speaker packing. Then the crappy sound decreased.. "

What do you want to mean by the above statement? Did you plug the bass port with cotton or did you open the subwoofer and put cotton inside it?

Anyway what ever you did, YOU DID WRONG. Since this systems are acoustically designed, putting some cotton does not improve sound quality but reduces it.

 

[akhil7j]

Hi Rishiguru,

I think it depends on person to person what kind of music or audio you like... May be for you Logi sounds Excellent but for me, I made a mistake. I would have saved more and bought Onkyo base model.

When you listen to high volume audio, your ears should not bleed. At least with Logi's full volume. I tuned on the music on full volume many times in my 10"x12" room and it wasnt too much. I would say the 500RMS is also fake. Those 75W RMS QAcoustics bookshelfs actually blew the same size room.

I wasnt comparing z5500 with JBL 2.1. I was comaring it with Logi 2.1. Abviously that much sense i have..

Well you got me wrong.. I didnt put cotton sub woofer or bass port. The body of my rear speaker was vibrating. The screws were tight but still when i used to listen to music like bass violin or used to watch movies, it used to vibrate a lot. I opened the speaker and put some cotton in the plastic body and closed it. It got tight and vibration stopped.

I still dont understand how you compare 1% THD with 10% THD..

And i clearly said JBL is not powerful but music experience is still better.

Anyway, you are an engineer I am not.. You are an audiophile i am not.. So i cant argue.. Was just sharing my bad experience..

 

[sam9s]

Let me add my couple of cents as well as I also bought Logi 5500 and sold it in 2 months ...... to put in in simple words ....Logi makes boom boxes and NOT speakes, the audio quality for these speakers is ......errrrr well crap for movies ..... and even crapier for music ......... what so ever the specks says and how so ever technically we analyze the hardware, I am sorry to burst the bubbles for pro logi gang here ......they simply do not sound good. Even for the price they offer ...... Heck even my meow portable altec Lansing 2.1 sound better (better and not louder) 5500 is all quantity and zero quality .......

Nice review though no doubt ......

 

[rishiguru]

Hi Rishiguru,

I think it depends on person to person what kind of music or audio you like... May be for you Logi sounds Excellent but for me, I made a mistake. I would have saved more and bought Onkyo base model.
...............just sharing my bad experience..

akhil7j, you have some misconceptions........

Z-5500 uses 7 STMicrolectronics 100W TDA7294 Class-AB audio amplifiers. 5 for the five satellites & 2 bridged together for the subwoofer. So. Z-5500 have a total of 700W RMS of continuous power in reserve.

You said: "I would say the 500RMS is also fake" . My advice is never comment on anything that you don't know. --> DO NEVER MAKE ASSUMPTIONS.. It reduces your face value in the forum & later no body will give any importance to your comments.

You also said: "When you listen to high volume audio, your ears should not bleed. At least with Logi's full volume". --> I do not know that you had ears from superman's planet Kryptonite, 500W RMS man........... I was listening to one of the Nickelback's track at 75% volume and got near deaf on Logitech Store.

Your other comment is very amusing to me: "Those 75W RMS QAcoustics bookshelfs actually blew the same size room." --> So. according to you 75W > 500W. NO COMMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!. Think for yourself.

You said: "May be for you Logi sounds Excellent but for me, I made a mistake. I would have saved more and bought Onkyo base model. .......... I wasnt comparing z5500 with JBL 2.1. I was comaring it with Logi 2.1. Abviously that much sense i have.." --> Be more precise. It seems that you do not compare different models of different make, but you compare between companies. That means to you Logitech Z-2300 costing 8.5 grand makes same sound quality that of Logitech Z-103 costing 1.2 grand.

For me, if their was a company named "Monkey Head" making a model MH-0001 from Africa that had a better sound quality and better built quality than say, Z-2300 i would have definitely said that MH-0001 is better than Z-2300 & provided solid stats to prove my point rather than casually say....... this is better than that. Companies does not matter to me.

Your last line: "Anyway, you are an engineer I am not.. You are an audiophile i am not.. So i cant argue.. "

Well i do not know what my advantages of being an engineer are, but their are some points i try to keep in mind:

1) I always comment on valid points that i know surely about.
2) I never make false comments or tout on something that i do not know.
3) I provide ample stats as the proof of the point that i want to make.
4) I try to be precise and to the point.
5) I simply do not say "this is good & this is bad".

 

[rishiguru]

Let me add my couple of cents as well as I also bought Logi 5500 and sold it in 2 months ...... to put in in simple words ....Logi makes boom boxes and NOT speakes, the audio quality for these speakers is ......errrrr well crap for movies ..... and even crapier for music ......... what so ever the specks says and how so ever technically we analyze the hardware, I am sorry to burst the bubbles for pro logi gang here ......they simply do not sound good. Even for the price they offer ...... Heck even my meow portable altec Lansing 2.1 sound better (better and not louder) 5500 is all quantity and zero quality .......

Nice review though no doubt ......

Well sam9, do you have any proof of what you say, I mean an audio frequency graph of your "...my meow portable altec Lansing 2.1 sound better". I mean you have to prove to me what you are saying is true.

Personally, i have provided the Z-2300 frequency graph in this thread, and those few who really understands what sound quality really is, will just look at the graph and understand.

I do have a request to you though. Would you kindly define to me & to all the members to this forum what sound quality means to you?

We are anxious for your reply.

 

[vikashdubey]

I own a logitech Z-5500 and have no complaints with it. It sounds awesome. Some of the comments on this thread are misleading that its sound quality is bad.

 

[sam9s]

Well sam9, do you have any proof of what you say, I mean an audio frequency graph of your "...my meow portable altec Lansing 2.1 sound better". I mean you have to prove to me what you are saying is true.

Personally, i have provided the Z-2300 frequency graph in this thread, and those few who really understands what sound quality really is, will just look at the graph and understand.

I do have a request to you though. Would you kindly define to me & to all the members to this forum what sound quality means to you?

We are anxious for your reply.

^^ Lol since when does audio and video became something that one can prove ..... ever heard of the term subjectiveness........ and there is nothing as subjective as audio can be ....... as i said what ever graphs, snaps and technical figures one gives, eventually it would always boil down to how one perceives audio ........ what ever the price may be for the speakers, for me and quite a few other as well, logi does not sound good at all. Altec performs far better with a spk package at the same price point .....

But anyway if 2300 are some audio bliss to you so be it ..... its your satisfaction that counts and if you are then nothing like it ......

PS :: And BTW that 500W RMS is totally misleading, I think there are enough posts by doors666 confirming misleading specks

 

[sam9s]

I own a logitech Z-5500 and have no complaints with it. It sounds awesome. Some of the comments on this thread are misleading that its sound quality is bad.

well why would you have complains.....you own it ... ..... 8/10 people out here who own a commodity would be satisfied irrespective of its actual worth. Plus you cannot actually judge unless you have a comparison,......

...... but then again I also support the other side of the coin and that is......if it satisfies one..... so be it ...... there is less to argue in that scenario ....