Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 PC speaker system - Operation:Peripheral Upgrade

[GORDON]

http://www.logitech.com/index.c....ID=9586

The next step of Operation:Peripheral Upgrade was my speaker system.

Since 1997 I've been using a 2.1 Altec Lansing system... and major props to that company, because as I said... they've worked perfectly for 10 years, through very heavy use, and multiple household moves. There have even been times when I lugged those speakers to work, either for gaming or mp3's. At two different companies. By no means have these speakers been in a sealed case full of argon. These speakers have been ridden hard, and I retired them still 100% functional. They will remain encased in plastic for a day I need backup speakers.

ANYWAY... the new 5.1 setup. It should be noted that I actually have the rear speakers behind me, so I get the full hardware surround-sound effect.

I love it.

It took some uncomfortable WinXP tweaking (followed by ASUS mobo on-board audio driver tweaking), but 10 minutes after fiddling, everything works. Note: cables are all color coded, but don't assume the colors will match the mobo jack colors. That's what tricked me.

I've tested it on Supreme Commander, and found it interesting how much the positional audio added to the... interestingness... of the game. I figure these speakers will shine in the next FPS I fire up (probably Half Life 2: Ep1), but it was still neat. One thing to note... and it may have been my imagination... but the lag seemed slightly worse in SupCom with these speakers. I want to say perhaps the already-taxed CPU now has to dedicate more cycles to processing the bigger audio burden. If this is the case, it will be remedied when I buy a dedicated soundcard in the very near future in the continuation of Operation:Peripheral Upgrade (stand by for review).

A surprise was that for some reason my non-5.1 ripped mp3s play over all 6 of these speakers. It must be either WinXP or Winamp splitting the channels. I'm sure it isn't true 5.1, but it still sounds good to have music coming from all the speakers.

These speakers are also THX rated, if that's important to you. I noticed that when comparison shopping, no all the speakers in this price range had that certification.

A common complaint in reviews is that the rear speaker wires are too short, but that is easily fixed with a line extension. They were the perfect length for my setup, though... they are at my 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock, approximately 3 feet from my head. The sub-woofer, where all lines connect, is at my feet where it should be (but it's HUGE, so be prepared for it to possibly not fit under your desk). So it isn't like the line are INCREDIBLY short.

Logitech is a brand that "no gamer gets fired for purchasing," and in the extensive reviewing I did prior to purchase, these at sub-$150 ($120 on amazon.com, $30 to ship... $199 on logitech.com, free shipping) provide the best bangs and reviews for the buck (The next cheapest speakers available from logitech are $400).

[GORDON]

Brand new reason that this speaker system is awesome:

At the moment my main system is dead, and I'm using my laptop as a temporary desktop replacement. My laptop speakers suck, and my headphones suck, so on a whim I plugged in one of the 3 speaker lines into my laptop's headphone jack. I got sound from 2 speakers, the left and right, so I was happy (the green plug; the other 2 sent sound to my rear speakers, and the center channel). But then I remembered a button on my volume control pad; it is labeled "Matrix" and I never really used it.

I turned "Matrix" on, and now I have 5.1 sound through a laptop headphone jack. And it is so sweet.

[Cakedaddy]

Can't be true surround as there's only two channels in a stereo jack. But much like your MP3's playing out of all speakers, I'm sure it's more pleasing. See if the laptop supports sending sound out the mic jack, like the integrated sound jacks on a desktop motherboard do.

Lastly, does the laptop have SPDIF(or whatever it is) or a COAX sound output? You can get true suround from those, I believe.

[GORDON]

Correct, it is not true 5.1 surround... but playing TF2 just now, I could still hear the position audio out of the appropriate speakers, somehow. I love hearing the enemy sniper's round plink on the wall behind me to the right just as I shoot him in the head. And I could hear it.

I think it isn't as pronounced as when it was through my X-Fi sound card, but it was there. These speakers rock.



Edited By GORDON on 1228376703