WOW. New speakers GOOOOD

[Geeky1]

I just set up the Logitech Z680s I got for Christmas.


:eek: WOW :eek:

I like, I like. It's a bit more bass-heavy than is ideal, but part of that is because the sub is under my desk, and I don't really mind. Bass good. The sub doubles as a foot massager, so I'm not complaining.

Other than the possibility of a tib too much bass, they sound outstanding. They're noticeably better than my old speakers, which are not exactly POS units in and of themselves...

I was using a set of Altec Lansing ADA-890R speakers, which is a 4.1 setup; it's not as powerful as the Logitech-120w RMS total- but it is still THX certified.

Although the Altecs are THX certified like the Z680s, the Logitechs produce noticeably better sound quality. There is a slight hiss apparent at all volume levels (the hiss is the same volume, regardless of how high the volume is set), but it is only noticeable when there is nothing playing.

Other than that, my only complaint is that I cannot get them working properly on my NF7-S or my Game Theater XP (although I think the GTXP is broken anyhow, as this isn't the only set of speakers to act up when attached to it).

Overall though, they're great speakers.

[Thrax]

Black in orange.
Orange in black.
Green in green.

Configure with soundstorm control panel.

If you don't have the EQ on, turn it on and set the bass frequencies down a bit, and set the sub a quarter turn clockwise from off. Should give you better bass.. Not so overwhelming. Or you can leave those settings alone and hop through the 680's control pod to the bass volume and turn it down. It starts at 50% volume.. I leave it around 25/30%.

To get rid of the hiss, I muted the mic channel. This happens on both my 560s and 680s with an NF7-S.

[dak125]

This is excellent to hear. I'm going to be ordering a set from the Egg soon (was hoping to order it as the same time as the new NEC burner). Nice Christmas present you got there.

[Disvengeance]

I myself just got a new set of logitech z5300's and i must say them with my audigy 2, or soundstorm( which ever i feel to using ) put out some awesome sound. Thrax, why does the orange go in the black and vise versa?

[Thrax]

Just the way it is with the NF7-S.

[Geeky1]

Presumably because one (or more) of the following groups of people got their stuff bass ackwards:
- The guys doing the color coding for logitech's wires
- The guys doing the color coding for ABIT's plugs
- The guys designing the traces for ABIT's plugs

[Thrax]

It's both 1 and 2.

Color coding ain't standard.

[Geeky1]

True; I thought there was at least a loosely-defined spec for this stuff, though... e.g. purple for kb ps/2, green for mouse ps/2, turquoise for serial, pink for parallel, blue for vga, etc.

[SARRAS]

I can second your findings - likewise just fitted a pair of Z 680s - they truly are impressive speakers. I run the sub at about 3/10 on the slider - cos I'm on wooden floors here - I believe the sub is so powerful to allow for decent sound when used on concrete floors. Also working fine on the GTXP here - are you using a 2into1 cable for the 'Centre/Sub' plug off the GTXP to the 'Sub' plug on the Z680s - that's the usual trick.

[FormFactor]

Yeah I just picked up the Logitech z640 speaks, and I dis em. They too are somewhat bass heavy I dont mind but its another thing for the GF to nag about.

I would imagine they arent quite as good as the 680 ones, but they were 43$ brand new at sams for a complete 5.1 setup. They are sweet as chronic when it comes to gaming :Rocker:

[pseudonym]

I always found I had problems with my 680s on analog (Don't ask, I have NO idea why.) Just head on up to best buy and get an optical hookup, well worth it and the sound is noticably better.

[EyesOnly]

I'm glad to hear positive news about those speakers since i'm planning on getting them myself.

[Enverex]

Has anyone actually read any comparisons on these and similar sets?

[m.gosling]

Agreed with everything geeky said. There great speakers, not perfect, but the sound quality makes up for the shortcommings. The bass can be a bit heavy for music, but it can easilly be turned down (i personally leave mine on 2-3 bars up for music) but for films the bass sounds awesome. There is a slght hiss when using them on anologue with a GTXP, but this is reduced somewhat when the imput is switched to optical, and once you get used to it its not really a problem.

[Geeky1]

Well, I'm not buying TOSLINK cables from Radio Shack anymore... :rolleyes:

I was in a big hurry yesterday, so I just drove to Radio Shack (which is the closest place to my house that would have a TOSLINK cable) and bought one; $50 for a 6' cable! :hrm: I know they're expensive, but that's insane.

Regardless, I bought it anyhow, and the speakers are now set up like this:
-6ch analog --> SB Audigy 2
-Optical --> NF7-S
-Coax --> GTXP

The optical does sound noticeably better than the analog connection though.

[Thrax]

I just told everyone 3 different ways to control the bass. :rolleyes:

[Geeky1]

Heh. It doesn't bug me, actually. I mentioned it in case it bugs anyone else... I like bass. Bass goooood. :D

[Enverex]

I just told everyone 3 different ways to control the bass. :rolleyes:

Problem is, EQs are program dependant, and even so, you end up losing signals which would have been sent to the satalites aswell, but won't be heard as the bass in general is being pulled down to compensate for the sub. The only way to really properly reduce the bass is to turn down the volume of the sub. If you have to resort to any other methods then you are losing other frequencies one way or another due to the compensation, killing any chance of transparency....

[Thrax]

Posted by Thrax

Or you can leave those settings alone and hop through the 680's control pod to the bass volume and turn it down. It starts at 50% volume.. I leave it around 25/30%.

[Enverex]

Lots of people find the system to still be too bass heavy with the Sub set to minimum volume, which is what I was refering to, and the other aspects of your post.

[Geeky1]

How could you possibly find the system to be too bass-heavy at minimum volume?!? At minimum volume, the sub is OFF. The level of bass is perfect if you set the sub to 20-35%.

[dak125]

Just thought I'd share that I just got my set of 680's from Newegg. They sound amazing I just have to figure out how to make all the settings just right. Excellent speakers.

[TheSmJ]

I used the z680s we had on displasy last night to play my MP3s (connected them to my MP3 player). All that wattage was very usefull as I had to fill the entire show floor with sound, while going over the **** playing through the store's PA system.

Very nice indeed. With the volume all the way up, I could hear it all over the store, much, much louder than the PA system. Heh, that heatsink on the back of the sub sure got hot, though.

[m.gosling]

How could you possibly find the system to be too bass-heavy at minimum volume?!? At minimum volume, the sub is OFF. The level of bass is perfect if you set the sub to 20-35%.

What geeky said, at the minimum level the sub switches off completely. At the next level up, the bass is not that powerful at all. The only thing is trying to set the right ammount of bass for what you are listening to at the time (for example, i prefer the bass lower when listening to music then i do when watching a movie)
I know these speakers are good, from my own ears and when my friend came over and heard them for the first time, his immediate reaction was "ive got to get me some of these!" :) Bearing in mind that he owns a high end hi fi system and a set of digitheatre speakers which set him back around £250 a couple of years ago, having listened to them both, neither of them can match the z-680's. The digitheatres are good for music, but lack the clarity of the z-680's and can't hold a candle to the z-680's when it comes to films.

[Enverex]

What geeky said, at the minimum level the sub switches off completely. At the next level up, the bass is not that powerful at all. The only thing is trying to set the right ammount of bass for what you are listening to at the time (for example, i prefer the bass lower when listening to music then i do when watching a movie)
I know these speakers are good, from my own ears and when my friend came over and heard them for the first time, his immediate reaction was "ive got to get me some of these!" :) Bearing in mind that he owns a high end hi fi system and a set of digitheatre speakers which set him back around £250 a couple of years ago, having listened to them both, neither of them can match the z-680's. The digitheatres are good for music, but lack the clarity of the z-680's and can't hold a candle to the z-680's when it comes to films.

The DigiTheatres are old and were never that good in the first place, they were basically a cheap (at the time) 5.1 system. The DTS on the other hand was a lot better, but doesn't support 5.1 analog so it can't be used on PCs for 5.1 gaming.

[dak125]

I forgot to ask Geeky, is there anyway to turn down the LCD contrast? It's a little too bright for my taste, I can't read the words unless I tilt it a certain way. Thanks-DaK

[Geeky1]

Dak, not as far as I know, no. It doesn't bother me though, so I haven't really looked.

[dak125]

Dak, not as far as I know, no. It doesn't bother me though, so I haven't really looked.

Sounds good thanks, I just contacted Logitech, we'll see what happens.

[celcho]

there is a hissing problem on revision 1 pods. that was a huge problem with the z680. even when they're not plugged into anything they hiss at all volume levels. you should check and see if you have a revision 1. if you do, you can call logitech and they'll trade you pods for one that won't hiss.

[Geeky1]

Where would I find the rev#?

[dak125]

Where would I find the rev#?

I think revision 1's had 450 watts and didn't have a wireless remote. When they were first released they were advertised as 450 watts I believe.

[m.gosling]

To check the firmware revision, put the system into standby and press and hold the input and settings buttons for 3 seconds, the firmware version should then appear on the display.
Version 1.0.3 is the version that was causing problems, version 1.1.2 or above is ok.

[Geeky1]

Mine's 1.1.2, and there's still a slightly audible hiss.

[Enverex]

Is the Audible hiss from the front centre only?

[Geeky1]

No, it comes from all of the satellites.

[m.gosling]

So is mine, and i get a slight hiss also. According to the logitech website some hiss is normal due to the power of the system, tho i am half convinced that in my case the sound card is partly the cause (a GTXP). Try looking at some of the fixes listed here: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?page=support/products/document&CRID=322&contentid=6523&contentid2=6518&showalldocuments=0&countryid=18&languageid=1 and see of that helps at all.

[Geeky1]

Under normal conditions at a normal listening distance, the hiss coming from the sound system should not be noticeable. In a very quiet room, or if you place your ear very close to the speaker, you may hear a very low level hiss. This is normal, but should be completely masked by normal music and game sounds.

That's exactly the hiss I'm talking about. It's audible when the speakers are on, but nothing is playing, but it dissapears when anything is played on them.

[Enverex]

I'm on a really dirty circuit, with a higher powered system (700w) using 6 channel analogue on my Audigy (1) and don't have any hiss what-so-ever. Though my old system did hiss quite loudly (over digital and analogue I may add, though it had an auto sound-shutoff after 1 second if the sound level was below -80dB, but still on the Audigy).

[m.gosling]

Is that 700watt PMO or RMS?

[Enverex]

RMS. No-one ever seriously measures speakers in PMPO.

[celcho]

logitech and most computer speakers just don't use very good amps. the result it hiss. but you get what you pay for. the logitechs are a great set of computer speakers. to get a really great set of speakers would cost at least twice as much.