New Set of Z-5500 Speakers
I had a problem with my Z-5500's Control Center (CC), sent it in, and they sent me a whole new system! So now I have 5 sat's and a sub but no CC to drive them. Hummm. Any ideas? Can these be run via a receiver? I know that I can run the sat's OK without the CC, but what about the sub? It sure would be cool to have these in my living room for music. Or it would be cool if I could buy a CC separately (I don't think Logitech sells them though).
Any ideas, fantasies, permutations, perturbations, etc., would be appreciated...
Any ideas, fantasies, permutations, perturbations, etc., would be appreciated...
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Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I was thinking that it should work without the Logitech's Control Center, but I wasn't sure if the sub unit needed to be connect to the Control Center in order to work.
You know, I just can't see how to hook up the bass to my receiver. I can, of course, hook up my front, center, and rears easily enough (just hook up the wires directly to the receiver's Class 2 Wiring); but there is no such wire, port, or hookup on the sub. The sub, of course, has what looks to be a serial port for connecting to the Control Unit. I've opened up the sub, but don't see how I can run a wire directly to the receiver (there's several circuit boards, an amp, etc.).
Anyone have a clue?
Cool, thanks for the speedy reply!!!!
OK, I have some questions regarding your response.
You said, "The sub draws power from the plug it runs out the back... it also is the main source for the receiver." I'm a little confused. The sub draws power from the A/C cord (that's what your saying?), but what do you mean it's the main source for the receiver? Do you mean that the receiver needs to have the sub powered seperately?
Also, you said that you cut out all the items not needed, what would those items be; or what items must be left in the sub to then be able to hook it up to the receiver.
Can a receiver handle crossover, or do the crossover circuits still need to be left in the sub?
I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to receivers and such, so any help would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks!!!!
If it does require an amp you would need to rewire the amp in the sub or get a separate amp.
Thanks for the tip. But actually, I've looked on eBay a bunch of times and even looked at their history of items sold and not such item has ever been sold on eBay. I've looked everywhere and they simply are not sold seperately. So that's dead end. But thanks for the suggestion.
That's very helpful, thanks! Unfortunately, my receiver only has Pre Out for the sub, so no power there. As I've been guessing, I'll need to mod the sub so that it can be made to work, but that's were I'm at a loss. It has occurred to me that I could simply plug in the sub's A/C power cord, thus powering up the sub's amp, and then patch in some wires to the speaker. But where would I do that or find out where the lines going to the sub are powered? Would the wires going directly to the speaker already be powered? How could I tell? Too many questions and I possess too little knowledge.
Yeah, I've been looking around for a long time and haven't found any info other than Sledgehammer70 above who says he's made it work--sure would like to hear how he did it.
As for the AV store, that's a possibility. Maybe I should see if I can get my hands on a schematic.
And thanks for your imput...really appreciated!!!
--edit--
Sorry im being dense. You connect the PC to the CC then to the sub?
You will need to either rewire the amp in the sub or buy another amp.
How did you plug into the CC?
WARNING
If you plug your sub into the mains and start poking around inside be very carefull. Make sure you use an RCD (I think they are the right initials, but I basically mean a trip switch) You will have mains power inside the case and if you short something by accident you sub, your amp, or worse still you will go up in smoke!
Actually, I'm using this speaker system for my home theater (hooked up to a DVD player via the optical connection). Logitech sent me a whole new speaker system when the old Control Unit (CU) went bad, so I have a full system without a CU. I'd like to hook this CU-less system up to my receiver, an Onkyo TX-SR304. So, I have to mod the sub in order to make this work and, really, haven't a clue as to how to do that.
You mention rewiring the amp. I'm comfortable taking things apart and soldering, etc., I just don't know what! Yikes!! I imagine that the amp (or part of it) is the heavy coil of wire in the sub. It has about 5 wires that head off in different directions, mostly to a circuit board. But how do I go about figuring out what's what? I have no schematic diagram, and things are not marked. I don't even know what the pin-outs on the CU are. If I did, I might have a chance of knowing what to connect to.
So the question for me, it would appear, is how to determine where to splice into this mess so that I can jack the sub into the receiver.
I suppose the simplest solution would be to get a pre-amp and hook it up directly to the sub's speaker. But then what about crossover? Would my receiver handle that? I'm just so ignorant.
Your optical signal from your DVD will be passed through an Digital to Analogue converter and split into six channels (FL, FR, RL, RR, Centre, Sub). Each channel will then run through your amplifier. This will be a chip on a circuit board and will probably have a big heatsink on it. Five of these chanels will then go to the plugs where you plug your satelite speakers and the other will go to the sub.
Your receiver will probably have the crossover built in, so what you have to do is find out where the amp is and which pin on the chip is for the sub.
Now I hope you see why this is no easy task.
You can not feed the Sub out on your receiver through a pre amp and then onto the speaker as a pre amp will only boast a low level signal to line level. Your best bet is to unplug the speaker and remove all circuitry and wiring from the case. Buy your self a second hand power amp with the same rating as your sub and fit that into the sub casing. If you want to do this I will be more than willing to help.
I'll probably do as you say and rip everything out and install an appropriate preamp. The only specs I now have on the subwoofer are:
Anyway, thought I'd show you a pic of the circuit board.
The large bundle of zip-tied wires coming in from the bottom right of pic are the various channels, as follows:
RF - green
CNTR - blue
LR - white
RR - red
All the channels connect to the board along the edges (upper and lower in the pic) and there are chips of some sort with what looks to be white grease smeared over them. I have no idea what they are, but there you go!
I don't see any heat sinks, unless the above chips with the grease and sandwiched in a metal frame insulated with plastic strips is what your talking about.
If I'm ever in the UK, I own you a couple of pints!
Me too .
Can you most the exact make and model of your receiver. Also have a look on the back of the sub-speaker and see if you can see a make and model of the driver. if not try and get the RMS power and impedence.
Im at work now but I will right a more detail response this evening. It may well not be worth the mod at all, but I will get back to you when I have researched into what equipment you are using.
OK, how? The front, center and rears are easy; but the sub is another story (all all the above verbiage indicates). If you know how to make the sub work with a receiver that does not have a powered/active sub port, please do tell!!!!
Thanks again!
There is no info on the back side of the speaker and the front simply says "Logitech." I've emailed Logitech's tech support with the RMS and impedance question. Hopefully, I'll get a response.
OK, I have downloaded the user manual for your receiver and the sub output is what is known as a pre out. This means it is pre (before) amplification. The "volume" or level of an audio signal relates to the voltage accross your + (red) output and the earth (usually black). Most modern audio devices use a standard output volume. This refers to the maximum peak voltage. I cant remember what the actual numbers are off the top of my head. For this explanation I am going to call this level a "line" level. Im sure there is a more correct term but that is what I call it so we will stick with it.
The way that your system is working is that you DVD is sending a digital signal containing all six audio channels to your receiver. Your receiver converts that signal into six individual analogue signals at line level (one for each speaker). The five which correspond to your satelite speakers are then individually amplified and then send to the speakers. The sixth one, your sub, is sent straight to the sub out on the back of your receiver at line level. This means you have no aplified sub signal.
The other guys who have already set up their systems probably have an active output on their sub out. This means that the amp in their receiver has six channels and the channel for the sub is amplified before it leaves the receiver.
What you need to do is amplify the line signal from the back of your receiver to a level which your sub can use. To do this you need to...
A: buy a mono (one channel) power amp rated at about 100W. This should really be one designed to drive sub woofers as many standard amps wont cater for the really low frequencies.
or
B: Buy an active sub which is an amplifier and a sub in one box.
Having looked on ebay there is little difference in price and if anything the amps were more expensive than the active subs. If I was you I would just buy an active sub. That way you know the amp is designed to work with that speaker, you dont have to do any complicated modding and you will probably save some money.
The desicion is yours.
Thanks for all the work that your reply entailed.
I'm loath to go with option B (get another sub) because all the reviews of this system say it's quite good. So, if Logitech comes through with the specs, I should be able to match a decent mono amp, as per yr A solution, and be done with it. So we'll see.
Thanks again for all yr help! I'll let you know if and when Logitech passes along the requested info.
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Technical Specifications[/FONT]
Total FTC power: 505 watts RMS
Sub-woofer: 188 watts RMS (into 8 ohms, @ 100Hz, @ 10% THD)
Satellites:
Left/Right: 62 watts RMS x 2 (into 8 ohms, @ 1khz, @ 10% THD)
Center: 69 watts RMS (into 8 ohms, @ 1kHz, @ 10% THD)
Rear Left & Right: 62 watts RMS x 2 (into 8 ohms, @ 1kHz, @ 10% THD)
Total Peak power: 1010 watts
Maximum SPL: >115 dB
Frequency response: 33 Hz — 20 kHz
Amplifier: Ultra-linear, high-capacity analog
Signal to noise ratio: >93.5 dB, typical 100
Input impedance: 8,000 ohms