Hacking the Logitech Z5500

Fixed!!

Nevermind I tinkered around inside a bit and now it is perfect.

For everyone else with a PID pre636 Z5500 sub, and do not want the speakers connected and are using the sub connected to an amp, THIS is the final solution.

If you want an all internal mod, ie you are going to use an RCA connector for the Sub signal (from pre-out) you have 2 options for powering up the unit.

Manual: you have to switch it on, or leave the power on.

Auto: Have an audio sensing circuit that activates a relay, turning on the sub, with a timing capacitor that shuts it off after a certain amount of time.

If you want manual switch, then solder the switch between 8v and white wire.

If you want always on, solder 8v to white.

If you want auto sensing, build this circuit
replace R6 with a 20k trimpot to dial in the sensitivity (i used 2k ohms)
replace C4 with 2200uF, replace R11 with 1M ohm (this will give about 8-9 minutes till it turnes off.)
Remove R12.

That circuit runs great with 8v. For the final connection on the relay, connect the two end to 8v and the white wire.

In all 3 varieties, you will have to either use a 5v voltage regulator, or a voltage divider to make 8v into 5v to the white wire for it to work best.


The final trick is to unsolder the grey wire and connect it to your sub input.
If you don't unsolder it, you will get the nastiest tone you've ever heard.

here is a reference board that is the same.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

first set of solder points
Ground,nothing

second set
+8v,+18v,-18v

third set
speakers x5, sub, mute, nothing, power on, nothing

Final reference for wire colours: green is ground, red is 8v, grey is sub in, white is power on.

Hope this helps anyone else.

Adam
 
I have a Z 5500 spring clip version. I try to conect the blue, white and the orange wire (puled out from the pream board) and conected to groud & pin 13 but no sound at all. I also conect the grey wire to signal sound and the groud of the signal to pin 13 at ground.
The amp go on but no sound only when i conect the white wire to ground. Any other ideea please?
 
I cant get mine to work. The Control unit died a while ago, so i ordered some RCA chassis connectors. After finally getting around to it, i checked this thread again and found that i had the same pid as the guy i quoted. However i cannot get it to work. :( Checked the pinout and its correct. 6,7,8 and 13 is grounded and 2 (grey wire) is soldered to the center.
Using an Onkyo 605, but there is no sound coming from the sub. When i touch the rca i get a small humming sound from it, so it appears to be on. What am i missing? :S

I started measuring from pins on the connector on the back, to the circuit board inside, and found out where pin 6, 7, 8 and 13 ended up. Then I soldered 4 wires on. I mounted an RCA connector in the back of the subwoofer amp plate, and soldered the 4 wires to ground. The I found out that pin 2, Sub In, was the grey wire in the wire bundle, so I cut that and wired it to the center of the mounted RCA connector.

And it worked! My Sony amp can turn up and down the volume on the subwoofer individually.

Now I'm thinking about modding even more. I'm trying to find out, how I could alter the frequency range. The woofer is playing to much of the sound spectre.(Yes, that probably not how you say it)
 
Doesn't this seem right to you?

Hey guys

Registered to this forum to get some help from the pros - cause I am most definitely not a pro.

So... Threw myself out in this sub-altering-business. Wanted to change my Logitech Z-5500 subwoofer to be able to work with my brand new AV-receiver from its "Pre Sub Out". I got together with a friend of mine who knows how to solder and stuff. We used this german walkthrough - although we don't know one word of german:

Hello
I created a video in German. I show how the Z-5500 as remodels active subwoofer.
I made two more videos, I show how to modify the cable.

Here is the link: Hacking the Logitech Z 5500 Control Panel Problem - German - Aktiv Subwoofer umbau - Tutorials2k - YouTube

Have fun :p

Anyway, everything's done, but still: no sound! Nothing at all. We can hear a very tiny buzz when turning the sub on from the switch, but besides that, the sub is not sending out any sound.

Can anyone tell us from these pictures if we have done something wrong? I could really use your help!
 
So last night my control pod decided to not work any longer. No lights, no anything. For the longest time I thought I had a power issue. Figured out my plug works fine, fuse is fine, and measured the pin outs with my multi-meter and am getting the right values so that means its the control pod, yet it acts like it is not receiving any power, and yes the cable to the pod is intact.

My question is, is there anyway to fix the pod... I haven't had a chance to turn it on yet since I don't have the right sized Allen key. Anyone have any advice on how to figure out what went wrong inside the pod and how to potentially fix it? Thanks a lot!!!
 
this is my question regarding a z-5300 which i am assuming is wired the same as the z-5500.

i soldered a jumper across 6-7-8 and 13 of the pod connector as is clearly shown and discussed in many other posts.

i connected a line from sub woofer out on my sound bar to a mono 3.5 mm connector into the sub/center input.

the sub does not pop when i turn it on and i hear no sound when i connect tot he sound bar.
the big heat sink gets a little warm.

if my z-5300 is the same as the z-5500, from what i read, i think (hope) that something should be happening that i could hear.

any ideas?
 
Hi all,

Can i user trigger with 12v from my Yamaha amplifier to auto turn on/off z5500 ?

I need only active subwoofer, without other speakers from Logitech system.

Now i must manualy turn On z5500.

My connection:
- RCA with audio signal: Pin 2(+) and 6,13(-)
- linked wires/PIN 7,8,13
 
Hey, after googleing around i think this is the best place to ask.
Anyone knoes if this unit can run 4 ohm speakers safely?
Most people seem to belive its a rather poor amp and that its not a good idea, but there are mixed opinions out there.
Id be interested in running some magnepans (they do need a good amount of juice, like 40w-120w at 4 ohm) from this unit untill i can get a dedicated amp for them (in no less that 5 months, maybe more).

So, is the amp capable of that or i should not try it?
 
Hey, after googleing around i think this is the best place to ask.
Anyone knoes if this unit can run 4 ohm speakers safely?
Most people seem to belive its a rather poor amp and that its not a good idea, but there are mixed opinions out there.
Id be interested in running some magnepans (they do need a good amount of juice, like 40w-120w at 4 ohm) from this unit untill i can get a dedicated amp for them (in no less that 5 months, maybe more).

So, is the amp capable of that or i should not try it?

TDA7294 datasheet, page 1 to speakers (4 ohm / 8 ohm) and page 13 to subwoofer (must not be lower than 8 Ohm).
 
this is my question regarding a z-5300 which i am assuming is wired the same as the z-5500.

i soldered a jumper across 6-7-8 and 13 of the pod connector as is clearly shown and discussed in many other posts.

i connected a line from sub woofer out on my sound bar to a mono 3.5 mm connector into the sub/center input.

the sub does not pop when i turn it on and i hear no sound when i connect tot he sound bar.
the big heat sink gets a little warm.

if my z-5300 is the same as the z-5500, from what i read, i think (hope) that something should be happening that i could hear.

any ideas?


see this thread :
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/chip-amps/135930-logitech-z-5300-without-remote.html
 
Z5500 subwoofer with AVR without pod

Hi Gents,

Thank you anyone who contributed to this thread with their knowledge.

My Z5500, PID8XX died a few days ago hanging at message Effect:Detecting. I found this forum, read 4X pages and finally achieved with a simple wiring to review the subwoofer only. I sent the POD to repair and still waiting. Now I have only the sub and satellites. To make it work, there is no need to open the main unit, just wired 6 & 7 to 13th pin at the male DSub input and attached it to my Harman Kardon AVR pre-out sub RCA output black cable, and pin 2 to red wire in the RCA. Voila subwoofer is back again. I'm sure if I connect the rest of it it will work.

For those who are not familiar with soldering and first would like to try, just coil the wire around a pin or broch pin and take it back then insert into the pins. Make sure to isolate by simple solutions so wires do not touch other pins or pin 2's wire (I used paper :) but will fix with a long-term solution)

Great work, thank you all.
 
Hi

I have the z-5500 sub with amp (pid: r875) with no pod. When i connect the unmuting pins to the ground nothing happens. I also tried the 8v pin to the unmute pins and i got the same. The panel seem's to be good... So i don't know whats the matter o_O

Sorry for my english
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Is this thread dead or still alive? We'll see...

My control pod 'died' on me several months ago. Meanwhile I've been trying to get hold of a replacement cable/bypass cable from eBay but the item never showed up nor my money (seller doesn't reply).

The problem with my control pod is, as many has, that it's able to turn on, but not anymore than that (it's PID is R034). When it turns on, the display shows:
Input: Direct 96 -- 24
Effect: Detecting...

I'm able to, by using the little switch on the back of the pod, to change between 6ch and Stereo 1-3 and by doing that, the display will show:
Input: Stereo 1 96 -- 24
Effect: Detecting...

I've read upon it being the firmware getting frozen (good job Logitech. And you won't take out-of-warranty items back, yet you know the problem persists?!).

So my question is; is there anyway to fix it yourself or somehow 'repair' it?