| soundNERD |
Hi,
I just got the best computer speaker system ever designed, the Logitech Z-680.
The sound is amazing, and I don't think I have ever heard as much bass from any 8-inch sub before.
I was wondering, has anybody opened up one of these and looked at what chips it uses?
I am sure it would use chip amps, but which ones?
Thanks, Mike |
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| matjans |
well then,
open it up and shoot some pics! :) |
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| JOE DIRT® |
| who here says TDA>?????...LOL |
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| soundNERD |
Well, I don't want to risk opening up a $400 speaker that I just got a month ago :(
I almost think it could be 5x 3875 to get 50W/ch and a lm4651/52 combo for the 200W sub?
-Mike |
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| SpaBlauw |
There are 7 tda7293 in there, 2 are bridged for the sub.
How I know ? Well, my friend owns a computershop, and I owned a screwdriver ;) |
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| soundNERD |
OK, thanks!
But one thing, if thats true, how come the center channel is 59W, and the other channels are only 53W?
-Mike |
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| toque_101 |
| Yeah, I tore one of the z-560 subs apart this summer after a friend of mine had to return his system (logitech just makes you cut off the control box and send that to them). This one had 6 TDA7293 chips in it, I'm assuming from the one of the previous posts that 2 are bridged for the sub again. Oh, all the electrolytic caps on the board are "chang" brand, anyone know if these are any good? |
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| soundNERD |
Actually, my system is defective, and has to be sent back to them. The problem is that when the left heatsink (i assume the sub amp, since it gets hotter than the other heatsink) gets warm, it starts rattling loudly. The rattle is very annoying. Plus, it only takes about 15 minutes at less than half volume on the speakers and half volume on the pc to start rattling.
By "Cut off the control box and send it to them", does that mean I am going to have to just remove the amp and send it to them, meaning I save on shipping costs and get to keep a nice sub speaker/box? Or are you talking about something different?
Thanks, Mike |
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| toque_101 |
| for my friend, "cut off the control box and send it to them" meant cutting the cord coming out of the back of the volume/bass/treble/m3d control unit and sending that unit to them. I think the philosophy behind that is so you can't actually use the system any more...you're just left with all the satelites and the sub to gather dust... |
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| iCebReakEr409 |
| quote: | Originally posted by soundNERD
OK, thanks!
But one thing, if thats true, how come the center channel is 59W, and the other channels are only 53W?
-Mike |
Limited by the speaker power ratings ? |
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| AndersZ |
You know, for 400$ you can build pretty good DIY speakers and use your lm3386 projects instead of buying "computer" speakers. Or buy reference grade headphones and save the other stuff for the HT setup.
Just my point of view though...
Anders |
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| soundNERD |
| quote: | Originally posted by toque_101
for my friend, "cut off the control box and send it to them" meant cutting the cord coming out of the back of the volume/bass/treble/m3d control unit and sending that unit to them. I think the philosophy behind that is so you can't actually use the system any more...you're just left with all the satelites and the sub to gather dust... |
haha - not a problem for us! we could just rewire the amps inputs.
I wonder if they will only make us send them the control unit? It is removable since it connects with a monitor cable.
| quote: | | You know, for 400$ you can build pretty good DIY speakers and use your lm3386 projects instead of buying "computer" speakers. Or buy reference grade headphones and save the other stuff for the HT setup. |
Well, too late now. I would have just brought it back to best buy, got my money back and bought it again. Buy Best buy already discontinued this item!!
I hate Best buy now; they do this all the time with new stuff, especially if its too high end for them (basically anything), they decide not to carry it.
Anyway, I think these were $200, plus a $50 free gift card by mail and however many reward zone points you get, so they were a good deal.
One more thing I was wondering, are the TDA chips used high end ones? I would think so, but when the manual hinted that they have no SC protection, by saying that shorted speaker wires may damage the unit, I wondered if they really are that good of a chip.
Thanks, Mike
Thanks guys!! |
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| soundNERD |
OK, I called Logitech and ordered my new set.
I'm going to mail the control box tomarrow (friday)
Since I have some good speakers sitting around, so I took the center and rear speakers and used them for my surround system (before, i only had B&W fronts and a infinity sub). Now, I have a full surround sound system.
Now, with the subwoofer, I would like to figure out how to open it. I removed the screws, and there were a bunch of wires glued to the wood case. Which ones should I carefully pull off of the wood, and which 2 are for the sub.
What I want to do by that is hopefully find what rattles. Once I find that, I would like to be able to use the sub and the 2 remaining speakers for my laptop in my room (a 2.1 setup). How should I rig the amps to allow a standard Left/Right signal to be inputted (or, what pins are the audio input on the control unit? Then, I could connect my PC output to a pot for volume control and to the correct pins on the back of it to allow it to work again.
How should I go about it, and is this even possible?
If I can't get rid of the rattle, I'll just build a new amp for it.
Thanks everybody!
-Mike |
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| JasonL |
These logitech speakers are nice.. i have a pair of tb's im going to be using for this exact project and a subwoofer Donated from Planet10 in-trade of a pair of horn's im going to build a 4 channel amplifier using the lm chips 2 chips per speaker one for tweeter and one for driver.. and a active xover and a separate amplifier. right now im using the tb's in Juice cans and well moving around the room in certain spots proves these little tb's can produce allot and crisp and clean bass.. although i like a little more just for the extra punch. so soon ill be playing with fiberglass and new enclosures
J |
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| Agisthos |
I used to have this speaker set, for the money it will compete with sub/sat systems from normal hifi companies, costing over twice the price.
For a small/medium living room it is ideal as a surround sound setup.
save your expensive speakers for 2 channel setup! |
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| planet10 |
| quote: | Originally posted by soundNERD
I just got the best computer speaker system ever designed, the Logitech Z-680. |
Monsoon would be giving these a decided run for best ever. The computer store i work (part-time) at recently got a good portion of the last units available and at $50 CAD/pr the MH502s have got to be the best bargin ever for computer speakers (actually they are MH-350s -- 502s with cloth grills)
| quote: | Originally posted by AndersZ
You know, for 400$ you can build pretty good DIY speakers and use your lm3386 projects instead of buying "computer" speakers. |
The LogiTechd use a Tangband 3" -- 5 of those would run you $50.
dave |
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| JasonL |
| and since i already have 2 of them and a set of tweeters i'm going to use them and implement the lm chip's to run them. : O ) should sound good.. S far these little TB's Sound SWEET.. for 3" drivers i'm defiantly impressed.. : O) |
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| soundNERD |
Thanks guys,
but does anybody know the pinout of the control unit?
Also, I guess i should have said "in my opinion the 680s are the best pc speakers ever designed"
But if I'm right, those Monsoon flat speakers were at circuit city for a few months last year. If I remember right, they didn't sound good at all. but this is all my opinion.
-Mike |
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| soundNERD |
I got my new system yesterday.
How do I remove the speaker? |
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| soundNERD |
Anybody?
does anybody know how to remove the metal grill and thing to cover the screws without damaging it?
Also, how do you know what chip they are? They are not marked. :(
Finally, I got the circuitry out of the metal case, and removed the board that connected the control unit to the speakers. It connected with 2 rows of 11 pins, one on each side. They are labeled:
PGND
DGND
VDIG
SGND
RR AMP
SGND
LR AMP
SGND
RF AMP
SGND
LF AMP
and on the other side:
N/A
SHIELD
VREGSS
SGND
VREGDD
MUTE AMP
STDBY AMP
SGND
SUB AMP
SGND
CENTER
I assume SGND just means gnd, since it is above each input.
Are these chips in mute or standby when there is no signal on the pin?
What is PGND, DGND, VDIG, SHIELD, VREGSS and VREGDD?
The board also has 5 SMD 8-pin chips, probably volume controls.
Can I just connect a potentiometer and input between sub amp and the SGND for it, and the same with the other amps?
Thanks!
-Mike |
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| JasonL |
| SGND = Signal Ground |
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| planet10 |
Educated guesses only,
PGND = power ground
DGND = digital ground
VDIG = B+ digital
SGND = signal ground
RR AMP = right rear +
SGND = signal ground
LR AMP = left v +
SGND = signal ground
RF AMP = right rear +
SGND = signal ground
LF AMP = left front +
each SGND is probably mated with a speaker +
and on the other side:
N/A
SHIELD = shield
VREGSS = B+ signal (regulated?)
SGND = signal ground
VREGDD = B+ digital (regulated?)
MUTE AMP = mute control signal
STDBY AMP = standby control signal
SGND = signal ground
SUB AMP = sub +
SGND = signal ground
CENTER = centre +
dave |
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| leadbelly |
| quote: | Originally posted by soundNERD
But if I'm right, those Monsoon flat speakers were at circuit city for a few months last year. If I remember right, they didn't sound good at all. but this is all my opinion. |
I have Monsoons on my PC at home. Believe me, they are quite something. It was actually a big kick in the ____ when I was in the process of acquiring my main HT system, because about midway through my $100 PC speakers blew away my $$$$ system. |
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| planet10 |
| quote: | Originally posted by leadbelly
I have Monsoons on my PC at home. Believe me, they are quite something. |
I am now sitting on a pr of 500s (the triamped ones), 2 pair of 502s, and for free because they had problems a set of 350s (4 502 sats, a centre, with a 702 sub w 6 amp channels), and a set of 702s... time to play :^)
dave |
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| soundNERD |
OK, thanks.
I am using the center and rear speakers for my surround stereo system, so what I want to do is make a 2.1 system for my laptop. So, would I have to just connect the outputs from the PC to RF and LF and their SGNDs, and the sub input to SUB AMP and it's SGND?
Do I have to do anything with the other pins? Do the MUTE or STDBY pins have to be connected to anything or are the chips not in mute or standby by default?
Thanks!
-Mike |
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| soundNERD |
hasnt anybody used these chips and can tell me how to take care of standby and mute?
-Mike |
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| gittela |
Just if anyone wants to know, I've figured out all the cables going out of the z560 sub. have a set with sub and satelites, but a controller unit from a z680, took me little while to mate them, but now it works.
:-)
Howard |
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| soundNERD |
I have taken my set, and rebuilt the amps. Instead of making a 5.1 system, I just stuck with a 2.1.
I used 3886s for the satellites, and 2 bridged opa549s for the sub. Because of this, I had to use a different transformer, because the torrid in the 680s puts out too much voltage (+/-36 or so, and opa549 is limited to +/-30).
But thats OK for me, because I instead built a stereo LM3875 amp using the torrid from the 680s.
With my new system, I find the sound much better than the original 680s, and the sub is still very loud, but less "thuddy" loud.
If you really want to hear the potential of these speakers, the amps they use are not even close to sufficiant. |
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| zBuff |
SoundNerd, this is how you remove the grill
http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/ind...thread&t=420578
"so the subwoofer grill is connected to the subwoofer with glue in 4 places. so the way to get the thing off is to take a paper clip or anything that's thin enough to get into the subwoofer grill's holes. The way you do it is to stick the paperclip into the holes on the edge of the grill (the direction of the stick would be towards the center of the grill or subwoofer cone) right where it meets the gray plastic circle part of the sub and then you gnetly pry it open by pushing the paperclip towards the subwoofer, which causes the paperclip to push up on the subwoofer grill.
do this like 20-40 times all the way around the grill and eventually you'll get the grill out of the sub box. be careful not to poke the cone."
I tried on my set but I couldn't get it to come off. Let me know if u manage to do it, I just ended up with a lot of bent paper clips.
I'd say this system could benefit from a bigger powersupply for a start. |
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| zBuff |
Other points of interest I have come across
the logitech z5500, which are the 680 replacements actually have Tangband W3-871 in them.
The centre speaker has a different driver from the other satelites, I'm not too sure why except maybe to get it to fit into the pod. They're far smaller coils, that's why there's such a big weight difference, plus the centre speaker is a sealed box rather than a vented one. it's left and right vents are just fake. Not too sure whether or not that makes a differences as these drivers, being that they have phase plugs and no completely sealed box could be achievable with them.
The sub box has no padding in it what so ever, the walls could be braced, and the transformer is actually inside the sub box, which that and the wiring from the back is a cause of some ppl's rattling problems
The control pod cord is going to have signal lines running parallel with power lines, so that can't be too good.
I wouldn't mind giving it a go modding my set of 680's ideas anyone?
are the amplifier chips any good on them? Capacitor replacements? DAC replacements? The audio decoder chip on the control pod is specified to work up to 7.1 decoding, I wonder if these could be reinabled. There sounds like there is a frequency range missing on them, but that does surprise me that much, common in sub satellite combos. But they're fine for movies, music is another matter. Maybe crossover redesigning could help. |
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| soundNERD |
Thanks for all of the replies.
Right now, these stupid things broke AGAIN. Guess I've learned why Logitechs are so cheap for so much power.
Either way, I'm gettin the Z-5500 (same as 680s but with a 10 inch sub, better designed amp so it doesn't rattle, new control panel, and in black, which in my opinion looks better). They have taken over 3 months so far, since for the first month they had an incorrect order put in, then after I called, I was supposed to get the new ones because the 680s are discontinued, and, since then, they have been out of stock of those.
With my current system, I think I'll try some modifications. First, I think I'll fill the satellites and sub with insulation, then I think I'm going to try closing the port in the drivers. It seems the only reason for those is for higher output level so they can claim higher power. In think with them closed I will get better sound output.
After reading the other thread and learning what speakers these use, are Tangband good speakers?
Oh, and does anybody know who makes the sub driver? |
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| soundNERD |
| quote: | Originally posted by zBuff
SoundNerd, this is how you remove the grill
http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/ind...thread&t=420578
"so the subwoofer grill is connected to the subwoofer with glue in 4 places. so the way to get the thing off is to take a paper clip or anything that's thin enough to get into the subwoofer grill's holes. The way you do it is to stick the paperclip into the holes on the edge of the grill (the direction of the stick would be towards the center of the grill or subwoofer cone) right where it meets the gray plastic circle part of the sub and then you gnetly pry it open by pushing the paperclip towards the subwoofer, which causes the paperclip to push up on the subwoofer grill.
do this like 20-40 times all the way around the grill and eventually you'll get the grill out of the sub box. be careful not to poke the cone."
I tried on my set but I couldn't get it to come off. Let me know if u manage to do it, I just ended up with a lot of bent paper clips.
I'd say this system could benefit from a bigger powersupply for a start. |
I just used a flathead screwdriver prying it out in a few places.
It kind-of bent the edges of it, but they were easily fixed. |
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| matjans |
| quote: | | are the amplifier chips any good on them? |
wasn;t the tda7293 mentioned here also used in the Linn Klimax Twin ? You could have a look at the psu and, if possible, upgrade it. More capacity, better bypassing etc. Give it a nice (low impedance) supply and you'll be amazed!
The tangband w3-871 is supposedly a great little driver; check here for cabinet and crossover suggestions for the tb-w3871 |
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| simon5 |
The Z5500 is protected by a 4A slow blow fuse.
So, it's a bit bizzare that it's rated at 505W RMS, that would mean about 105% of amplifier efficiency.
Nobody here heard about Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultra or Creative Gigaworks S700 (or S750) ???
These are the systems you need if you really like SQ from a multimedia system... |
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| zBuff |
Yep I've heard the Gigaworks systems before, far better systems than the Z680's for music. Klipsch are a bit hard to come by around my neck of the woods, but I've heard good things of them. The main advantage to me is that the Logitech's have a AC-3 / DTS decoder with the. All of these multimedia systems are better than the cheapo theatre in a box systems you get, but still fall short when compared to hifi brands. My uncle's Kef satelite/sub setup blows my logitechs out of the water, mind u they should since they cost more than my logitech's and my projector put together.
I haven't seen the Z5500 yet, but they're suppose to be a lot more balanced than the Z-680s, no boomy bass, flatter response, better drivers. |
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| zBuff |
| SoundNerd, How did your logitech's break? is it just the fuse? I've heard that's pretty common for the logitech's, but never experienced it myself. I wonder what causes it. I take it with high volumes, mine never get that high because I use em only for home theatre, playing stuff thru the the analog inputs seem to be alot louder. |
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| Stocker |
| You can get a heck of a lot more than 4A through a 4A slo-blo fuse for a short moment. A whole heckuva lot more. They are betting you won't turn it up for good, or they are *ahem* exaggerating the rating. |
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| thomas997 |
| quote: | Originally posted by soundNERD
I have taken my set, and rebuilt the amps. Instead of making a 5.1 system, I just stuck with a 2.1.
I used 3886s for the satellites, and 2 bridged opa549s for the sub. Because of this, I had to use a different transformer, because the torrid in the 680s puts out too much voltage (+/-36 or so, and opa549 is limited to +/-30).
But thats OK for me, because I instead built a stereo LM3875 amp using the torrid from the 680s.
With my new system, I find the sound much better than the original 680s, and the sub is still very loud, but less "thuddy" loud.
If you really want to hear the potential of these speakers, the amps they use are not even close to sufficiant. |
sorry I didnt realise the thread was so old :) |
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| simon5 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Stocker
They are betting you won't turn it up for good, or they are *ahem* exaggerating the rating. |
Knowing that the Z680 and the Z560 had Tangband satellite drivers rated at 15W RMS, probably exaggerating again in the Z5500... but I guess the new Tangband drivers can handle more power... but then the amplifier is probably the same, so probably the same power delivery... |
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| soundNERD |
I think they broke because, as that website said, Logitech cheaped out on the drivers, the amp blew the sub. It could also be the amp blew rather than the sub driver because something was smelling very odd even at low volumes. Also, the amp rattled, which really annoyed me. Finally, the things hissed very loudly, and they supposably shouldn't have because I had the newest controller.
I wish some company would make a decent speaker system. Logitech is low quality, Klipsch are overpriced and sound lousy to me, I don't know how Creative calls that little box that does nothing but distort a subwoofer, and the rest are even worse than that.
All I know is right now I'm happy. The ones I've built have gone a year without a single problem, while my 680s have died twice in that time. |
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| soundNERD |
Well, I have stuffed the cases of the satellite speakers, and it really made a difference. The high pitched sounds are less harsh, but still there, and the midrange sounds are much more detailed.
I really reccomend stuffing the speakers from the 680s. It really makes a difference!
Next I'm going for the sub. I think I will stuff some of the batting I used in the satellites in the port (though not too much that it blocks too much sound from it) and will line the inside with foam (possibly I will also cover the transformers and capacitors at the bottom, but I'm not sure on that.
UPDATE: Rather than stuffing the port, I intead lined the inside of the sub box. I had some foam to line the right side and top, and the area behind the port is stuffed with the batting. I didn't put it on the front side of the bottom because of the transformers and capacitors or on the left side of the box with the port. The sound is excellent now! |
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| simon5 |
You don't seem to like Klipsch and Creative much, but did you hear the last MM kits?
Creative Gigaworks S700 is THE kit to beat in midrange and treble. The subwoofer is flat down to 40 Hz.
Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultra is THE subwoofer to beat, flat down to 30 Hz.
Nothing can come close to these two. |
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| soundNERD |
Yes, I have heard heard those klipsch speakers. The sub did not impress me at all. It barely did anything. And every creative speaker I hear is a poorly designed ported box that distorts and even when it isn't distorting sounds terrible. I don't think I've heard the system you are talking about, but I dobut I'd be impressed due to my past experience.
Back to the Klipsch, they sell those at best buy, so I'm not too suprised I don't like the sound out of them. True they may be the best audio think Best Buy sells, but thats not much of a comparison. |
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| thomas997 |
| quote: | Originally posted by soundNERD
Yes, I have heard heard those klipsch speakers. The sub did not impress me at all. It barely did anything. And every creative speaker I hear is a poorly designed ported box that distorts and even when it isn't distorting sounds terrible. I don't think I've heard the system you are talking about, but I dobut I'd be impressed due to my past experience. |
Ive never heard the ultra, but the standard 5.1 klipsch sub I didnt like it as well. The drivers looked fairly cheap, it wasnt that well built. Electronically though, the klipsch seemed somewhat well made, I have a few pics of the insides still: pic 1, pic 2.
The satellites didnt sound impressive as well, however they were nicely built. Stuffing all inside, etc. pic here
Ive heard great things about the gigaworks, however the sub seems undersized.
Im trying to get some of the z680/z560 satellites to use with my existing system, Ill try stuffing them if I can find any. |
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| simon5 |
I don't know why you didn't like the Ultra subwoofer, it's the first and only computer subwoofer to go flat down to 30 Hz.
Gigaworks is flat down to about 40 Hz.
Logitech can play louder than Klipsch, but it's definitely not flat (it's boomy) and it definitely cannot go as low.
Anyway, it's a good idea to use the amplifier to power something better. Just design a real subwoofer and real satellites with tweeters. |
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| Evan Shultz |
You can't compare speakers at BB. If you're judging any of the speakers by hwo they sound in BB you are shafting every single system you listen to.
The Monsoon PlanarMedia series was great IMO. I'm not an big fan of the sound of the planar satellites myself, but I was impressed nonetheless.
I have the Klipsch PM2.1 system ever since it came out. I built new crossovers and have done little tweaks here and there. I can't believe you don't think the subwoofer has balls. It is a beast in every room I have had it in. Actually, it's overpowering compared to the satellites. And the 2.1 system uses and actual Class B amp, not a chip amp [not to trash chip amps, some are rather good].
NERD, you might go checking out datasheets for the chips you are interested in. They are all over the web and not too hard to understand. MUTE and STAND-BY pins both need to be above 3.5V to guarantee on operation. |
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| planet10 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Evan Shultz
The Monsoon PlanarMedia series was great IMO. I'm not an big fan of the sound of the planar satellites myself, but I was impressed nonetheless. |
The best sounding of the Monsoons were the MM500s (maybe didn't go as low as some of the bigger woofed ones, but where the music really counts...). These had a 2 3/4" midrange running from 225 Hz to about 1.500 Hz. This was all activily amplified (ie 5 amps).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...item=5745215373
When they dissappeared i was able to get a number of service spares and lashed up an extra woofer so that i have stereo woofers & am only using 3 of the 5 amps in each module (giving those 3 amps more effective power supply). The s-video connectors they use for the sats don't work too well. At some point, i'll put the woofers & amps in new boxes & fix that (i may add a 2nd woofer & amp to each box too -- i keep tripping over the spares i have)
dave |
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| soundNERD |
about the power rating of the speakers and drivers, read my post here. I don't really feel like retyping it.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/show...1338#post561338
No wonder they get away with 15W drivers. Guess I'd better be careful using 3886s in my rebuilt set... |
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| bradleyGT |
I posted a similar reponse re: the Z-5500 at the following link; it includes other feedback re: transformer size and power measurements.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/show...2858#post562858
Specifically re: the "power" rating for a raw speaker driver, it is derived by testing in free air, full range over a 24 hour period. It is independant of all other system variables including the final enclosure, amplifier and the crossover. Oh yeah, in your final system you're probably more interested in listening to music rather than sine wave or pink noise. Put the Z-5500 driver in a box, add a 150 Hz or so high-pass filter and you now have a driver that can probably be "rated" closer to 100W (this is assuming the raw driver is rated at 15W as mentioned in this thread. I'm not sure how that was established for the Z-5500). If your satellite drivers are failing, I doubt it's because of their power rating. |
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| Hurleybird |
soundnerd, I'm rather new to this stuff. What did you use to stuff the satellites and make them sound better?
Also, tang band just came out with some bambo paper 3" drivers. could be interesting to modify a 5500/680 set with some of those. |
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| soundNERD |
I used something called batting. You can get it from a fabric store. It's what they stuff some pillows with.
I don't know if I'd use tangband speakers. I'm really not impressed with them.
I got my new speakers, and I have to say I actually liked the 680s better, except these look nicer and have no hissing nor rattling in the subwoofer. I actually found the 8 inch sub on the 680s to sound better and it was actually louder without distorting or making a thudding sound like these do a lot. I also notice the sub overwhelms the satellites at low volumes, but it's the other way around at higher volumes. I also find the satellites sound lousy at lower volume than they do at higher volume.
Either way, these are the first ones I've had that were good out of the box without a single problem, but I think I liked the sound of the others better. But I'm not going to complain. They are still loud! |
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| Hurleybird |
Thats weird, most people seem to like the z-5500's better than the z-680's.
I'm sure the new sub is better for HT and games though. |
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| soundNERD |
| Maybe, but for music, I don't like it that much. Yea It's loud, but it's not loud and detailed like the old one. |
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| Hurleybird |
Well, if you want it to play more detailed but less loud, you might want to modify the sat crossover frequency. I hooked my sats up to my onkyo amp and they went way lower than before. IMO the sub goes too high and the sats not low enough. I'm sure its worse with the 10"
Logitech must do this to get more volume, but it doesent sound to good. Theres no reason the 5500 should sound any worse than the 680 if your crossovers are configured right. |
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| JWFokker |
So I've still got my Z-560's in use (admittedly less now that I own a pair of Grados) and I'd like to modify them before I get into full fledged speaker building (especially amp and crossover designs, which I'm not looking forward to). Are there any enclosure designs for small drivers in particular that I should look at? I've got a few speaker building books on the way but I'd like to get more than just a couple authors' opinions.
Also, while I'm at it I was also thinking about building a new enclosure for the sub and maybe even replacing the driver in it too. To me all the 8" subs look the same aside from price. Manufacturer's spec claims are not much good to me either. Anyone have especially good results with a particular 8" sub? I realize subs this small aren't very popular but I was hoping for suggestions anyway. They can't be any worse than my uneducated decisions. |
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| simon5 |
| Hi soundNERD, I would like to know what are the power amplifier chips in the Z5500 if you want to open it up :D |
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| Alecsh |
Hi... Going Back to post 21,
If any people are (like I was) looking for a way to use the amplifier with out the control pod heres my little guide..
1. Take the amplifer off the subwoofer. (I needed to cut some wires here to get it off enough)
2. Take off the back plate (lots of screws to undo here including some with bolts on the other side)
3. Take off the panel on the rear side which has the plug to the control panel. (once you've removed the bolts it just pulls off)
4. Now using the pin labels that you will find on the panel that you pulled off identify the VREGDD, MUTE AMP and STANDBY AMP pins (they are all in a line), use some single core wire to connect mute and standby to the vregdd (or put switches on) This will allow the amp to be turned on with out the control pod being attached.
5. connect the inputs (eg RF AMP etc) to some sort of connectors ie 3mm or coax connections.
And Thats it, make sure if you cut any wires to ease the amp off you fix them back up and cover with electrical tape
Now the amp can be turned on/off by the switch on the back or if you put switches on the STANDBY AMP Wire. One thing to note though is that the Amp now has no Pre-Amp which means no onbard volume control or crossovers so make sure you turn the volume right down on the source before you plug it in!! |
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| xaphod |
Help! I've got the Z680s, had'em for a while and love them. BUT, I've just relocated to Switzerland. I tried plugging them into a step-down transformer rated at 500W continuous, but there's a nasty hum coming from the sub... sounds like it might be from the sub's transformer, rather than from the sub-speaker (and there's nothign coming from any of the satellites).
Is there a way to replace the sub's transformer so that it can take 230V instead of 110V? Has anyone seen the transformer, or got a Z680 open and can take pics?
All help much appreciated! My next move is to buy a bigger toroidal step-down transformer rated at 1500W and see if that helps. Not sure though... it might be the mains being at 50hz instead of 60hz that's creating the hum?
All help much appreciated. Am losing lots of sleep over this.
p.s. sorry for rezzing old thread. |
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| nickthevoice |
yes these speaker kit work well with great sound "for PC"
but is not compare TDA 10% THD at 100w and for example LM4780 serie at 0,03% & SNR 114 dB !
it's not the same CHIP AMP quality !
Thanks !!!
nicK |
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