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Z-5500 vs Home Theater in a Box?

post #1 of 3
1/26/11 at 9:39pm
Thread Starter 

I'm thinking about buying the Z-5500's to upgrade my old logitech speakers. What really draws me to them is that it has a digital input so I could use my PS3 with true 5.1 surround over Dolby Pro Logic. Also, I'm going to be putting the speakers in my bedroom (it's around 12x16 feet I believe) so I like that they're fairly compact. From what I gather, they're certainly not the best speakers, but they're actually pretty good for the price (around $300 these days). On the other hand, a few people seem to be vehemently against them. Are they really that terrible? I plan to mostly them with movies and games, and maybe some music listening. But I'll do most of my music listening with a pair of Sennheiser HD 650's paired with an Asus Xonar STX card because I prefer the intemency of headphones for music anyway.


Whenever someone reccemends against the Z-5500's, they always say "just get some decent bookshelf speakers" or "just get a home theater in a box". But bookshelf speakers tend to be bigger then i want them to be and I want 5.1 surround sound (I don't think I can go back to two channel for movies and games). And there's so many HTIB packages that I don't know which to pick. I'm willing to spend up to $500 on a set if they're truly much better then the Z-5500s. I'm leaning towards just getting the Z-5500's because they're fairly cheap and just calling it a day unless anyone can convince me otherwise.

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post #2 of 3
1/27/11 at 10:06am

Definitely better than getting a home theater in a box IMO, but not as good as getting a receiver with bookshelf speakers. I know its tough to work with that sort of budget, but consider doing it in phases. Get a receiver and just 2 bookshelf speakers first, add a sub later, then a center, and then surrounds. Or something like that. Instant gratification of getting an entire set is definitely there, but really from an upgradits perspecitve and over the long run, going the other way is better.

 

There are a lot of budget options in receivers and bookshelf speakers that have good reputation at a tight budget, also consider getting used. Every year, new line of receivers come out and the older lines get heavily discounted. Recently there was a Denon 7.1 receiver with 75WPC and a lot of features for a mere 150$, something like this will serve you in the long run and give you a lot more options connectivity wise.

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post #3 of 3
1/27/11 at 11:55am

i agree try to go with separate bits if you can because when upgraditis starts you arent forced to replace everything

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