Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 THX-Certified Speakers Review

We set up these speakers on one of our desks, where everything is symmetrical (the keyboard and manin monitor is on a corner, flanked on the left and right with more desktop space.  Since the speaker’s mono cords were permanently attached, we had to snake them through and around the desk.  We placed the left and right speakers on the appropriate parts of the workspace, and placed the center speaker on top of our 22″ Spectre LCD monitor.  The wired remote was routed through the desk and placed right next to the keyboard and mouse.  Rear speakers were placed behind us on other furniture in the office.

When we went to connect everything up to the bass unit, we then discovered how amazingly short the speaker cables were.  The main bass unit had to be located to the right (near the main PC), because the supplied 3-jacked cable was really rather short.  A symmetrical location in the corner would have been ideal.

Because of this unbalanced location, the left speaker could not eaily reach its intended placement. The rear speakers could not be placed where we really wanted them because the cables were also too short for adequate routing (we could put them in the ideal place, but then there would be tight tripwires everywhere).  The only way to place the speakers appropriately was to use several RCA mono extension cables and three 1/8″ extension cables.

Once we had everything connected and the remote unit snugle attached we powered the unit on.  We discovered that to initially power the unit you have to flip the switch on the back of the Subwoofer AND press the power button on the remote.  You can then power the unit on and off using just the wired remote.

We turned the volume all the way up to test for any hiss generated by the amplifier, and there was none, even in a very quiet room.  We even checked to make sure the soundcard volume was up and not muted because it was so quiet.

To test the sound dynamics we put the speakers through a test of watching Hi-Definition versions of Star Wars (with full Dolby Digital sound), playing BioShock, Lost Planet, and other games, and our own subjective listening with 320kbps MP3 files.

Watching movies with six seperate soundtracks (like WMV-HD and Dolby Digital) delivered a very satisfying movie experience.  Because of the full dynamic range of the bass soundtrack you may not notice that its working, and then BOOM!… laser blasts and explosions start, accompanied by a ship flying overhead.  The ported bass does a fantastic job of recreating a movie environment.  These speakers were so loud that I couldn’t stand turning the volume up more than 1/3rd of the way, so it can certainly fill a larger room.

A game with good surround support like Bioshock also delivers a good experience, as the audio is well positioned.  I did have to turn the fade all the way to the back speakers, as the volume of an object seemed to diminish as I turned around.  I expected the same dynamics as watching a movie, but the sounds of the tommygun didn’t have the same punch (and all weapons sounded a little mid-rangy for my taste).  Overall, it was very easy to identify where enemies were.  I’m not sure how much of the sound experience was the game design or the speakers, but it was much more enjoyable than my previous 5.1 speaker set.

One of my personal tests for bass performance comes from Enya.  Yes, Enya.  Her first album (self-titled Enya and later called “The Celts”) has some overwhelming bass that really stresses the abilities of any bass.  If your bass drivers are prone to distortion or shaking, then these tracks will bring it out.  There are several deep bass synth notes that overlap, and you can actually feel the sine waves as they cross paths.  I am happy to report that the z5300-e speakers performed great and put up with Enya’s bass infatuation without any distortion or shaking.

The highs of these speakers are very crisp.  With my previous set I always had to turn on a software Graphic Equalizer to get any satisfying amount of treble.  I had to disable Windows Media’s graphic equalizer when playing music because the highs were so crisp and any equalization blew them out to sound like hiss.  As with any speaker system, you have to change the configuration or EQ depending on the music you’re listening to.  Some tracks sounded loose and some didn’t have deep enough bass (so the subwooder emphasized what sounded like midrange).

Overall the impression of these speakers are that it has impressive bass (especially considering its size), very crisp highs, and average midrange.  We had to turn the rear speaker volume up full blast to keep them in check with the rest of the system, and the bass is powerful enough that it is never running at full volume.