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I guess that’s what I like about the Z-5500–at the very basic level, it does no harm, as in it does not have excessive shrillness like many audio products do, and in this aspect, it’s even better than some so-called entry-level “pro audio” reference monitors I have heard in the past (they tend to sound way too bright and fatiguing).
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There’s also less treble energy than a neutral frequency response, which I don’t mind that much either–I’ll gladly sacrifice some clarity if that means no shrillness–it’s a fair trade-off in my book. The small satellites + subwoofer systems all tend to have recessed mid range frequencies due to the inherent physical design and crossover, and the Z-5500 is no exception, but at the same time, the recess in the mid range isn’t nearly as bad as some I have heard in the past, and it’s not something that bothers me too much. For any serious audio work, I'd use the K+H's. Also, since I have a pair of the amazing Klein + Hummel O 300D professional reference studio monitor speakers for doing critical audio work, I didn't need the Z-5500 to be amazing, and I'd only use it for playing games and watching movies, or non-critical listening. In general, I think the Z-5500 met those needs very well. Even though I'm quite happy with my JVC/Victor SU-DH1 hardware Dolby Headphone virtual surround, no matter how good Dolby Headphone is for creating the illusion of surround sound, it’s still not quite as real as real surround sound (even though the hardware version of Dolby Headphone already sounds far superior to the software version). When I decided to replace my crappy Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 Surround Speakers System with something a lot better, I was not after high-end surround sound for audio production or crazy audiophile home theater–I only wanted something that sounded fairly good and has a good sub-bass extension, so I can feel all the visceral power of video game action and movies. If you see a set around and want a quite compact satellite speaker system, that punches well above it's price and apparent specs suggest then get these. I've taken these down, put in another system then a week later put the Logitechs back because they did a better job, took less space up and I missed them! I guess you could spend megabucks on some brand name sound systems but I don't know if you'd get the return for the extra money spent. Buying a 5m optical cable solved some of the problems though. It does create some placement challenges. The instructions are very clear - DON'T USE EXTENSION CORDS. The bass really can punch hard, the sub is a big box, it has the amp in it, switching for power to the processor/brainbox that is limited to 6' from the box by the cable. Yes mid range is a little weak and sometimes the sub is a little droney if you're listening to some lowish frequency sounds - music or videos. There are some really detailed reviews here on these speakers and I'd agree with each comment. The control unit is discreet, the remote simple to use and really the only tricky part is locating the sub. The speaker stands swivel from table/desk mount to a wall mount with holes for screws and angle the speakers down just nicely. They're well built with signs of being well thought out. Almost 7 years on they still pump music out, they would on average be used 6-8 hours per day. We've done it for some parties and they just rocked the night. You can play these at max volume and neither the satellites or sub distort the sound. They've sat in our lounge/dining space (4m x 8m) and absolutely rocked the place for music at parties, shaken the crockery in the kitchen watching films and then played nicely balanced music at a sane level for background sounds. We ran an Optical cable to the receiver/controller for 99.9% of the signal inputs. The main reason for purchasing was to watch movies and play music from an iMac. I got these in 2006 for $460 in Australia.