Logitech Z-5450 Speaker Review

Due to a crazy sale at Futureshop I picked up a set of Logitech Z-5450 multimedia speakers. They normally sell for around $599 CAD, but they were on sale for $299. Being the tech-toy geek that I am, and I've been looking for speakers for my TV/DVD setup, I've been watching home audio prices. I've been shying away from the home theatre in a box deals, preferring to wait and piece together a system myself over time. But seeing the price, and using a set of Logitech Z-5300's with my compy, I was pretty sure that for $299 the speakers would be a great buy especially since this set comes with digital inputs, both coax and optical, and a remote. The other selling feature is having wireless rear speakers in order to keep the cable clutter to a minimum.

I bought a digital coax cable for use with my DVD player, carefully un-boxed and speakers and set them up. The front speakers use normal detachable speaker wire so if you need longer wires, no problem. The rear speakers use a wireless signal, kind of like a what's used for wireless networks, to transmit signal. You just have to plug them into the wall for power, which I prefer over using batteries, but it could be tough finding free outlets. In all it took me 30 minutes to unpack, set up, and get them booming.

And boom they do. The speakers easily fill my room with sound. Despite having only a 6" subwoofer, they can dish out the bass. I figured I'd run them through the various gamut of movies I own, both in the DTS and Dobly Digital categories. That meant, the opening sequences of Gladiator, LOTR: The Fellowship of The Ring, and Star Wars Episode 3, and then the lobby sequence from The Matrix. And just for something different I tried the final boxing match in Cinderella Man. Oh how it was pleasure to my ears. The best had to be the low, descending bass note as the shock-wave of Sauron's death passes over the battlefield.

As great as these speakers are, I've been having a problem with them. Whenever the control module detects a change in the signal input it switches modes from say Stereo while in the DVD menu, to Dolby Digital once the movie starts. Every time a change like this is made, the speakers make a noise. This "click", as Logitech calls it, is quite loud and pronounced as it comes out of all the speakers including the sub-woofer; so it sounds more like a boom to me. So as you navigate from screen to screen in a DVD's menu, you get a boom. If you decide to skip a track the DVD players momentarily stops giving a digital signal, which makes the speakers detect the sound type again and that means another boom. Sometimes the booms even comes in pairs. Definitely annoying and I wonder if it might damage the speakers over time. Oh I can keep the booms from happening if I mute the speakers while navigating the menus or skipping tracks... not an acceptable solution in my books.

I've googled to see if anyone else has complained about the same problem but no luck. The way Logitech's website talks about the problem they place the blame on an older DVD player. Well it's barely been over two years since I bought my player and it wasn't a cheap one so I have my doubts that my player is at fault. For fun I tried my dad's "Walmart special" player which is newer than mine - same thing. So... do I got back to Futureshop and pick up a newer player or do I just return the speakers? Do I buy a player with optical and coax outputs to see if it's the coax that's the culprit? I'm guessing that'll be a pricey DVD player. I'll let you all know what happens.

Matthew.