Speakers

[Mona]

Thank you for letting me know Quokka. I will pass this on to our Forum Administrators to look into.

[GT001]

Quokka, I would like to know if you or Logitech has sorted out your problem. I'm having the same issue. I am not turning the power off on the subbie. What I do is I turn of the control center first, then turn off the main. Each time I do this process, all settings are turned down (sub, volume, center).

[Quokka]

Heya GT,

No, Logitech have not sorted out my problem yet. Far from it in fact. I finally got an e-mail back from Logitech Australia, over a month from when I first contacted them. To be quite frank, the guy hasn't got a clue what he's talking about and I don't think he knows one end of the Z5500 from the other. He told me that the Z5500 has no way of keeping any settings because there's no circuitry in the unit to do it. Rubbish. After about a month or so, and visiting as many sites as I could regarding problems with the Z5500, I tried powering down via the console, then the subbie, then the wall switch. I had been forewarned that this will probably blow the fuse next time I turned the unit on, and that's exactly what happened. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not. $2.50 later and it was running again. And magically, some of the settings started to stick. I decided from then on to only power-down by turning the console off, then the power at the wall. I don't touch the power button on the subbie at all. In most cases now, all speaker volumes and the main volume are right where I left them that last time the mains was turned off. Every now and then, the main Volume goes back to zero, but the centre, surround, and subbie settings remain in tact. So, if anyone tells you that the unit is incapable of remembering any settings, they're wrong. There's obviously something flakey going on with some batches of Z5500 speakers. Fact: they can and will remember speaker settings etc. when the mains power is switched off. Where I go from here I'm not sure yet. Hope this helps.

Quokka.

[GT001]

Hi Quokka, I called Logitech support and they told me that the z5500 doesn't have the ability to remember the previous settings. Similar to the guy who emailed you, she told me that there is no 'software' inbuilt to the z-5500 to retain the settings. I think it's rubbish too. I find it quite bizaare after reading alot of great reviews about this product that this particular issue hasn't been talked about in forums alot. I have scoured the net for forums and FAQ's but what I've seen regarding this problem is very limited.

[Quokka]

Hi again GT, and thanks for your reply.

It seems I'm not alone in this quest for the truth on what the Logitech Z5500 can and can't do.

Yes, it's both bizzare and very unprofessional I think. Fancy a multi-million dollar company like Logitech having people on their 'help desk' who don't have a clue on what the product should do and actually does do, can do, and can't do. I'm at a loss to fathom how a world-leading company like Logitech can employ people who a) don't answer you for over a month, and b) talk gibberish to you when they finally do. Like you, I have scoured the 'Net high and low to try and find out if the lost settings are normal, or if there is a problem with the system. To date, NO-ONE has been able to answer this definitively. This includes this Forum (which I fully understand, for it is a Forum and not a help desk), and Logitech 'experts' themselves (which I don't understand, for they are the people who manufacture the product!). I can categorically state to anyone that reads this: YES, the Logitech Z5500 CAN remember the previous settings (volume etc.) when the mains power is turned off. If anyone on this planet says to you it can't, they're off their tree. Come to my place, and I will turn the unit off at the mains for a week and it will *still have the settings* that I last had when I flicked the switch. My only problem now is that occasionally some or all of the settings reset to zero, so I have to use the Control Pod to reset my centre, surround, and sub-woofer volumes back up from zero and/or turn the master volume back up again from zero. What really gets my goat up is that I researched the Z5500's a lot on the 'Net before I finally decided to purchase them over the Klipsch and other brands. Had I known then what I know now, I would have saved up a bit more money, and bought the latest Yammie AV amp from JB Hi Fi, a few more speakers (I already had a good spare stereo pair) to make it up to a 5.1 system, and had a reliable system that would life my roof clean off. Real bass, real treble, and real grunt. 20/20 Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Regards,

Quokka.

[Mike_M]

Hi Quokka,

The expected behaviour would be that the settings would be retained "only" if the power was turned off at the control pod. If power is turned off at any other point there is no way that settings are written or "remembered" by memory. The settings are not held in "memory".

Regards,

Mike

[GT001]

Hi Mike_M, Are you suggesting that we leave the control pod on standby and not switch off at the mains? I have a habit of turning off systems at the mains to lessen electrical consumption. I also thought (could be a myth) that leaving electrical systems (i.e. TV, PC's, etc.) on standby would decrease their lifespan as they are technically on 24/7. For example, my xbox 360's power brick heats up significantly if i leave it on standby.

[Quokka]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for you reply. If you are suggesting that turning the power off at the mains is repsonsible for the settings being lost then you are incorrect. I always turn my power off via the Control Pod first. Then I flick the mains switch off, as I tend to turn off all my electrical equipment when not in use. The Z5500 lately tends to remember the settings, even when the mains has been switched off for 3 or 4 days.

I always turn the power off to my electrical equipment when not in use these days. This saves a bit of power, and more importantly guards me against a power spike trashing my equipment. I had to rebuild a friends PC recently - they turned it off at the case, but left the mains turned on. A power spike virtually destroyed the machine. Power supply, motherboard, video card, modem card, sound card, and hard drive all fried. The only thing that was reuseable was the RAM. So I don't take any chances any more, and turn off virtually everything in the house bar the refrigerator.

Let me state it one more time - the Z5500 system is totally capable of remembering its settings, even when the mains has been turned off for a considerable period of time. I can categorically prove that. My problem is that the restoring of the system settings is inconsistent. For the first 3 weeks of using the unit, all settings were always lost when I turned off the mains. Now it usually remembers them, but sometimes the speaker settings and/or the main volume gets reset to zero. No-one seems to know why. My guess is that I have a faulty unit, but Logitech themselves won't admit to this.

Regards,

Quokka.

[lunatuna]

...I have no power to the sub and The Harmony Technology controller says ..no blasters found in range..I cant even add the blaster.now what...pls help me

[Baddude]

Quokka,

I hope my response will help you here.  First of all, it's unfortunate that your friend lost his/her computer to power surge but first rule of thumb is to protect your computer properly.  You need either a good surge protector or a battery back up unit with AVR, the key is AVR.  I have built many computers for clients ranging from $300 to $20000 servers.  A battery back up unit with AVR always goes with each system.  Now for the AVR to work your electrical system must be grounded.  I had a client who asked me to build a $10000 server to his business but didn't want to spend the $2000 for the electrician to ground his server room.  Guess what?  I turned down the good paying job.  I would be a fool to take that job. 

Now comes to the Z-5500.  I must have purchased over 80 of them for my gaming clients.  Most answers on this thread is correct.  Yes, the Z-5500 can remember settings BUT these are default settings which as you turn the system off, if you are using these default settings, they will be kept.  On the other hand, the system has no setting memory retaining capability so any settings you had when turning off the main power to the system will be reset to default after the system is power back on after a little while.  I avoid any problems for my clients who just play games and not so computer literate in other areas, I leave them as close to default and that is 6 channel direct analog connection.  The digital decoder, sort of, on the Z-5500 is horrible in term of sound quality.  In addition the humans ears can only hear analog reproduced sounds why try to complicate things.  If you really want to use digital, buy a real external decoder with some inexpensive Polk audio home speaker system. 

For me, turning off the main power reset the volume to zero, this indicate that the system does not have memory retaining capability.  But since all other settings are default, nothing else changes.

I hope my response will clear things up.

Good luck.