USB Speakers (READ ONLY ARCHIVE)

[Janne82]

Hello everyone.

The last post we had going on this issue seems to have been deleted (?) today so I'll start a new thread.

I'm having problems with uneven level on the bass on anything less then "normal" volume levels. As soon as I turn down the volume to around 20-30% the bass plays at alot higher level then the rest of the sound. This is extremely irritating when watching movies at low volume or listening to music at low volume as the bass keeps "booming" while the rest of the sound volume is quieter.

I've also tried hooking the system up to my Audigy 2 ZS card with the line out from the speaker to bypass the USB connection and still the encountered the same issue. Anyone got any suggestions or best of all a fix to this problem??

I also had my first Z-cinema system replaced as I thought it was an issue with the subwoofer but as I got a brand new one and the issue still remains I'm starting to think that this is a design flaw and not something related to my computer.

Cheers

[Astrallite]

I'm fairly certain this is a symptom of the 150hz crossover point between the sub and the satellite. The "booming" is the attempting to play higher frequencies but since it's not particularly good at it, bass is bleeding into the midrange, sort of like when you hit a triangle, there's that initial note, but the metal just naturally resonates so you get this additive noise that isn't part of the original signal. I'm fairly certain of this, because 150hz is a universal x-over point for pretty much every Logitech speaker product. It's a horrible compromise between size (of the satellites) and sound quality.

You might want to look at using the auxiliary out and using the Audigy drivers to create a new x-over point somewhere in the 120hz region. Basically what you are doing is intentionally removing all frequencies between 120 and 150hz from output. This should reduce the midrange bleed significantly.

[Janne82]

But that effectively defeats the purpose all together of having USB connected speakers to provide a pure digital signal? I might aswell get rid of the Z-cinéma speakers and go back to Z-2300 instead? Why does the Z-2300 not suffer from the very same bass bleedthrough problem? I'll go ahead and guess that the crossover frequency is 150hz on the Z-2300 aswell??

Also since this is a digital system altogether changing the crossover frequency can't be too hard either??

Message Edited by Janne82 on 12-04-2008 04:05 AM

[Beech27]

Hey Janne,

Had EXACTLY what you said, already read about this in other forum, I brought them back within 48 hours. Turn the volume up, problem is gone, but i chose 2.1 also because of neighbours, wife sleeping, etc.. Sounds great, great system, but BASS keeps booming / out of rytm.

Do NOT buy if you use primarily low volumes, despite it being a great product. I had a demo in the shop, bought these straight away.

Looking to buy another set, but NO idea what.... : (

[mnetting]

So I guess after reading this the answer is sorry but you simply can't use these at a volume that isn't way up and loud?

[Astrallite]

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Janne82 wrote:

But that effectively defeats the purpose all together of having USB connected speakers to provide a pure digital signal? I might aswell get rid of the Z-cinéma speakers and go back to Z-2300 instead? Why does the Z-2300 not suffer from the very same bass bleedthrough problem? I'll go ahead and guess that the crossover frequency is 150hz on the Z-2300 aswell??

Also since this is a digital system altogether changing the crossover frequency can't be too hard either??

Message Edited by Janne82 on 12-04-2008 04:05 AM

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Hmm, I don't know, all the Logitech speakers I have bleed midrange through the subs, it's the crossover design. Now if the Z-Cinema has worse than the typical bleed then I would return it for sure...I typically disable the subwoofer entirely on my Z-680s...but then again there's a reason why I haven't used it for 3 years...

[Beech27]

Yup, I guess that is the case. I just spoke to my store, and picking up a set of G51's. I hope these are better, I'll keep u posted.

In short: LOW volume (and i like low volumes), the Cinema is a bad buy.

[Astrallite]

Low volume and surround sound seems like a bit of contradiction there.

[mnetting]

Well not everyone is using these for surround sound. Heck, in some OS's the surround sound features flat out don't work. Also even with the volume on the speakers "low" like at 2 or 3 dots that doesn't mean they are quite. With mine that low I can hear audio in my room perfectly, except for the annoying extra buzzing from the bleed into the subwoofer. I think this is ridiculous really. My only solace is that I found the speakers for under 100 bucks. If I had purchased them for the original 300 or whatever they are I would be livid. As it stands now these things are basically doorstops.

[Astrallite]

Under $100? Were they 2nd hand? The lowest I've seen them at retail outlets is around $140.