# Restoring Logitech Z-5500 5.1



## toshar (Jul 22, 2020)

*A thread for some information and pictures of Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Audio System.

How It Started* - One fine day in the month of June, I was randomly surfing internet when I found an interested thread on sell & buy section on x forum. The guy was selling many electronic items from his storage both working and non working for very cheap price pointing Covid Time Clean Up and had mentioned non functional Logitech Z5500 speakers for just rupees 500.

*The Story Behind *- Back in 2007, I saw this Audio System for the first time in Cost to Cost, neheru place shop playing Chand Sifarish song - very load and clear, full of tabla hollow bass and I liked it very much. Dad asked me to imagine this in our living room. Costing 19.9k, I denied to have it saying its overkill for our place and for our new 26" LCD TV and we bought the other very best Altec Lansing MX5021 THX 100RMS 2.1 system for 6.5K that we actually liked. Its 25w RMS x 2 satellite was more then enough loud whereas 6" Ported Sub was tight and not boomy. But it lasted for 7 months and got malfunctioned at high volumes. Upon complaining I was asked to pick any other speaker. I thought to pick bigger and louder Z-5500 but it was still overkill for us with its price and performance so the shopkeeper suggested me to have Edifier DA5000 Pro 5.1 and I bought it paying 2K more thinking a 5.1 would sound better. But it didn't. DA5000 is way better in build quality weighing over 23 Kgs but always felt under-powered while required equalizer to output desires sound. Well, Its still performing good and currently using it as primary home theater. TV optical > converter > Edifier DA5000.
With the time, Z5500 vanished from the market and got replaced by smaller Logitech Z906 which was never liked by majority of people as it felt inferior to Z5500 which I never bought.

*Execution* - Enough thoughts of past with speakers, I was really thinking about picking it up and getting it restored to its full glory. I contacted the guy on the forum and asked him to give more photos and explanation about the speakers which he did and invited me to pickup the 15 year old unit directly from his place away at 30kms from my place. The Audio system I found in person was not in worst condition (considering its age) to be honest and includes all the components that came with it in its retail package - A good thing. All the items were loose and thrown away as it is in dickey which took all the place, The 10" Active Sub was as big as my car's 12" Sealed Sub. 

*Repairs/Restore* - While driving back to home, I was making plans in mind that I will analyse the system first carefully picking up defects and not rushing things up. Meanwhile I bought couple of Booze bottles considering June summers from an empty crowd shop - a rare sight in lockdown.
Without tampering the System or any of its component, I looked for it on internet for complete information. There were many repair videos for this particular audio system on youtube so I was assured that I will repair it anyhow. Comparing it to new package, I have got all the components except user manual and documents.

On paper Specifications were interesting - Has 5 satellites speakers consisting 3" drivers at 64w RMS at 8 Ohms, Active Ported Sub with 10" 185w RMS 8 Ohm driver, Separate control pod with LCD Screen with Two Digital Input ( Optical + Coax), 4 Analog Inputs and 1 headphone output. It also has Dolby DTS, Prologic, THX, etc and 1 IR remote with full functionality. 

Defects - Dents on corners of Sub Box, Dirty panels, scratches here and there. Rat Eaten power lead, Completely broken satellite drivers, spider webs inside sub, dirty remote broken power button - Something all audio system go through with time. Whatever it was, was now where looking like 15 years old. I cleaned everything with a cloth rag and checked circuits and continuity of wires with digital multimeter, wrote everything on paper about what is needed, watched youtube videos, bought couple of capacitors and fuse and soldered them on Amp board replacing old ones and Bammn.. it started working. Day went well. 

Now I attached the Subwoofer and its controlled pod to my PC for further testing and dissembled the satellites and drivers as they needed serious repairing. Satellite housings were soaked for a day in Fena Detergent, cleaned and air dried. All the gooey dust they had on their face got dissolved in the water and no further efforts were needed to clean them. All the panels were shinning like new, without a single scratch and required no touch up paint. Previous owner have kept everything well. Thanks to him. 
I would like to thanks various forum users for helping me with satellite drivers and providing me needed information. The best replacement drivers were Tang Band W3-593SF 3" 8 ohm Full Range Silver Cones rated only at 12w RMS and costing around 8.5k for 5 units - comparatively costly. There were very few options for 3" 8 ohms speakers as direct replacement, I could have used 4" speakers but ditching the stock housing and using custom wooden boxes wouldn't be a proper restore . Karol Bagh and Chandni Chowk electronic markets were closed at that time. Then I found a local uncle who talks very much but somewhat expert with his speaker repair skills and repaired the drivers with stock looking like cones + 8 ohm voice coils for 600 rupees. The job done on speakers was satisfactory if not perfect. I installed all the drivers back into their housing, assembled everything back and now I have a fully working Big Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital Home theater.

*Results* - The only thing I forgot is to repaint the sub in black paint, will do it someday later. The satellites now outputs higher frequency sounds always requesting Sub for bass to balance but gets the job done, if not THX approved.  I keep the sub at 20% only and overall volumes at 30% for most of the time to listen music in a 3 BHK flat. Anything above this is super loud. I am addicted to and have used 12" sealed sub which is way-way-way more responsive and tighter then this one but this thing is hugely ported and loud. It Booms and Booms very loud and shakes everything so we keep it below 30% anyday. We are 4 guys in this flat and enjoys this Audio System while we game, netflix or partying. I spent total sum of Rs. 1900 on it which includes everything for pickup to repairs which is bang bang for bucks. I imagined it to have as a teenager but now I have it and its mine.  

*Enjoy the Photos  

1. The image sent by the previous Owner. *





*2. At my Place*




*3. Dirty and broken satellite drivers, Control pod with broken power button.*




*4. Sub Box with  permanent deformation, Driver Cones surround ripped off. *




*5. Included all the 5 lengthy wires, power cord, 3 x aux cabled. Sub had big heatsink behind that gets hot occasionally. *




*6. Sub internals and bass port tube. The device was never repaired before, no traces of poor soldering. *




*7. 10 Inch Sub Driver 8 Ohm. Its surround and cone was still good and soft. In good condition. There are couple of accosting padding inside. *




*8. None of the driver has any kind of specification mentioned on their back. Just few numbers which I failed to decode. Nothing matched on google. *



*9. Before Sand Blasting and Chemical Cleaning....  *




*10. Cleaned Housing Panels stacked for drying. No paint is used as they were already scratch less. *


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## toshar (Jul 22, 2020)

*11. Screws*




*12. Repaired Drivers with new voice coil and cones. The cone in center is of solid aluminium and heavy in weight.*




*13. Repaired Assembled Satellites- Like New. The holes in legs are meant for wall mounting and stand is fully swivel.  




14. Satellites with Logitech and THX logo. These are 15 years old components and I am the third owner.*




*15. Restored Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Dolby THX Home Theater. Notice the puny Iphone 5s between Controll pod and remote.




16. Controll Pod Back showing Inputs




Thanks for reading... stay safe*


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## toshar (Jul 22, 2020)

Question -
1. The on paper specification said satellites are of 62w rms but the drivers inside are actually of 12w rms. Logitech did same with their newer speaker models. Is this their marketing trick?

2. I am using a single AUX wire between the speakers input and back of my 970A motherboard spk output. The chip is realtek which I guess is everywhere and sound descent. I have no problem with it. I also have installed a dedicated sound card which I used many years ago for the 5.1 edifier. I never used it later and have used onboard sound chips. 
Will I get any additional benefit in sound quality or so called Dolby effects and bla If I use this sound card with 3 AUX cables. Note - I have mounted all the speakers on the same wall ie rear speakers are not actually placed behind my sitting area.


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## whitestar_999 (Jul 22, 2020)

1. I think it may be something like how TV/screen manufacturers used to advertise dynamic contrast values which are always ridiculously high reaching million ratio while static contrast ratio that really matters could be as low as few thousand to one.

2. Dedicated sound cards are usually/supposed to be better than onboard audio but audio being subjective in nature I guess you have to do it & listen yourself to see if it is enough improvement.

@sandynator


P.S. Excellent thread btw.


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## cute.bandar (Jul 22, 2020)

Amazing impressive work man!!  You have inspired me to do something similar.  .



toshar said:


> If I use this sound card with 3 AUX cables.


My guess is yes. 1 aux would be carrying 3 channel audio (2.1) . With 3 aux cables you will have 6 channel audio (5.1 )

btw how hard was the part of figuring out the fault in speaker circuit ?


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## sandynator (Jul 23, 2020)

Amazing bro & truly inspiring for any audio enthusiast on budget.
Efforts well paid I must say. Enjoy your purchase.


Just curious to know that why you did not got AVR + speaker combo route??


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## Neo (Jul 24, 2020)

Whoa cool! Also that sub looks enormous


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## toshar (Jul 27, 2020)

cute.bandar said:


> btw how hard was the part of figuring out the fault in speaker circuits


TBH I didn't checked this audio system at first place. I dissembled the Sub unit as soon as I brought it home to see the if the internals are visually okay or not burnt because thats something we can't do right their in front of seller.
I am only good at replacing (desolder, resolder) electronic compacts that appears burnt, cracked or bulgy visually but I can't track the faults if circuit visually looks good. In that case I carry the equipment to repair shop or tv repair shop if its amplifier, tv, radio, saregama, car stereo, bluetooth speaker because they usually stock all SMD components and have that particular circuit level knowledge. I consider myself bad in when it comes to resistance value, ohms, impedance, bla bla, transformers level of shit. So, the figuring out the fault in between the circuit is not my thing and for many cases I refer youtube videos or google.



Neo said:


> Whoa cool! Also that sub looks enormous


Thanks.. Yes, the sub is very big, heavy and powerfull. Doesn;t appear as it is in pictures. There are only few easily available big subwoofers in indian computer markets like Edifier S760D or S730.



sandynator said:


> Just curious to know that why you did not got AVR + speaker combo route??


I do not have enough knowledge on AVR stuff. One of my known guy has Pioneer Receiver which he connected to external class D mono amp that gets power from another external 12v 30 amp PSU which overall drives a sealed 12" Polk Audio DB1240 sub, all speakers part. He also uses some other kind of music formats that is of very high quality, unlike 320 kbps songs pk mp3 format which I use. I have never heard such setups in person yet but people have said AVR setups are on a different level. 
WHAT I use to think that an AVR costing ~40k is kind of an amplifier with dials and stalks. All I need to buy speakers and sub and plonk their red & black wire behind the AVR which eventually behaves like a 5.1 audio system while AVR acting as control panel but later realized I also need THAT QUALITY content in order to take full advantage of it which I don't have and mostly rely on torrent content. 
With my unsettled nomad life, I can't have such audio systems as of now, but yes, someday in future, in my wooden walled & floored living room I would love to have it. Can you please share some links of articles or straight forward information distinguishing normal audio systems and AVR.


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## whitestar_999 (Jul 27, 2020)

@toshar if you know where to look, you can find high quality ogg vorbis audio files.


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## sandynator (Jul 27, 2020)

@*toshar*

 Hi bro even I am also new to this & still learning. BTW the Sub you have mentioned is from Car Audio section if I am not mistaken. Its passive sub so it will require mono amp or some bridged amp to power it after fixing it in an cabinet sealed or ported. Its tough to fix car speaker into home setup or vice-versa. I have kept my car audio project pending since long as its less utilized & car is not proper environment to hear music for me. Stock HU & Speakers are sufficient for now.

All AVR do constitute an built in amp so just passive bookshelfs speakers or towers speakers as per your choice.

For Content join Private trackers   
I hope I do not get ban for this 

Agreed with the part of source to be used. 
I had similar thinking but my usage now is streaming online contents & I have also used properly encoded MP3 320kbps as well through USB drive on my Pioneer VSX330 & it do sounds gr8 for me.

2 yrs back around May 2018 I shifted to new bigger house. I could not resist the temptation & moreover I had reason to convince my family to rent me some space for the set up {Space comes at premium in Mumbai }

I almost  had finalised Edifier Soundbar with wireless sub. After spending on other stuff I was left with limited budget of 20k but luckily during my research came across 2 dealers on ebay India in June 2018.

To begin with I got  open box Boston Acoustics A26 pair @ 11500 from one dealer who has become good friend now & Sourced Pioneer VSX330 open box @12k from other seller who had winded up his audio business. In 24k with wiring it was good start for me. By Oct. 2018 sourced one open boxed Taga center channel @3k which comes in taga 5 speaker package. 

By Jan 2019 felt like upgrading as the rear ported Bostons which were creating unnecessary reverberation as placement was close to wall. Friend suggested front ported Taga Azure B40 from him after selling Boston @10k. Immediately in Feb 2019 got good deal from amazon for Taga Azure Center  C40 @ 8500. I was happy but somewhere missing bass frequency while watching movies. The same dealer friend just before beginning of lock down offered me to try Denon SYS 2020 sub[6.5 inch driver similar to my taga bookshelf] which was lying with him & it was then I realised what I was missing. Finally in June 2020 I got Yamaha SW050 8 inch sub @ 10500 due to space constraint from different dealer.

Now my 3.1 setup is somewhat complete for my purpose. Now AVR update[with bluetooth, spotify & network if possible] is on cards but will take time due to pandemic.


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## nicknacknuke (Sep 6, 2021)

toshar said:


> *11. Screws
> 
> 
> 12. Repaired Drivers with new voice coil and cones. The cone in center is of solid aluminium and heavy in weight.
> ...



I'm surprised someone still try to restore this beast...
i have one myself... 
I just wonder how do you revive those torned satellite speakers ?
I have extactly the same problems with those satellites..
Do you replace them completely ?
And what specification do we need to pay attention to when we're trying to replace those satellite speakers ?
3", 8 ohm, 30 watt ?

Thanks..


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## rockfella (Sep 9, 2021)

OP that is some good work you put it! Respect.


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## toshar (Sep 19, 2021)

nicknacknuke said:


> I'm surprised someone still try to restore this beast...
> i have one myself...
> I just wonder how do you revive those torned satellite speakers ?
> I have extactly the same problems with those satellites..
> ...



After searching internet and youtube for 3" satellites I figured out the direct replacement is "Tang Band W3-593SF 3" Full-Range Silver Cone Drivers" and would cost me anywhere above 12k or so. 
Could have searched more offline but gave them to a speaker repair shop uncle just to check if he can remake them. 
He charged me Rs. 800 for all 5 drivers with exact silver cone along with a new coil as 15-year-old coils may rupture anytime post-repair and did the job. 
Now they sound more or less same as stock speakers. Obviously, I can't expect THX output from a 15 Yr old repaired setup but in actuality, the sound is really really really good and I don't find any reasons to doubt. 
The setup is so loud (you know it) that every time my office borrows it for office parties. Drivers sound super clear even at Boost 11. 
Subwoofer got torn itself apart on new year eve after 6 continuous hours with very hot heatsink. Instead of repairing it I just extended the sub wires to a sealed roackford R1412s box which sounds much much better and deeper. 
For the repair, contact your local Shaadi Bya wale DJ shop and they may guide you to a speaker repair guy who can gets the job done. If you are in New Delhi, Lajpat Rai market is the best place to go for quality work. 
Please share your feedback and experience post repair.


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## i_am_crack (Sep 24, 2021)

sorry to ask this over here... I'm looking for POD PID-R852. I'm getting error called" Mute on" "Over Temperature". Any help please? I'm from Bangalore.


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## ritwik552 (Mar 28, 2022)

Thank you for this post i have successfully restored a 6 year old cold stored  z5500 now i enjoy z5500 with creative xfi


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## ritwik552 (Mar 28, 2022)

btw im honing to upgrade those satellite speaker to micca MB42 ..or any one have any suggestion for replacing satellite


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## RumbaMon19 (Mar 28, 2022)

ritwik552 said:


> Thank you for this post i have successfully restored a 6 year old cold stored  z5500 now i enjoy z5500 with creative xfi


 Those speaker look very old. Did you restore the original speakers or bought new one instead? I don't think seperate cones and diaphragm are available in market.


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## ritwik552 (Mar 28, 2022)

RumbaMon19 said:


> Those speaker look very old. Did you restore the original speakers or bought new one instead? I don't think seperate cones and diaphragm are available in market.


i have bought those cone and carefully separated side profile and replace it with satellite cone by my self


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## toshar (Mar 28, 2022)

RumbaMon19 said:


> Those speaker look very old. Did you restore the original speakers or bought new one instead? I don't think seperate cones and diaphragm are available in market.


These are 3 inch silver cones. Any speaker repair shop can replace these for cheap.. like 100 rupee for a cone. Cone and coils are the only things in speakers and may go bad with the time hence their replacements are available.


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