Logitech X620 6.1 Surround System

Hooray! i just got home from sams club, where i picked up my first 6.1 system! guess how much it cost? 49.99! thats right, 49.99! i decided to pick it up because logitech is pretty reliable (my mouse & keyboard are both made by logitech) and i could always return them if they werent any good. when i opened the box, i found that the subwoofer is huge! it produces amazing bass. it was a breeze to set up, no messy audio wire, just color-coded cables for each satellite speaker. i ran a THX optimizer test found on my "x-men collection" dvd, to make sure all the speakers worked, and they did. i was giddy as a school girl at this point. i popped in my "saving private ryan" dvd, and went to the "omaha beach" scene. WOW! this amazed me. hearing bullets whizzing by, and chain-gun fire behind me was truly astounding. my set-up in my room now is my 13" panasonic tv/vcr combo (trust me, this will be upgraded soon), a forrest green recliner that i picked up at a garage sale for $12.50, and my 6.1 system. nothing is better than sitting in that chair, closely surrounded by the speakers, with the sub at my feet, hearing movies how they are meant to be heard. so if any of you are looking for a very cheap system, go for the logitech X620. my only complaint is that there is no remote included (but c'mon! this is a cheapie HT in a box here!). there is a volume knob on the front right speaker, and a bass ajuster on the back of the sub, but having to adjust these frequently got kinda annoying, but once i found a comfortable volume, it was awesome. of course you may be asking, "doesnt logitech only make PC stuff?" well, these speakers are made for PCs, but includes a converter for game consloles and dvd players (the red & white RCA cables).

check out a review and some pics here:

http://www.geekextreme.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=85

-matt

"yeah, but the same problem remains--you guy all those speakers only to have two-channel audio? it's a waste."

heheh, it's not a problem unless the buyer was uninformed and thought he/she could just connect the speakers to the DVD player without first checking what connections were available and whether an external DD/DTS decoder was needed or not.

Still though, quality/price ratio aside, for no brainer installation, HTIBs are hard to beat.

yeah, but the same problem remains--you buy all those speakers only to have two-channel audio? it's a waste.

One lesser known fact though is that, a 200-300 dollar "5.1 computer speaker set" probably sounds better than a 200-300 dollar HTIB. Most low priced HTIB satellites have pathetically small drivers (for example 2 or 2.5 inch drivers) while $200-300 priced Klipsh/Logitech/Cambridge Soundworks PC speaker sets have sats with 3.5 inch drivers and generally better subs too.

With all that involved, one might as well buy a true home theatre in a box for 200 bucks and call it a day.

yeah, it's not really *worth* it for a 50 dollar setup, but I guess it'll pay off when he gets a better set of speakers :)

The downside is, he has to get a new set of speakers with a built in decoder OR get the decoder to properly get 6.1 discrete channels*...so more money has to be spent either way

*for the anal: yeah yeah with 5.1 soundtracks you'd still get the matrixed-rear-center :p

YCH,

That is a lot of work for a $50 COMPUTER set-up.

Eddie

Eddie,

Yeah most entry level DVD players don't have the number of RCA outputs that he needs. If he's actually got a DVD player that has all 6 RCA outputs for the 6 channels he needs, it should be ok, but I doubt it. I'm just wondering how he's got the stuff connected...perhaps this "video game connector" that comes with his speakers is actually a decoder, but again I doubt it.

EDIT: An external decoder would set him up right though. He'd then be able to connect the DVD player via Optical or Coaxial SPDIF to the decoder, then route from the decoder the RCA cables to his speakers.

YCH,

The problem is that

1) most DVD players do not have in-deck decoders for DD/DTS streams

2) he's outputing through the red-and-white RCA analog stereo jacks

3) his speaker-system input is via the red-and-white RCA analog stereo jacks.

He's not getting anything more than downmixes of 5.1/6.1 tracks. In fact, the irony of his having a "6.1" system (which it isn't; he just has 6.1 speakers) is that he's better off playing 2.0 surround tracks than he is playing 5.1 tracks!

Eddie

thank you. they sound fine, its not like it just sends the same sounds to each speaker. except, it wont play dts tracks, but its a small price to pay for this cheap system. even eddie said that dts sometimes sounds worse than DD.

-matt