Logitech Z-5450 Dead Control Pod

[sanjamal]

I have a set of Logitech Z-5450 speakers and the control unit has died. I have verified that it's not the fuse in the subwoofer by replacing it with a new fuse. There is no power on this unit at all. Logitech is unable to help me to fix it in any way and no replacements are available. I can't even find a replacement control unit on eBay or anything like that. I've opened the unit to see if there are any components visibly burnt out, but everything looks perfectly fine.

So, these are really nice speakers when they're working. Does anyone out there know of any way to get these things working again? I noticed that there are some cables for the Z5500s that bypass a broken control unit, but I'm not confident that the pin configuration is the same between 5450 and 5500. Maybe someone has experience using this cable and can shed some light on this sort of solution.

I should also mention that I'm not necessarily looking to have the rear speakers working again. The only way to get the rears working again would be to replace the control pod. If all I can get is the rest of the wired speakers working then I would be a very happy person.

Any suggestions for making these things work again would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

Are you sure it isn't one of the connectors, I know there are some 5-pin connectors on those that sometimes go out. I've had to replace a few.

 

[sanjamal]

Thanks for the reply! The only connector is the D-sub that plugs the control unit into the back of the woofer, and I can't say for sure whether it's working or not. How would one go about testing it?

 

[reallyscrued]

Unfortunately, if the control pod is dead, you're SOL.

I'd cut your losses, buy a low end receiver (with matching Ohms) and drive the satellites. You will already get an improvement in sound since a receiver is sure to have a much better amp than the integrated one Logitech slapped onto your subwoofer.

Over time, save some more cash, buy a nice home theater sub, then over more time, upgrade the satellites with real home audio equipment when they go on sale.



Or eBay what you got and hope someone out there has the opposite problem you do but they just didn't list their control pod for sale.

 

[Aikouka]

Logitech was nice enough to give me a 50% off coupon for their store when my Z5450s ran into a problem (they were out of warranty). In my case, one of my rear speakers died (the connection light just blinks on the back of the control pod and blinks red on the speaker), but my control pod works fine. Well, let me rephrase that... it usually works fine. Mine exhibits an issue where the control pod will freeze up, and maybe 30 seconds later, it will shut down. Once I turn it back on, it works again. Other than that, it works.

So, if you're going to ditch your Z5450, I might be willing to buy your wireless rears if it's possible to swap them in for mine (or rather, the one that doesn't work). Although, I guess I can't guarantee that it's the control pod that's not bad and is failing to connect to my speaker.

At this point, I'm just using mine as a 3.1 system on my secondary PC.