Logitech Z5500 & Polk Audio R50 Speakers

[StarsFan4Life]

So, Frys currently has a pair of black Polk Audio R50's for $119 (http://shopping.dallasnews.com/ROP/ads.aspx?advid=2519&adid=6584876&subid=22426697&type=). Would these be good replacement speakers on a Logitech Z-5500 5.1 set? I'd kick myself for not taking advantage of this offer.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

It will work, but you wont be getting the full benefit of the new speakers due to the high crossover point in the z-5500s. Fry's / Outpost has pretty regular sales on Polk speakers, but $119 for a pair of R50s is one of the better deals they've had. Especially if you plan on eventually moving to a receiver based setup, then this would be a good idea.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

So, is that a + on purchasing these speakers and setting it up on my Z5500's?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Well I guess it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Without knowing your goals and expectations, I don't know if this would be a good move for you.

There are at least two aspects to the question
1. Is hooking up "real" speakers to this set going to be a significant improvement
2. Are the Polk R50s the right speakers for you

Could you give us more details?

Knowing more about how you use the system, if you're going to be able to set up the speakers well, any plans for the system in the future, etc. is going to help us give you feedback.

So far I can tell you that it should work, but I don't know if it's going to be worth $120 to do it.

 

[Slick5150]

Well, unless you plan on using this as a stepping off point on upgrading the rest of your system, I wouldn't bother. As yoyo said, the crossover on the Z-5500 system is set really high, meaning only frequencies above 150hz (or somewhere around there) are sent to the satellite speakers, so you wouldn't get a benefit of having the fuller range that the R50 can provide because they just aren't getting the full range of frequencies sent to them.

If you're planning at some point though to replace the Z-5500 control pod and sub and whatnot with a receiver and dedicated HT sub, then yes, it would work in the meantime.

Edit: Bah. Yoyo beat me to it again

 

[StarsFan4Life]

I guess eventually I would upgrade the rest, but I love this system. I use it in my living room, although I know its not the best. Eliminating a "receiver" is a nice touch. I would be using it to watch Blu-Rays and play PS3 games.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

In a home theater setting like that (as opposed to a near field computer station setup), then upgrading to something like R50s makes more sense. In the case of music, the FL/FR speakers are really important but in a movie type system, then the center channel is as important or more important. Eventually you'd want to get a center channel to match as well to make the sound of the front three speakers more matched.

With gaming I guess it depends on the kinds of games you play, but all speakers could potentially be equally important.

EDIT: You'll also want to use the control pod to change the levels of the speakers after a change like this to take into account any change in sensitivity to get the speakers back to equal volume levels.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

So do you suggest I do this?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Well I guess I'm thinking

Maybe
if this is the first step towards eventually getting a receiver based system
(I don't know if you'd actually like how the Polks sound over a different speaker choice, and these kind of prices are semi-regular so this isn't a once in a lifetime deal or anything)

No
if this is going to be the final configuration
(You're not going to have the full benefit of the upgraded speakers and you'd have a mismatched system vs. the system which you say you already love)


The drawbacks of using the z-5500s as a HT system aren't going to be cleared up by this upgrade on it's own, so it's hard to give a definitive answer without knowing if you're going to complete the rest of the system to reap the full benefits of the upgrade.
If I knew you had listened to these speakers (and liked them) and were planning on getting a receiver and center channel to match (reusing the logitech satellites as the surrounds / rears and still using the logitech sub), then I'd think this was a better idea.