Scott,
I actually traded my Barbetta Sona 32Cs for 31Cs last week. Although the 31s are not quite as powerful, they are plenty loud enough for 99% of what I do. They are smaller, and have a slightly shorter throw, but the bottom is every bit as good as the 15's. They are easier to handle and a little lighter in weight.
Light in weight is GOOD. Even a few pounds.
I suspect there must be something wrong with your Logitechs, or in your hookup or setup. I have experimented with all sizes of systems for many years, and the Logitechs sound really good to me. Maybe you are drunk or on drugs. Check and see.

DonM

You know I'm joking, right?

Scott Yee here. I don't know whether it's just because we SHARE the SAME first name or not, but following my own purchase, audition & subsequent return of this same Logitech system a quite while back) I've come to the same (listed below) observation conclusions Scott Langholff expressed re: the Z5500's & PA satellite speakers + sub woofer systems in general:


1) "there is absolutely no mid-range"

2) "I did pull out the satellite speakers the other day again just to experiment as a 2.1 set-up. I found that when I placed the speakers on the sub . . . that I didn't like the sound at all."

3)" placed the 2 speakers on top of my Tyros aimed directly at my face. I did find that the sound was actually pretty good sitting in front of the keyboard. Set up like this I almost didn't notice the lack of mid-range. I then let my onboard demo play and I stepped back about 6 feet. At this point the sound started sounding thin and small and undesirable to me."

4)"I have played with the EQ and the onboard compressor to tweak it so it sounds as good as I can get it. . . in my mind I can't see how those small speakers will ever fill a room with a sound I like where I am performing, regardless of the size of the room or the number of people. Unless those little satellites are aimed to such a degree that it actually would cover the entire area without any blank spots."

5)"I also found that the sound of the piano is a very noticalbe degradation"

I admit that the Logitech Z5500 produce an impressive overall bass response for such a small system, but the trade-off is no mid range clarity which is so essential to me as a singer (baritone-tenor). I just recently had another chance to both hear & myself play thru the Z550's at the recent FL SZ jam (thanks to Bernie9 for letting me plug the Tyros keyboard into his Z5500's), and with no personal insult intended towards Bernie9), the first thing that struck me was the amount of bass (full bodied but but a bit over emphasized) came thru, yet the mid range presence (clarity) was missing, of which is typical for sound systems which only relay on a a pair of tiny satellite speakers and a sub woofer, but nothing to really handle the overlooked mid range frequencies. I own the Yamaha Tyros MS01 Satellite/SUB woofer type PA system, but because I experience the same problem with it, never use that system alone, but in instead, in tandem with another speaker PA which can better reproduce (and with more clarity) the important mid frequencies which provide vocal presence.

In conclusion, Like ScottL, I too am glad so many of you are enjoying the sound of the Logitech Z550's so much. I guess it's back to the old "different strokes for different folks' thing again.


Scott

DonM: rotflmao. The only thing is, which part of that are you joking about. lol

Scott Yee
I am sure you are basically correct about satellite systems and midrange. However,at the East Coast Jam,I hadn't EQ'd my system at all for that room.This includes sub ajustment and BBE adjustment in my rack.

That being said,you still sounded good in spite of your temporary voice problems.

Bernie
ps
You know I wouldn't let you go without some response,right ?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scott Langholff:
Pose

Just curious are you certain it was the control box that went bad and that it was caused by having the control box on the sub.[/QUOTE

Scott L: Not positive, but the three amps in the sub box seems to be amplifying to each speaker, so assume its the control. Gets the sound of surf and can be vol upped or down. It seem to be not getting any Imput into the controller, and won't amplify anything thats plugged into it???

Nice reading on this thread guys, Very interesting to hear pro's and con's on speakers, etc. I'm not all that good on amps and Pa's but have fooled with them all my life. Being mainly a guitarist I've learned a couple of things, 15" speakers are not the best choice, I tried for years to use them, because everone else was, and claimed bigger is better. I found a 10" speaker gives much more clarity, and can be driven to the point of drowneding out a 15 and still sound good, I've also noticed it seems to be the perfect size for other things also. I guess if you really build up a system you can put a lot of sizes into it and really get some nice sound, but for standing on the stage with a guitar amp behind you with 2 tens in it, its hard to beat.

Midrange sounds dead! I had the same problem initially with the Z5500 did'nt come together until the speakers were at ear level and a little to the front in the studio and behind playing out and a few feet left and right of the keyboard, the center speaker really needs to be about the same hight and behind the keyboard. I hear the midrange from the center speaker. Out front sounds great, but I have to adjust the keyboard eq to get the nicest balance. I listen for the mid to come in.

I found what works for me is to set the master eq by using grand piano and striking two harmonizing notes in the middle of the board as a piano tuner beating one note to the other, I set the eq to get the best piano sound possible, (checking low end and high end) and find after this is done everything else just seems to fall in place. The factory sounds seems to be set in accord to this. Then I set the vocal eq. my voice is barritone, and probably barritone is the hardest to get clarity, for me cranking low and mid (both settings) controls to max gets close to it. For a while I would set the vocal up and forget to reset when I had screwed around with the master eq. You know getting old etc.

Thought some may find my methods amusing

Regards.....Pose

@@@@@@@@ HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT LANGHOLFF @@@@@@@


[This message has been edited by loungelyzard (edited 05-05-2005).]

Hey Pose

Thanx for the birthday greets. How did you ever find that out????????

" sound systems which only relay on a a pair of tiny satellite speakers and a sub woofer" ScottY

Bernie, do you use the z5500 with only 2 satellite speakers as a 2.1?

Larry

I checked out that link to the maximizer. It appears that that model may be out of production. I wonder what would be the closest that is actually available now in the current models?

Scott L
I use all 5 in stereo mode with BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer.

Bernie

Hi Scott,
Thats bad news. If i recall, the 362 is a full single rack space...quite big in comparrison. For that same tiny size i dont know any other product. Thats why i wanted to pick up one more. :-(
Tc, Larry