5300 v 680

[naturalmystic]

hey guys

tossing up b/w
z-5300 v z680

got a creative audigy zs

ive heard only difference is the decoder in z-5300 or something has to be performed by sound card or something which zs can do

main uses are music n games
secondary is vids

is there any other speaker i should know bout please inform me

and noooooooooooooooooooo dont depress me with klipsch i want em badly stupid atmospheric pressure problems :P

thanks guys

[chisholm]

The z-680 also has a much boomier sub, which is nice for movies and games but shit for music. I'd go with the z5300's...cheaper and IMO better for music.

[naturalmystic]

thanks bud will take that into consideration

anyone else got any opinions

any other speaker type is fine

[SARRAS]

Originally posted by chisholm
The z-680 also has a much boomier sub, which is nice for movies and games but shit for music. I'd go with the z5300's...cheaper and IMO better for music.

well I have the 680s - what can I say - they're great - the thing about the 'boomy' sub goes like this:

First throw out the standard speaker wire and put some decent stuff on it. As per thread here:

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...hreadid=246724

Second - most people (myself included) find the sub too boomy playing 2 channel (source) music. What you then need to do is switch over to the 'Effect' PL2 Music when playing CDs or wma/mp3 - this sends the sound through the dolby pro-logic decoder and it 'pseudo' 6 channels it - which makes the whole experience different and the boominess goes out of the sub.

Third - the sub has its own level control built into the desktop set and the remote control - set it to 1/3 to 1/2 max and things are sweet - with reference to point 2 above. On true 5/6 channel stuff like games and dvds the sub is fine. IMHO an over-active sub with a easy level control is way preferable to a weak sub anyday.

[Tommy2toes]

Boomy doesnt really mean its overly powerful, its more saying that it just doesnt sound right with music. Speaker wire will have absolutely no effect on the boominess of the subwoofer since you dont even hook it up since the amp is integrated unless im mistaken.

The sub will be fine for ht, but is pretty shocking for music (im talking proper music, not techno/dance music, any sub will be fine with that music :P)

[chisholm]

By boomy i meant muddy..and the z-680's sub is also way to intrusive...even at low volume it drowns out everything.

[travtocool]

I've got the 680's couldnt go wrong if i could go back i would buy them again.

[poozor]

dont the z-680s have some sound problem or something? or has that been fixed??

the 5300 would be great value for money.

[chisholm]

Yeah the z-680's had problems with white noise but that has been fixed.

[[T]iggerB]

The fact of the matter is the Z-680's are MUCH louder, with more efficent drivers and woofer and an amp putting out over 500W RMS, 62W x 4 ,69 x 1(centre) for the satellites and 188W for the woofer. The wiring SARRAS was talking about is on the satellites, the stannard crap that come with them is very thin 18 or 20AWG - not enough for 60+W RMS, you need probably 12 Gauge to effectively 'flow' that much power. By changing the speaker wire you get more power and volume out of the satellites and that in turn 'evens out' the previously overpowering sub(to a degree), there are other solutions - such as changing(modifying) the woofer into a sealed unit (plug the port and add more dacron - filling material used to slow down internal air movement). That modification has the effect of quieting the sub down - Sealed sub boxes are always quieter than a ported box but the sealed box will give more useable sub range(ie, a ported sub box is tuned to be loudest at a particular point in the range)

The Z-5300s on the other hand have a total power output 280 watts RMS which is made up by 4 x Satellite power output 35.25 watts RMS per channel and 1 x Centre channel 39 watt with a Subwoofer power output 100 watts RMS. They do give a more balanced sound certainly but the volume is way down.

So you can achive a similar result from a few simple modifications af the Z-680's which are in turn much more powerful and louder

[SARRAS]

[T]iggerB thanks for the post - a few nice points there. I find that this whole subject of the Z-680s on OCAU attracts much off-the-cuff opiniated comment - much of it from people who clearly DON'T even have the actual speaker set - really strange!

[Tommy2toes]

Meh ignore everything about the wattage. The actual drivers used in the 680's are only like 15watts rms.

[daz_07]

plus you gotta take into consideration that if you double the power output (ie the wattage) you only actually receive a 3dB increase in volume, which is kinda accepted as being the standard amount of volume increase needed to notice a difference. All the wattage values that they supply you with are absolute bullshit anyhow.

[garry_starling]

i got the z680s and i gotta say there great man i love the bass i dunno why you all hate it, i mean at night when ur parents bitch u just plug in those hp890 headphones and all is well

[chisholm]

Originally posted by [T]iggerB
The fact of the matter is the Z-680's are MUCH louder, with more efficent drivers and woofer and an amp putting out over 500W RMS, 62W x 4 ,69 x 1(centre) for the satellites and 188W for the woofer. The wiring SARRAS was talking about is on the satellites, the stannard crap that come with them is very thin 18 or 20AWG - not enough for 60+W RMS, you need probably 12 Gauge to effectively 'flow' that much power. By changing the speaker wire you get more power and volume out of the satellites and that in turn 'evens out' the previously overpowering sub(to a degree), there are other solutions - such as changing(modifying) the woofer into a sealed unit (plug the port and add more dacron - filling material used to slow down internal air movement). That modification has the effect of quieting the sub down - Sealed sub boxes are always quieter than a ported box but the sealed box will give more useable sub range(ie, a ported sub box is tuned to be loudest at a particular point in the range)

The Z-5300s on the other hand have a total power output 280 watts RMS which is made up by 4 x Satellite power output 35.25 watts RMS per channel and 1 x Centre channel 39 watt with a Subwoofer power output 100 watts RMS. They do give a more balanced sound certainly but the volume is way down.

So you can achive a similar result from a few simple modifications af the Z-680's which are in turn much more powerful and louder

1. RMS ratings mean jack shit since they are basically randomly chosen numbers by the PR department. So please dont quote marketing hype when posting (unless it is actually useful)

2. The idea that you can get much more "power" and volume out of the sats with a wire upgrade is absurd. A small improvement maybe. Even if this was true i dont see how being able to play something louder makes it sound better. What exactly do u mean by much more "power''?

3. The sub sux bcos the driver is shit. Replacing the wires may give a small improvement but it wont stop it from being muddy and intrusive. Sealing the box might might reduce the sub's noise...but it doesnt change the fact that it still sounds shit...and im thinking probably overheat the sub and fry it or shorten it's life.

Basically they both aren't particularly impressive (but quite good value i guess) but why pay a premium on the z-680's wen or u get is a near-useless control pod and an even more annoying sub. I guess the z-680's sub comes in handy if you like lots of rumbling in movies but that's about it.