If you get Razer Mako, you doesn't only buy the THX certified and the brand name. You get what you pay, this speaker really really powerful !

If compare loud, Mako not able to defeat S730 and both has tight & heavy bass. S730 lack of mid, while Mako was better in term of high and mid. I'm choose Mako because of the tiny size of speaker No comment on z-cinema as I never test this speaker before.

Just my 2 cents 

If u are consider bose companion 3 or 5 . Try z-5500D logitech. It will blast those speaker to hell because of the 10inch sub woofer

its a 5.1 but u can choose how u want the speaker to perform. When listening to music i will let it play thru ASIO for the amazing output quality. When movie i switch the 5.1 on. When music i let it run on 4.1 or 2.1
No regrets. My room not big either. The smaller the better the more amazing the surround sound is\

Some day if have chance u can find someone to demo it i bet watever speaker ure consider getting now will change your mind. Last time my bass made my neighbour two doors away banging on my door because of the bass

lol bro u still havnt got the "basshead" speaker until today?

As you mentioned your requirement, for 2.1 speaker is only S730 suit you. If place S730 in large living room, I guess you not able to feel the heart pain & mouse pointer shaking but the bass still very very strong !

haha, im sure Z5500 will blast Zcinema away. i once heard its cranked up, not to the max though. if u compare Z5500 with S730 or S550, im pretty sure Z5500 has the edge in the sub. thats not because of the spec, because of the reviews and the fact that logitech is specialized in making bassy speakers. while edifier focus more on the highs than the lows.

at this review, at the conclusion it clearly suggest that the S550 (not S730) needs to be "lower" in frequency. i wonder if we share similar genres of speakers, you would want to find speakers with lower frequency response.

thus, i would go for speakers that has the lowest true frequency response, which is Z5500. but since im not a big fans of logitech i went for something else. although i must admit the control pod of the Z5500 is interesting. that is the part where logitech excels, their z680 and z5500 control pod, and their zcinema remote control.

it says the the bottom frequency response of S550 is much higher than Z5500. although it states 20hz - 20khz freq response, of course, the spec is not totally accurate. S550 start to be effective from 40hz onwards. im sure z5500 is lower, because when i audition Z5500 and S730, i can straight tell Z5500 has lower response.

yes the reviews do criticize Z5500 on using thin materials for the subwoofer enclosure which is ridiculous, as well as their one-way satellites compared to two-way in S550. but i can understand that their decoder needs developments etc, which shows that the price u pay went much for the decoder and control pod. as i said, upon looking at them u should know that bass lover would take Z5500 home and treble freak would buy S550.

hmm i didnt buy anything now. still using the old ifi. its more of a living room speakers compared to Z5500 which is computer speakers, therefore are not comparable. im currently waiting whether the new klipsch promedia 2.1 wireless exported to south-east asia market. if it does, surely get it. looks great. although it surely reach about 2010. now using my edifier R501 until i found a new replacement. Z5500 and S550 is too big for my room. lol.

I don't really like z5500 bass, not tight as S730. and don't forget to buy a SC as well. Good luck to your shopping 

I just bought the z5500. My first impression was, "what the hell? My 11-12 year old Altec Lansing ADA880 sounds better!" Was so disappointed and then started to fiddle with all the settings to try to improve the sound. But then I let it run in for a few hours, and then the sound started to get better. Goes to prove that it requires burn in and burn in is real. Or maybe after a while I became immune to the bad quality! lol, but no, I believe it just needed burn in.

With regards to the bass being too loud, I didn't feel that at all, not because I'm a basshead. I think mine's the new version and that they took the feedback about the over empowering bass and reduced it. Why do I say that? because at some point I thought my bass was not working. I was like WTF! My sub woofer is not working, I'll need to RMA and put my head/ear next to the sound outlet by the side of the sub woofer (aiya, I don't know how to describe la), and then I could feel some air coming out, so I was like "ok ok .. it works. The sub woofer was a bit tight at the start. Took a long time to loosen up and sound better.

Then I bought a Compass Amp and Denon D2000 & Sennheiser HD650 headphones. I don't use my speakers anymore ... Can't stand the sound compared to the headphones. Like the speakers are making the songs worst! @.@ but need to listen to it when my ears can't take the headphones anymore @.@

BUT, conclusion is, today the z5500 sounds a lot better than it did during the first day. I run it through the Compass DAC/Amp via coaxial/rca. And it sounds better than my 12 year old Altec Lansing ADA880 Thank God.

Just a reminder. The audio source is very important including the sound card itself. If you are planning to listen to audio at 128kbps and below i do not recommend z-5500D.
Lowyat places they do not have quality source or device for conversion. So u wont be able to fully enjoy the quality. The best u find someone that have a fullset to test.

I can let u test mine if u need mine is combo with Xonar D2X sound card for movie and audio with ASIO without any amp. I tested my speaker on transformer 2 Bluray version i myself was amaze at the surround sound.

Example u cant compare a headphone and a speaker system because Speakers need to project the sound to a bigger area when headphone its just beside your ears so the quality or wave signal is alittle different.

Especially audio i am very picky with audio quality bitrate most songs i keep minimum 192kbps or else u hear cracking sound on the z-5500D. On the headphone it wont be so obvious because the volume is always lower compare to a speaker.
The last i tested this song  Haley - This Is How It Goes (Kaskade's Grand Club Edit).mp3  at 320kbps at maximum volume the bass is capable to shake the entire house until the grill near my main door its shaking,
The bass gets strong and solid the higher the volume gets. You can adjust the bass with your remote control. Another thing a 2.1 system and 5.1 system the speaker placing is very important as well to get the optimum experience.
This just my personali experience on  my Logitech  z-5500D .

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Added on November 14, 2009, 6:44 pm

If u say like tat say even my earphone Mylarone Bijou i think its better than my z-5500D for clarity and treble but a speaker is a speaker a earphone is a earphone. Have u tried using good earphone on phones like Nokia. The output from good become crappy due to the processing unit. Sound is a very subjective topic but the basic source must be good. The part u say compare with other 5.1 systems i agree . If compare with headphone of course its an unfair comparison.

Congratz on ya new toy, how is it?

lol bro u still havnt got the "basshead" speaker until today?

As you mentioned your requirement, for 2.1 speaker is only S730 suit you. If place S730 in large living room, I guess you not able to feel the heart pain & mouse pointer shaking but the bass still very very strong !

haha still remember my quote bro? 

anyway, if you're looking for that 'deep' bass that shakes your heart without having to blast, try my guide: here.

i see. but i saw some review that says it lack of bass(although im not a bass head) and suitable for soft music and doesnt do well for movies. nonetheless, will further try it out later. deciding between aego m and edifier s530d now. eliminated harman kardon.
deciding between aego m and edifier s530d now. will further test it at a local store later.

hi there...
do sound card really can improve the sound quality?
if its yes, can u guys recommend me one? budget rm100~rm200
currently using on board sound and altec lansing atp3