Yesterday, I became another satisfied Z-5500 owner ... and to those owners that are not satisfied but still have your 5500's, double-check your red/black speaker wire connections. I found out that creates some problem in the sound.

My Keyboard (3000) was on the main floor in my bedroom so I set the 5500's up right there.
I was immediately impressed and at that point I knew that I got my money's worth, but then I started to put the system thru some tough testing, just to determine where the limitations would be.
I became concerned when playing some piano registrations that I had set up. I heard some crackling in the piano tone if I was playing a piano setup with heavy chorus-or-tremolo and reverb. The slight distortions came under high vol and with chords of 3 or more fingers. Less was OK. I thought that I would have to go thru all the different customized piano settings and reset their characteristics.
Then later in the evening (nobody else was home), I was going to move the system to the basement where I had more room to spread out and increase the volume levels even more. As I was removing the speakers wires, I happen to notice on the 1 that I was disconnecting at the time, that the red and the black had been reversed.

During my system setup in the basement, I paid better attention when connecting the speaker wires.
I started playing and was amazed that I could not duplicate the dissatisfaction in the piano sounds. I had the volume up to the point that my ears just could not handle any more volume but everything out of the keyboard came out beautifully.
My wife was just coming into the house at that point and told me that she heard me all the way out at the garage. Thats 60 to 70 feet away, and the doors and windows of this brick house were all closed AND the speakers were NOT pointed at that east wall, but were pointed exactly 90 degrees to the north wall.

I'm using a Y-cable with 3 stereo 1/4" male jacks (otherwise they would be jills ).
The 2 jacks at one end of the cable are plugged directly into the L+R outputs on the back of the keyboard. The 1 jack at other end of the cable gets plugged into a stereo 1/4-to-1/8 reducer, and that 1/8 jack is plugged into the side of the 5500's controller box, right below the headset jack.

I played for about 4 hours straight and the amp does not feel hot at all. For me, these 5500's are very impressive. I just hope they will hold up over time.
PSR3000 + Z5500 + + = MrEd

I have 30 days to return the 5500s if I am not satisfied. The only way they are going back is if they break down.

If you've been thinking about getting Z-5500s, I recommend to give them a try, but be sure your supplier gives you a trial period ... As noted in prior posts on this subject, they are not for everyone, just 90+ % of us.


[This message has been edited by MrEd (edited 05-27-2006).]