Logitech x-230 2.1 2-Piece Dual Drive Speakers with Ported Subwoofer
by Logitech
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Our Price: $99.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech x-230 2.1 2-Piece Dual Drive Speakers with Ported Subwoofer
Customer Review: YOU CAN'T AFFORD NOT TO BUY THESE
Summary: 5 Stars
My Gateway PC at work is getting a little long in the tooth (still has Windows 98 on it), and the original 2.1 Boston Acoustics speakers just suddenly gave out (possibly a cord problem). I was looking around for an inexpensive replacement, and I stumbled across the reviews for these bad boys. I am still a little puzzled as to why the same speakers cost more in a different box, but check out all variations listing the same speakers, and you can save money. I picked the ones in the white box with free shipping, but you can pay considerably more, including shipping, if you aren't careful.
I have them set up on my desk, one small speaker to each side of my approaching antique status monitor. At first I had the sub down on the floor right next to me, against the wall. That proved a little boomy for my taste, and so I set the little box down on the other side of my desk, a little more out from the wall. I then set the small speakers to the normal listening level for my taste, turned the bass all the way down, and then slowly increased the volume until the bass seemed merely an extention of the satellites. You can tell if deep bass is playing, but you don't hear much until bass notes are played.
I was duly impressed with the crisp high end, and the bass really sounded good for cheap speakers, but I did notice a little muddiness in the midrange.
I used the equalizer on my media player to boost the midrange a bit. I haven't tried turning the bass all the way up and then decreasing the lowest frequencies with the equalizer, as one reviewer suggested, but I'm going to try it to see how it works out. I also downloaded a free sound enhancer plugin for my media player, which acts much like the "loudness" control on my receiver, in that it slightly warms up or kicks the sound levels at lower volumes. I had to turn off the "megabass" feature for the plugin, but otherwise I found the sound improved and the soundstage seemed deeper, as if the speakers had gotten just a little bigger. My taste is for the sound to be natural and transparent, and although the short cords limit speaker placement, it's probably worth trying several different arrangements of the satellites and the sub, to see what works best for you.
As other reviewers have said, these will never sound as good as expensive speakers, but I do believe they sound as good or better than many systems I auditioned at twice or even three times the price I paid ($37 delivered). They more than lived up to my expectations, and I am highly satisfied with the sound. The real danger is that the sound does not clip or distort at high volume, and you can hurt your ears by accidentally playing the speakers at higher volumes too close to your ears. I have my own office with a closed door, and I got comments (if not quite complaints) about how far the sound carried, when I first began to use them. They might not be suitable for those in a cubicle.
In short, I am totally happy I bought these, and I recommend them for anyone who needs better sound than the little "full range" speakers that come standard with some PC's, but who can't justify spending $100 or more.
Customer Review: Compact, Fanatastically Priced, Awesome Sounding Set
Summary: 5 Stars
Pros-
Compact; the satellites' relatively tall stature might prevent you from placing them directly in front of monitors and such, but their so light and thin, and the sound carries so well, you could put them just about anywhere and they'll sound good. Sub-woofer is equally tiny.
Fills a small to medium sized room with quality sound, especially for being so small. The facing of the speakers hardly matters.
Solid power; I was especially impressed by the sub, it kicked out some serious base, exactly when and where you would expect it to.
Holy crap, so CHEAP. 40 bucks!? Can't be topped. Sounds at least half as good as my Logitech 5.1s and I paid 320 dollars for those!!!
Cons-
Solid power is true, but when it comes to alot of sounds going on at once and/or hight volume levels, speakers sometimes crackle, or simply don't reproduce the sound well. This means these speakers are proportionally better for music than movies, and better for movies than games.
No sound control options. Power and volume are on the right satellite, sub has a volume control, and that's it.
Overall-
An amazing set of powerful, crisp speakers for under 50 bucks. It's not that they're bad for games, but a basic 5.1 system would suit even the average gamer much better. I have them hooked up to my TV and they function in conjunction with my TVs (pretty good) speakers, so since they're sharing the sound load, I don't have a problem with distortion or crackling. The satellites are situated on a swivel BEHIND the TV facing out, so I have to turn them up a little more than would be normally necessary, but as far as I can tell, no sound quality at all is lost. Bass is basically non-directionally as you may or may not know, so it hardly matters where you put the sub. All in all, PC game enthusiasts should drop a few extra dollars and look elsewhere, but for everyone else, you could pay twice as much for speakers and they wouldn't sound, look, or set-up (physically arrange) half as good, and, need I say it again...they're freaking 40 bucks!!!
Customer Review: What else can I say....Excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars
UPS just delivered these to me at work and I'm immediately impressed...especially compared to the Dell OEM speakers that came with my work computer. But that's not really a fair comparison so let me elaborate.
The "Frequency Directed Dual Driver" feature of the satellites (supposed to produce a uniform soundfield) sounded like a bunch of catchy but meaningless hooey to me. So I ran some pink noise through them and sure enough, it sounded pretty even through the whole range of frequencies. The highs are nice and crisp and the mids don't dominate the overall sound like a lot of speakers I've listened to. As far as the bass, I was a bit skeptical as to how well the 5.25 inch 20 watt woofer would perform. Again I'm quite impressed at how good it sounds. At normal operating levels it's at least as punchy as my twice as large and much more highly powered Sony woofer at home. Since the bosses are out of the office today I decided to test the woofer distortion...which, really there isn't any until you crank the volume knob on the woofer, as well as the main volume knob, so high that it's uncomfortable to listen to and your co-workers from the other side of the building start peering around the corner. Even then it produces very little distortion. Also, it doesn't bother me that the woofer volume is located on the woofer instead of next to the main knob on the right speaker since the main knob controls both the woofer and the satellites.
One feature I wouldn't mind having is a crossover knob on the woofer, just because I like to have more control. It really doesn't need it though. The factory crossover setting is pretty much where I would put it if I did have that control.
The only thing I don't like is that the satellite speaker stands don't tilt forward and back, they just rotate 180 degrees for wall mounting. But that's a very small insignificant issue in my mind.
Overall an extremely great buy.
Customer Review: Excellect 2.1 Speakers!
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, I am not an audiophile. I do, however, know when something sounds bad, and I enjoy listening to music.
With that being said, these are really a nice set of 2.1s that sound really really good.
I initially heard these connected to a friend's laptop. They sounded bass heavy, with muddy midrange and highs. However, because I assumed that it was his laptop's bad sound chip that caused the problem, and my old 2.1's had no bass, I decided to take the risk and order a set myself.
Wow. I have new laptop, and I must say... as long as you're connected to a decent/new sound chip/card, these speakers will sound excellent.
DEEP Bass (I keep it on only half the subwoofer's max bass value, and it's enough). Crisp highs, and full midrange sound as well. My fear of muddy sound, or a lack of high or mid was squashed the moment I listened to some songs that combined all three (Bass, Mid, High).
The fullness of the sound is really what impresses me, as is the clear detail with which the speaker projects.
Obviously you can tell I love these speakers, especially for the price.
Besides being tested with music from a laptop, they've been used to provide music to a party (connected to an Ipod), and don't worry, these can get LOUD, and the bass can get really heavy. Quality is lost at the highest volumes and highest bass, but I'm not sure whether this is due to the speakers or the Ipod.
The point is, for a party these are more than serviceable, and for normal use, they are excellent.
No, I have not heard Klipsh, or anything like that, but I have heard these, and once again, these x-230's are superb.
The ONLY thing that annoys me is that there is no Line-In. It'd be nice to be able to hook this up to an Xbox 360. They'd sound so much better than TV speakers, but there probably is an adapter for that, so it's not too big of a deal.
Customer Review: One of the best speakers in its class
Summary: 5 Stars
PROS: Strong bass, looks modern, overall good sound, volume relatively loud, cheap
CONS: Bass might be too 'boomy' for me, mid-range a bit weaker
Logitech X-230 is a great buy for people looking for 2-piece speakers with subwoofer. I didn't have great expectations for it but was genuine quite surprised with the sound quality, especially with the price that it was going for. This pair of speakers is pretty versatile - I've used for music, movies and games. Previously I've used Altec Lansing's ACS 45.1 and this Logitech does a pretty good job matching Altec Lansing.
Closer listening would reveal that the mid-range for this speakers is a little weaker than I would have wished. If it were stronger, I would have no hesitation giving this pair of speakers full marks. Still, it's hardly noticeable especially playing loud music and pop. Bass on the other hand could really get out of hand especially when you're sitting right in front of the speakers - good for people who likes heavy bass - but for me, it's too much - I've turned down the bass volume all the way down and it's perfect! There's sound distortion when I switch on software equaliser (found on Windows Media Player for example) - I suspect it's more of my computer's soundcard (it's an old one). So it's hard for me to compensate for midrange, though some higher bitrate MP3s did not have the distortion problem when equaliser was tweaked.
Volume control, power button and headphone jack is conveniently placed on the front panel of the right speaker. The cloth mesh which covers the two drivers on each speakers is a little flimsy, and seems to trap dust a little too easily. Speaker stand is versatile - either stand on the table or wall mountable.
In conclusion, this pair of speakers is highly recommended for people looking for budget speakers but with good sound. It may even match some of the more expensive speakers by Altec Lansing and Creative.